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“Super EID” held at U.S. Bank Stadium

SHAFAQNAMuslims in Minneapolis gathered at U.S. Bank Stadium on last Tuesday for prayer and festivities the Eid al-Adha and no animal sacrifices took place at the event as a pinch of fake news report.

The holiday of of Eid al-Adha honors the Prophet Ibrahim, also known as Abraham in Judaism and Christianity, and comes at the end of annual hajj pilgrimage. It is one of the holiest days of the year for Muslims, who celebrate with prayer, shared meals and gifts. In some places, families who can afford it slaughter an animal and share the meat with family and charities.

The event began at 7 a.m. and included prayer services on the field in the morning, followed by speeches and additional prayers inside the stadium — and anyone was invited to come watch from the stadium’s seats. As of Monday morning, 23,000 people had registered for the free event.

Outside, a carnival at the Commons park had food, a petting zoo, a zip line and other activities.

Organizers said the goal of an Eid festival is to bring together the community in unity, prayer and celebration. They moved to the Vikings’ home stadium this year because it was available as a large public space, Star Tribune reported.

“Today US Bank Stadium hosted the Vikings game,” wrote one Twitter user, whose tweet was shared more than 10,000 times. “On Tuesday it will host the “Festival of Sacrifice” (google “Eid ul-Adha”) where 50,000 Muslims attending are expected to ‘sacrifice their best domestic animals, usually a cow or goat.’” Numerous versions of the claim circulated via Twitter and on blogs, AP news reported.

In August 2018, a bit of Islamophobic copypasta started making its way around social media, asserting that the mayor of Minneapolis had canceled a 4th of July city fireworks display but allowed “Muslim animal sacrifice” to be held in the city’s U.S. Bank Stadium (home of the Minnesota Vikings football team) the following month.

This copypasta was based on a bit of fake news, a fear-mongering report about the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, and a misreading of two genuine news reports.

On 10 June 2018, the Last Line of Defense web site published an article positing that the Muslim mayor of Minneapolis had “canceled the 4th of July”:

Mayor Ahneid al Ahmed of Haskentot, Minnesota has done the unthinkable and canceled the 4th of July. According to his office, the city has no desire to spend money on something so frivolous. Muslim spokesman Art Tubolls said: “This city elected our mayor to do what is best. We don’t hink buying a bunch of flags and fireworks and spending a day celebrating nationalism like nazis is a good idea.”

This was not a genuine news story about the mayor of Minneapolis, who is neither named “Ahneid al Ahmed” nor a Muslim. (The city’s actual mayor is Jacob Frey.)

The Last Line of Defense is part of a network of sites that engages in political trolling under the guise of proffering “satire.”

This junk news piece may have prompted some confusion, as it resembled a genuine news story about a nearby Minnesota city. The mayor of St. Paul did cancel the city’s Independence Day firework show due to budgetary concerns:

St. Paul will go without the rockets’ red glare on Independence Day this year.

Mayor Melvin Carter announced that the city won’t hold a Fourth of July fireworks event.

The cancellation may foreshadow of what could be a difficult budget season. Carter’s announcement, posted to Facebook, cited concerns about the city’s budget climate.

Minneapolis, on the other hand, hosted multiple firework shows on July 4th.

When it was announced that U.S. Bank Stadium would be hosting a Eid al-Adha festival, the Islamophobic web site “Bare Naked Islam” published an article about the upcoming event imploring readers to “imagine” 50,000 Muslims at the stadium and displaying various photographs and videos of  sacrifices from around the world.

These photographs led many readers to mistakenly believe that the “Super EID” festival at U.S. Bank Stadium would also feature animal sacrifices, but that wasn’t the case.

Ahmed Anshur, executive director of Masjid Al-Ihsan Islamic Center in St. Paul and one of the organizers of “Super EID,” attempted to quell these fears, telling Minnesota Public Radio that no animal sacrifices would take place at U.S. Bank Stadium:

“Nobody is going to sacrifice an animal, or nobody is going to slaughter an animal in that field,” he said. “I can assure you that, 100 percent.”, Snopes reported.

No animal sacrifice will take place at U.S. Bank Stadium,” said Jenn Hathaway, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which runs U.S. Bank Stadium. The National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings play football at the stadium. The group has paid to rent the stadium for the prayer service, she confirmed.

She said many organizations and religious groups reserve U.S. Bank Stadium for events and gatherings of all sizes.

The four-hour prayer service was hosted by Super Eid Inc., a group of local Muslim organizations that celebrate the holiday together every year in Minneapolis, according to one of the event organizers. The annual event has been held at the Minneapolis Convention Center for the past decade. This is the first year the prayer takes place at the stadium, Hathaway told The Associated Press.

Super Eid is also hosting a festival at The Commons, a public park adjacent to the stadium. Super Eid paid the fees to host the festival, which will feature a zip line, inflatable bounce houses and a petting zoo, said Amanda Wigen, the director of programming for Green Minneapolis, the park’s operator.

“There will absolutely not be any slaughtering of animals,” Wigen said.

Minnesota is home to the US’s largest Somali community, roughly 57,000, many who live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are Muslim.

“Eid is for everyone,” Zaman, executive director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, said. “We are inviting our interfaith allies to join us. You don’t have to be Muslim to have fun. Just have fun.”

The Rev. JaNaé Bates, spokeswoman for the interfaith group Isaiah, said she hopes the event shows Minnesotans truly embrace the state’s diverse, evolving communities.

“We can come together in unity,” she said. “We can come together cross-culturally and learn about each other’s faith.”

The country is rife with hateful division, said Abdullahi Farah, executive director of the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis.

This event creates an opportunity to bridge those gaps “because as Minnesotans I believe these are some of the values we share,” he said, “helping each other as neighbors and actually coming together to share times of celebration.”, Star Tribune reported.

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