It's a holiday today. And in its true classic sense of the word - Holy Day. The Muslims celebrates this day pretty much throughout the globe. Though it actually shouldn't be monopolized just by the Muslims. Fact is, it's as much a holiday for the Christians and Jews as well. Most Christians I knew would actually stare at me blankly whenever I suggested this to them. "Why?" they always seemed to ask..so I decide to give a little recap...

You can find this story in the book of Genesis 22:1-13.

1. After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."


2. He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."


3. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.


4. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.


5. Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you."


6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.


7. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"


8. Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.


9. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.


10. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.


11. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."


12. He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."


13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

And you can find this in the Quran, 37:99-111 (Al Saffat)

37:99-111 Al Saffat

[37:99] He said, "I am going to my Lord; He will guide me."
[37:100] "My Lord, grant me righteous children."
[37:101] We gave him good news of a good child.
[37:102] When he grew enough to work with him, he said, "My son, I see in a dream that I am sacrificing you. What do you think?" He said, "O my father, do what you are commanded to do. You will find me, GOD willing, patient."
[37:103] They both submitted, and he put his forehead down (to sacrifice him).

God Intervenes to Save Abraham and Ismail

[37:104] We called him: "O Abraham.
[37:105] "You have believed the dream." We thus reward the righteous.
[37:106] That was an exacting test indeed.
[37:107] We ransomed (Ismail) by substituting an animal sacrifice.
[37:108] And we preserved his history for subsequent generations.
[37:109] Peace be upon Abraham.
[37:110] We thus reward the righteous.
[37:111] He is one of our believing servants.

Of course, after going through the above excerpts from respective scriptures, you'd notice that there's one distinctive difference that is between Isaac & Ishmael. I'm not going to make comparative argument on this subject...the scholars already did that. The Jews' version is somewhat parallel to the Christians, but basically the story is almost the same. Abraham was tested by God into giving his son for sacrifice. Today is a commemoration of Abraham & his son's submission to God.
This event is actually very significant and (I believe) should be the key for a common ground betwixt 3 religions. This is one day that the Jews, Christians & Muslims can celebrate in perfect harmony.