The streets of Lagos around the city's central Mosque are always busy but at this time of year. They are jam-packed with traders and shoppers as Muslims rush to make last-minute preparations for Eid al-Adha, the day of sacrifice when Muslims the world over slaughter animals and feed the poor to seek God's forgiveness.
It's a boom period for traders who deal in female clothing, caps for men, prayer beads and Korans, making traders like Ola Obayomi extremely happy as shoppers snap up tradition Read more

The streets of Lagos around the city's central Mosque are always busy but at this time of year. They are jam-packed with traders and shoppers as Muslims rush to make last-minute preparations for Eid al-Adha, the day of sacrifice when Muslims the world over slaughter animals and feed the poor to seek God's forgiveness.
It's a boom period for traders who deal in female clothing, caps for men, prayer beads and Korans, making traders like Ola Obayomi extremely happy as shoppers snap up traditional Eid items.
"They are buying jalabiya, Iboru, brocade, lace, foreign lace and it will be okay, we are enjoying this sala (prayer) time," Obayomi said.
Roughly half of Nigeria's 140 million population is Muslim, making it the largest Islamic community in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria's Muslim and Christian populations generally live peacefully side by side, although there have been bursts of religious violence in recent years, particularly in the Middle Belt, where the mostly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south.
Lagos, the country's commercial capital, is a melting pot of religions, with Muslims, Christians and Animists living peacefully side by side.
The Ram Market in the central Lagos is equally busy ahead of Eid.
This year, many Eid shoppers looking for a ram to slaughter were forced to wait until the last minute until prices began to come down. Livestock prices, they complained, were far higher this year than the same time last year.
"This one is expensive because the one I bought last year, that ram is 55,000 Naira," Idowu Sodipo said.
Omotayo Ibinkule, another shopper at the market, thought he got a good bargain.
"When I came first they said each is 120,000. 110,000 but when I bought now I bought each of the rams at the rate of 65,000 Naira now," he said.
Eid is celebrated by Muslim faithful around the world in remembrance of the biblical story in which God spared the son of Ibrahim (Abraham to Christians), commanding him to slaughter a ram instead of his son. Close