Eid ul Adha Countdown 2026

When is Eid ul Adha 2026?

Eid ul Adha 2026 is expected on 27 May 2026, the 10th of Dhul Hijjah 1447 AH. The countdown above confirms the date for you. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, the Gregorian date moves about 11 days earlier each year, so Eid ul Adha keeps shifting backward through the seasons. The exact day isn’t fixed until the moon that starts Dhul Hijjah is sighted, so it can land a day either side of the estimate, and different countries may mark it on different days.

The story behind the sacrifice

Eid ul Adha comes from one of the most testing moments in the lives of the prophets. Ibrahim (Abraham) saw in a dream that he was sacrificing his son Ismail, and he understood it as a command from Allah. He told his son, and Ismail’s answer was to submit: do what you have been commanded.

Both father and son went to carry it out, fully willing. At the last moment Allah called out that the vision had been fulfilled, the test was passed, and He replaced Ismail with a ram to be sacrificed instead. The lesson isn’t that Allah wanted blood. It’s that He wanted to see whether Ibrahim’s love for Him came before everything else, and it did. Qurbani re-enacts that submission every year.

Qurbani: who, what, and how it’s shared

Qurbani (also called Udhiyah) is the sacrifice of a livestock animal during the days of Eid. Who it applies to depends on your school of thought: it’s obligatory (Wajib) in the Hanafi school, and a strongly recommended Sunnah in the Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali schools, for every adult Muslim who owns the nisab, the same wealth threshold used for Zakat.

The rules on the animal and the shares are practical:

• A sheep or goat counts for one person (and their household).
• A cow or camel counts for seven people, who can share one animal.
• The meat is split into three parts: one for your family, one for relatives and friends, one for the poor.
• Qurbani can be done on the 10th, 11th, or 12th of Dhul Hijjah, after the Eid prayer.

If you can’t sacrifice in person, most people now pay a charity to perform it on their behalf, which is valid and reaches families who rarely eat meat otherwise.

How to observe Eid ul Adha

The morning has a clear order. Take a ghusl (full wash) and wear your best clothes, then head to the Eid prayer at the mosque or open ground. One thing sets this Eid apart from Eid ul Fitr: it’s Sunnah not to eat before the Eid ul Adha prayer, so that the first thing eaten is from the Qurbani. On Eid ul Fitr it’s the reverse, you eat something sweet first.

The Takbeer (Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illa Allah…) is recited often, from the Fajr of the 9th of Dhul Hijjah through to the Asr of the 13th. After the prayer comes the sacrifice, then the day is for family, food, and giving to those in need.

Is fasting allowed on Eid?

No. Fasting on the day of Eid ul Adha is forbidden, the same as on Eid ul Fitr. It’s a day to eat and celebrate, and fasting on it goes against that.

The day to fast is the one before: the 9th, the Day of Arafah. For anyone not on Hajj, fasting Arafah carries the reward of expiating the sins of the year before and the year after. Pilgrims at Arafah don’t fast, because they need their strength for the standing and the duʿa, but for everyone else it’s one of the best fasts of the year.

Eid ul Adha and the Hajj

Eid ul Adha is woven into the Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam. While Muslims at home celebrate Eid, the pilgrims are completing the rites: the standing at Arafah on the 9th, then the stoning of the pillars and the sacrifice at Mina on the 10th. So the festival you mark at home is happening in its fullest form in Makkah at the same moment. Our Hajj countdown tracks the wider pilgrimage season.

How this differs from Eid ul Fitr

The two Eids are easy to confuse. Eid ul Fitr is on 1 Shawwal and ends Ramadan, its signature act is Zakat al-Fitr before the prayer, and the mood is gratitude after a month of fasting. Eid ul Adha is on 10 Dhul Hijjah, about 70 days later, its signature act is Qurbani, and it ties to Hajj and Ibrahim’s sacrifice. The shorthand: Fitr ends the fast, Adha marks the sacrifice. Our Eid ul Fitr countdown covers the first one.