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Good morning Muslims in the UK and around the world are celebrating Eid ul Adha over the next few days, the festival of sacrifice. Eid follows the pilgrimage and rituals of Hajj in Mecca, and this year 2.5 million Muslims have participated from every corner of the world including the UK. Hajj is well known as one of the five pillars of Islam. Front and centre is the story of Abraham, and how he was tested, and willing to sacrifice his son Ismail before God spared him. But another major part of Hajj can sometimes feel like a sidenote, and that is the remarkable story of a young, black, slave woman called Hajar. Muslims believe that Hajar was left in the desert by Abraham, with their baby son, Ismail, to then fend for herself. Her provisions soon ran out and her baby was crying. In her desperation to find food and water, she ran between two large hills. Just as she felt she could not go on anymore, a spring of water miraculously appeared. It was the well of ZamZam, which is still running to this day, sustaining visitors to Mecca throughout the year. Hajar put herself in charge of the well, bringing in trade and visitors to the area like never before and Mecca developed into a major site because of her leadership. In the Qur’an, the importance of Hajj is mentioned a number of times. In the second chapter it says….”Whatever good you do, God knows it. Prepare yourselves for Hajj, and the best preparation is being mindful of God…” When performing Hajj, one of the main rituals is to run between those same two hills, symbolising the desperate time when Hajar needed to feed herself and her baby. But despite there being a woman right at the heart of the Hajj rituals, it’s common for women to come back from Mecca telling stories of how they haven’t been respected or treated the same as the men. Even when running between the hills, some women have reported being told they mustn’t run, that walking is more suitable or more modest for women. I remember when I went for Hajj, some of us women were told we couldn’t pray in certain areas, and were treated very harshly in ways not befitting of such an important and holy time. So as we celebrate these days of Eid, I’d like to make sure we keep the matriarch, Hajar, right at the heart of it all, and that we see her story as the legacy it should be. And that we stay mindful of the equality at the heart of the true teachings of Islam.