Many of our listeners are aware of Ramadan—the annual period of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community—but how familiar are you with other Islamic holy days, like Eid al-Adha? Join host Jennie Brooks as she sits down with Aziz Ismail, an All Source Analyst with the Department of Defense, who is coming up on his 12th year with Booz Allen Hamilton, to explore what Eid al-Adha means to him, and how it figures into what Aziz believes is humanity’s most important practice: kindness to our neighbors.
Interested in learning more about different cultures?
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Jennie Brooks:
Welcome to Booz Allen Hamilton's Unstoppable Together Podcast, a series of stories that unite us and empower each of us to change the world. I'm Jennie Brooks with Booz Allen Hamilton, and I'm passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please join me in conversation with a diverse group of thought leaders to explore what makes them and all of us unstoppable.
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Unstoppable Together Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Brooks, and today I'm excited to be joined by Aziz Ismail, an analyst with the Department of Defense, who is also coming up on his 12th year anniversary with Booz Allen. Aziz, welcome to the podcast.
Aziz Ismail:
Well, thank you for having me, Jennie.
Jennie:
I'm happy to have this conversation with you because I think it's one where we can explore a topic that we often don't speak about. So, let's just go ahead and dive in and get started. If I'm understanding correctly, you don't consider yourself to be religious per se, but nonetheless, Muslim identity is important to you. Is that right?
Aziz:
Yes, absolutely, ever since I was a child, that's how I was raised. It's important to me. Yes.
Jennie:
Yes. And I want to better understand if we can start by laying out for our audience listening today, tell us a little bit about Eid al-Adha. Did I say that correctly?
Aziz:
Yes. Eid al-Adha. Yes.
Jennie:
Thank you. Tell us a little bit about what that is and its significance to you.
Aziz:
Eid al-Adha is the second festival in the Islamic calendar. There is Eid al-Fitr, which comes after the holy month of Ramadan, and then Eid al-Adha, which comes right after the last day of the Hajj, which is pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, Mecca and Medina. It comes the last day of the Hajj and Eid al-Adha basically translates festival of feast.
Jennie:
Okay.
Aziz:
Every family who can afford, every family who have the means to do so are required to sacrifice a goat or a cow or even a camel if they can afford it. And the tradition goes is that that meat from the goat or the cow or the camel should be divided in three equal parts. Those three parts are divided between the poor, the friends and neighbors, and the family who sacrificed that animal keeps a part. So those three parts, that's how the tradition goes. Usually, most of the people who can afford it will basically either sacrifice a goat and take some of that meat to their neighbors and friends, some to the poor, and they'll keep some of it to themselves. So the sacrifice itself, the way it came about is Prophet Abraham. He didn't have children and God blessed him with a son at age of 85. His son's name was Ishmael.
So story goes, one night Allah or God revealed Himself to Prophet Abraham and commanded him to sacrifice his son and take him to Mount Arafat and sacrifice his son. And he and his son Ishmael both. He told his son, he wake him up and told him, and he said, "Allah commanding me to sacrifice you" and his son agreed. And he said, "Whatever God said, we'll do it." So they both went to Mount Arafat with a knife of course, and he was ready to actually sacrifice his son and Allah, God stopped him and in exchange in his son's place, put an animal, ram or most people say ram. So that's how the sacrifice it came about.
So every year after the Hajj completes the last day, all Muslims who can afford it, sacrifice an animal in honor of Abraham and his obedience to God. So that is basically what this sacrifice means to Muslims everywhere to us. So that is Eid al-Adha and that's how and why we celebrate. It continues three days unlike the Eid al-Fitr which is only one day, Eid al-Adha is three days long and people celebrate. And I remember my dad, our tradition was gifts for the children, always brand new clothes, candies for the children. So adults give children gifts that day and they all pray together. They have a feast, eat together or [inaudible 00:05:54], whatever animal that they sacrificed. That is the celebration and that is the meaning for me at least. It's Eid al-Adha. So every culture celebrates differently. But in the final analysis, the sacrifice part remains the same. Every family, if they can afford it, that is the key. If they can afford it and have the means have to sacrifice an animal, whatever they can afford, whether it is a goat, cow or a camel.
Jennie:
Okay. Given this central theme of sacrifice that you mentioned, how has that carried through more broadly in your life, this idea of sacrifice? How does it show up for you?
Aziz:
For me, it shows up ... I normally take those days off, and since I live in the city, sometimes I can't do the sacrifice itself. But what I try to do is give gifts to the poor who can't afford. And my neighbors and friends, if they have children, I will visit them and my relatives and give them gifts, whether it is money in an envelope, which I usually do. I put $50 for the kids each or $100 for each, and then give them ... That's how I basically do. But I used to sacrifice an animal when I was in La Plata, Maryland, because the community is massive in La Plata, and there are farms specializing just that. There are individuals that sell animals in La Plata, Maryland, where you actually go and they will do everything for you and then divide the meat for you, and then you take and then take it to whoever you are planning to give it to.
So since it's been a while, I don't even know whether or not I can do this year. I am here in the UK and I'll probably do gift giving to family members and children and what have you. But the tradition, it just remains. If you have the ability to do so and you have the animal and you can actually purchase it, you should do it. That's tradition.
Jennie:
Given that we are having this conversation, and we'll share it with many of our colleagues who might choose to listen this podcast or more broadly, what are the things you would like them to be aware of in terms of the tradition of Eid al-Adha or others? What are the things that they may not be aware of that you'd like to share with them?
Aziz:
Well, the tradition itself is a festival.
Jennie:
Yes.
Aziz:
And that's exactly what it means, is celebration and remembering that we are all human beings and we have to be patient. We have to ... Just like Abraham, his willingness to sacrifice and to do what God commanded him, it's a reminder for all of us to be selfless. This reminds us basically that there is God, whether you believe it or not, it's a reminder for Muslims to be patient and to be selfless when it comes to helping others, when it comes to doing God's deeds. I'm not a scholar by any means, but this is what my family taught me, and this is what I know. At least that is how I was explained what Eid al-Adha means.
Jennie:
Tell me a little bit about how you see, in our case, Booz Allen creating space for Muslim identity, and what are some of the things, if any, that we could continue to do as a firm to create more space for that identity?
Aziz:
We have community where they actually have this space to express a religion, talk about it. There are groups that you could join and actually whether you're frustrated with whatever that may be, you can express yourself. And Booz Allen created that space for Muslims. Not only Muslims, it created that for every religion. We might think differently and argue about whether this is right, or Christianity is right, or Judaism is right. But Booz Allen created a space for every religion, every group to express themselves, and they can communicate, they have groups, they have meetings, they can get together, and there's no restriction for religion in our space. As long as you're civilized about it, everything is supposed to be right. And Booz Allen is providing that space.
Jennie:
Right. I'm struck by the juxtaposition of, we're starting off at the top of the conversation talking about the idea of sacrifice. And I think many people might say religion in the workplace is not really a topic. That's something that we just sort of sacrifice, if you will, kind of keep off the table altogether in the workplace. So I'm encouraged by your sharing that there is space for you to connect with other colleagues who share the same beliefs or may have differing beliefs, but can engage and at least find that space. So it's not necessarily sacrificed. We've heard many stories through this podcast around people who it's all really about embracing that and bringing our whole selves to work and sharing our stories and not sacrificing them. So I appreciate that.
Aziz:
Yeah. It depends on the culture and the background. Some people will share everything, some people will not, no matter what, either they don't want to share anything about or they want to keep everything to themselves. But from what I've experienced, people I know and people I talk to who work at Booz Allen, especially the Muslim community, they share things and they talk about things that are uncomfortable sometimes, which is a good thing. And Booz Allen provides that space to express yourself, which is very good. Although we don't actually get into politics when it comes to religion, we stay away from that. It's just charity and all helping each other, supporting each other, things like that. Prayers, sharing things that we saw, certain things like that.
Jennie:
Yes. I love that. Well, I want to thank you for having the courage to share and taking the time to share with us today. Really, it's been very special listening to you and reflecting and thinking about this.
Aziz:
Yeah. Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. This was fun.
Jennie:
At the end of every podcast, we give our guests some free space to share their final thoughts. What would you like to leave us with today?
Aziz:
My dad used to say all the time, I can't do it myself, but my dad always used to tell me that, "Don't worry about what people think of you. Learn, educate yourself and be good at whatever you do. No matter what it is, whether you're a dishwasher or a driver, be good at that. And people will basically come around." Be kind. As much as you can, be kind. This life is very short. You don't know whether you live 60 or 70 [inaudible 00:15:02]. Be kind to others. Be kind to your neighbors, which is very important, which my wife follows to the letter. I sometimes don't, but that is what I will say too, because those are the things that, whether you believe or not, those are the things that you'll be asked. Doesn't matter who they are, what religion, what background. It really doesn't matter. If you're kind to your neighbors. That's one thing that you check that box.
So I think all I'm going to say is we're living in a really crazy world right now, so all I'm going to say is be kind to each other. It doesn't take much. It takes a little energy to be kind, but to be hateful, it takes a lot of energy. You'll lose sleep over that. So be kind to each other, love each other. It's very important.
Jennie:
Perfect. Thank you, Aziz. We appreciate it.
Aziz:
Thank you, Jennie for having me. I appreciate it.
Jennie:
Thanks for listening. Visit careers.boozallen.com to learn how you can be unstoppable with Booz Allen. Be the future, work with us, the world can't wait.