Eid Audio Feature

Eid Audio Feature by Tarek El Deeb

*Intro - (Laylat Al Eid – Umm Kalthum SONG PLAYS THEN VOLUME DECREASES AT 0:17)*

For those attending the Hajj pilgrimage, it will be the most valued, spiritual experience in the Islamic community.

The rest of the Muslims will be celebrating the holy feast of Eid…

*(Laylat Al Eid – Umm Kalthum SONG FADES OUT 0:30)*

As tradition teaches, families will rise early in the morning and people will put on their new and best clothes to visit other family members. Children may also receive gifts and new bills of Egyptian pounds as their “Eideya” or Eid gift just like a child at Christmas would.

Masses will fill the streets to perform the Eid prayer which are preceded and followed by mellow chanting of the name and superior qualities of god.

Local Maadi resident Ahmed gives us his meaning of Eid and what it means to him:

AHMED: “Eid is a great occasion for enjoyment and celebration. Most of us are waiting for it just to celebrate and get together and socialize with the family…socialize with friends since it is an enjoyable occasion.” (0:24)

When the prayers have been performed, Muslims and butchers will gather in their spiritual vibe and prepare to slaughter thousands of cows and sheep.

The livestock are killed to honor the story of the prophet Abraham and his son Ismail.

Once slaughtered, the meat is then distributed to the poor, and to many families this is their only annual meal to include meat. With that in mind, Eid is also a time for many Muslims to be involved with charitable work such as giving clothes, meat and money to the poor.

MAHA: “Eid to us is “family gathering” and you know…everyone should be happy because in this occasion we remember the prophet Abraham, when God protected his son from slaughtering. So we are celebrating this occasion. We are giving food for the people, for the poor people, money. Making sure that everyone around us is happy and enjoying this occasion.” (0:30)

Says Maha, a mother of three on her way to visit family members.

Back home while men deal with the slaughtering, women prepare ‘Fata’, the traditional dish of Eid consisting of cooked rice with pieces of bread garnished with special garlic and vinegar dressing. The dish is eaten with either beef or lamb and is considered a delicacy.

This Eid or “Eid Al Adha” is sometimes referred to as the “Big Eid” since it’s longer than the Eid el Fitr that follows the month of Ramadan. It is the longest Islamic holiday enjoyed by Muslims all around the world.

*Outro - (Laylat Al Eid – Umm Kalthum SONG PLAYS THEN FADES OUT

0:40 – 0:52)*

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

A book on tape narrated by Tarek El Deeb

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Chapter One

The Boy Who Lived

Harry Potter - Chapter One by Tarek El Deeb

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs.

Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.