Happy Holiday   

The arabic word for “festival, feast and holiday” is “eid,” and can be used to describe a number of special occasions:

festival/feast/holiday = eid =
eid al-fitr = the festival of fastbreaking (an Islamic holiday at the end of Ramadaan)
eid al-adHa = the festival of sacrifice (an Islamic holiday at the end of the annual pilgrimmage)
eid meelaad = birthday (literally: festival of birth)
eid meelaad al-maseeH = Christmas (literally: festival of the birth of the Messiah)
 

In the previous lesson, we saw that “barakaat” means blessings. The word “mubarak,” derived from the same root, means “blessed.”

eid mubarak = = blessed holiday

Or, alternatively:

Even though there is nothing particularly Islamic about the word “eid,” non-Arabic speakers often use “eid” to refer specifically to Islamic holidays. For example, in 2001, the United States Postal Service honored the Muslim-American community by creating an “eid stamp”:

:

As mentioned above, a major Islamic holiday - eid-al-fitr - occurs at the end of Ramadaan, which Muslims celebrate as the month in which the first verses of the Quran were revealed to Muhammad. So, in addition to “eid mubarak,” you will often see:

ramadaan mubarak = = blessed ramadaan

In a previous lesson (Names of God), we saw that “kareem” is translated as “generous” or “noble.” In addition to being one of the 99 Names of God, “kareem” is used to describe the Quran. Thus, you’ll often see the full title of the Quran as:

“al quraan al-kareem” = = the Noble Quran

The same word is used to express wishes for a generous or noble holiday season:

ramadaan kareem =

Finally, the Arabic word for “happy” is “sa’eed.” 

eid sa’eed = = happy holiday

ramadaan sa’eed = = happy ramadaan

End of Lesson

Special thanks to Yousef, Rahila and ArtIslamic.com for providing these images.