TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, the second of two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide marking the end of the annual pilgrimage or Hajj to the Saudi holy city of Mecca.
Across the world men, women and children prayed and sacrificed animals as part of the celebrations.   
Eid al-Adha is the holiest of the two Muslims holidays celebrated each year.  
Prayers were held in Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Iraq, while in India police frisked worshippers as they entered mosques amid growing criticism of the treatment of Muslims under Prime Minister Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist regime.
Some Muslims slaughter a sacrificial animal and split the meat into three parts, one for the family, one for friends and relatives, and one for the poor.
The act is done to honor willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God's command, as told in the Qur’an. However, before he was able to sacrifice his son, God provided him with a sheep to kill instead.
Muslims believe the hajj offers the chance of atonement and an opportunity to erase past sins. The first two days of the hajj are spent in Mecca and other areas around it in deep prayer, contemplation and worship.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani sent out separate congratulatory messages to international Muslims leaders on the occasion.
He took the opportunity to express hope that the world’s Muslim authorities will be able to reinforce unity throughout the Muslim world in order to confront terrorism as well as the unilateralism and imperialistic practices of international hegemonic rulers.
Tehran’s interim Friday prayers leader strictly cautioned against further escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Muhammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard advised that the issue be resolved through "rationalism and management that uses morality and erudition as its basis.”
Aboutorabi-Fard said Kashmir forms a part of the international Muslim nation, making any unprincipled and untenable move against it a move targeting the entirety of this nation.
The cleric also addressed the occupying regime of Israel’s use of violence against Palestinians marking Eid al-Adha on the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound in the holy occupied city of East Jerusalem Al-Quds on Sunday.
Tel Aviv should know this that it can only temporarily rely on use of force, he said.
"The Zionist regime, the Al Saud regime, and the Al Khalifah regime, whose authority rests on bayonets, are certainly doomed to suffer destruction and perish,” Aboutorabi-Fard stated.
Separately, he addressed Iran’s capture late last month of a British-flagged oil tanker, which had collided with an Iranian fishing boat in the Strait of Hormuz, and ignored its recurrent distress calls.
"It was Great Britain and not just the British vessel that felt weak in the face of the Iranian nation,” he said.
Europe should adopt a character "independent” of the imperial world and the United States instead of being "subjugated” by them, he further advised.
"Who is America, to which some serve as entourage and prostrate? What position arrogant powers are in to subjugate other nations?” he asked.