The Associated Press
Major holidays for both Muslims and Jews are both being marked this Saturday across the Middle East, the first time this has happened since 1981.
The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur coincide once every 33 years, as Judaism and Islam rely on lunar calendars.
Yom Kippur is Judaism’s Day of Atonement, when devout Jews ask God to forgive them for their transgressions and refrain from eating and drinking, attending intense prayer services in synagogues. Businesses and airports in Israel shut down as television and radio stations go silent and highway stand empty. That holiday began at sunset Friday and ends Saturday night.
Muslims are marking Eid al-Adha, a three-day holiday that started Saturday across much of the Middle East. It commemorates the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim — or Abraham as he is known in the Bible — to sacrifice his son in accordance with God’s will, though in the end God provides him a sheep to sacrifice instead. On the start of Eid al-Adha, Muslims slaughter sheep, cattle and other livestock, and give part of the meat to the poor. Parents often buy new clothes for their children for the holiday.
Here are a series of Associated Press images from across the world showing Muslims and Jews marking their respective holidays.
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