Project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Urban Cultural Programme and the Liverpool Culture Company working together for European Capital of Culture 2008

The Muslim Cultural Festival of Liverpool (MCFL) has won a grant of 20,000 £ from Liverpool's Culture Company to host its annual cultural festival which often coincides with Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim religious festival which heralds the annual pilgrimages to Mecca.

The project is aiming to promote awareness among the people of Liverpool of the cultural and religious high values of the Muslim faith which preach humility, unity, peace and forgiveness.

 The project requires the erection (and the maintenance) of two marquees capable of housing over 1000 worshippers. The festival venue is Sefton Park, one of Liverpool's most attractive and famous parks. This is also the event that commemorates the story in the Quran, in which Allah tests Ibrahim's faith, by asking him to sacrifice his son, Ishmael.  Ibrahim  was ready to perform the sacrifice, when Allah stopped him, and provided a ram in Ishmael’s place.

 As well as serving to house the congregating worshippers who will come for the prayers which normally last from 8.30 am to 9.30 am the two marquees will also house the cultural activities that will follow the prayers. These activities will include: holding Eid prayers, opening a bazaar to display Muslim cultural and artistic goods and holding a night of Arabic and other Muslim traditional singing and dancing performances.

 These events will take place in the traditional spirit. This will be manifested by a display of traditional clothes by some of the worshippers, the performers and stall tenders who will be displaying their traditional goods.

Most importantly, these events will focus on the importance of respecting the values of Islam: the values that rest on love of others, respect, tolerance, forgiveness and peace and harmony. The Eids’ sermons will be devoted towards achieving this objective. This will be an important step in allowing a large audience of the Muslim people of this city to hear the rational and true voice of Islam and not the Islam that is being preached by some "militant" Imams or portrayed in the media. 

 Eid has traditionally been performed in open space and these events resurrect that tradition. These events go further by showcasing the cultural heritage of Muslims of different ethic backgrounds living in Liverpool with a theme designed to promote artistic talents, cultural awareness, love, respect, tolerance and harmony among the local communities.