IN PICTURES / Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha

Dressed in festive clothes, Muslims thronged mosques around the world to pray on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice.

Eid al-Adha commemorates the Prophet's readiness to sacrifice his own son in obedience to God. According to the Koran, God appeared in Prophet Ibrahim's dream and asked him to sacrifice something that was most dear to him.

Prophet Ibrahim decided to sacrifice his own son, Ismail. However, when he put a knife on Ismail's throat, God replaced his son with a goat through a miracle.

Consequently, it has become a tradition to slaughter livestock and feed the poor to mark the occasion.

Worshippers offering prayers at a grand mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. (Image: AP)

A Palestinian girl playing with bubbles during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in the West Bank city of Nablus. (Image: AP)

Relatives visiting a Sadrist cemetery during the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival in Najaf, Iraq. (Image: Reuters)

Iraqi Shiite Muslims attending a prayer outside the party headquarters of the Supreme Islamic Council in Baghdad. (Image: AP)

Muslims greeting each other during Eid al-Adha in Gauhati, India. (Image: AP)

Kashmiri women offering prayers during the Eid-al-Adha festival in Hazratbal shrine on the outskirts of Srinagar. (Image: Reuters)

A boy sleeps as Kenyan Muslims pray during Eid al-Adha in the coastal city of Mombasa. (Image: Reuters)

Sheep in the trunk of a car before they are sacrificed on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in Ankara, Turkey. (Image: Reuters)

Jakir,8, and Shakil,9, traveling between carriages to Jamalpur from Dhaka, Bangladesh to celebrate Eid al-Adha. (Image: Reuters)

A girl playing with balloons after Eid al-Adha prayers outside a mosque in Cairo, Egypt. (Image: Reuters)