Friday marked the beginning of an important three-day holiday for Muslim faithful in Douala.

Followers of Mohammed across the port city of Douala came together to pray, worship and celebrate the Feast of the Ram. The 'festival of sacrifice' commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail to Allah – a similar tale to that of Abraham and his son Isaac, found in the Torah and the Bible.

Although celebrated in almost all neighbourhoods where there are Muslims, the heartbeat of the celebration was at the ceremonial ground where the Governor of the Littoral Region, Joseph Beti Assomo, presided over the open-air prayer, sermon and immolation by Imam Malik Farouk.

The sacrifice of the ram, ritually performed in every Muslim household, culminated with calls for peace, tolerance, harmony and inter-religious dialogue. Meanwhile, at the esplanade of Camp Bertaud, the Grand Imam, Dr. Ibrahim Moubarak, exhorted that Allah taught Ibrahim not to kill but see life as holy and worthy of existence, peace and stability. He told his fellow Muslims that they must respect Christians, Jews, Buddists, animists and all others and vice versa as there exists no conflict against inter-religion. “It is high time we know each other better, dialogue with each other for we serve the same God though the ways of worship differ,” he continued.

There were also ritual slaughters of sheep, symbolising the ram Allah allowed Ibrahim to kill rather than his own son. A walk around neighbourhoods in the economic city left no one in doubt as to the importance of the feast to the Muslim. However, the largest single gathering was at the Grand Stand in Bonanjo.