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Sacrifice
essence of life: Message of Eid al-Azha
Wednesday November 17, 2010 12:22:22 PM,
Firoz Bakht Ahmed
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Even as the country celebrates
Eid-ul-Azha, the festival of sacrifice, the significance of it is
often not understood.
A sacrifice, usually taken to be the slaughtering of animals, is
much more than that. A mother sacrifices her sleep for her
children. A father sacrifices all his comfort for his son. The
sacrifice of the animals is just a ritual whereas the essence lies
far beyond.
Prophet Mohammed was the embodiment of sacrifice all his life. A
small incident from his life is illustrative. Once he received a
Christian guest from Najran in his house. There was no food at
night except some goat's milk. The Prophet offered his guest the
milk, though his family went without a meal that night. They had
also gone to bed hungry the night before too. This is the right
way to sacrifice for others.
After the five pillars of Islam, Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi (the practice
of Abraham, or sacrifice) is the most important activity. It is
the legacy of Prophet Ibrahim (Prophet Abraham in Christianity and
Judaism), and the festival also symbolises the test of faith and
loyalty to god.
In Islam, love for Allah is held to be the most precious.
According to legend, Prophet Ibrahim was 90 and childless. After
sustained prayers, god blessed him with a child (named Ismael) at
this ripe old age.
A grateful Ibrahim thanked god. But soon after the child had grown
up, god ordered Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his dearest thing.
Ibrahim chose to sacrifice his nearest and dearest - his son. God
can never be so unkind and it was a test. In the nick of time, the
boy was replaced by a sheep whose sacrifice was accepted by god.
It is quite clear that god didn't want the sacrifice of flesh and
blood for His own sake. What He wanted to test was the love and
loyalty of His Messenger. The bounties of sacrifice are countless.
The moment a sacrifice is made, god accepts it in heaven even
before a drop of blood falls on the ground.
The day Prophet Ibrahim made the sacrifice falls on the 10th day
of Dhu al-Hijjah - the last month of the Islamic Hijri calendar.
Incidentally, the Haj, the world's biggest pilgrimage, also gets
completed that day.
Eid is also a day on which Muslims remember the deceased, visit
the sick, see relatives and friends, overlook grudges, help the
needy and in general show kindness and generosity to all those
that they know.
It is also a day of rejoicing and celebrating by getting involved
in a good, clean and halal (pure) enjoyment. In fact, sacrifice is
the essence of life and we should leave no stone unturned to
sacrifice our money, comfort and time for the hapless, downtrodden
or deserving.
(The author is a commentator on social and religious
issues. He can be contacted at firozbakhtahmed07@gmail.com)
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