EID-UL-ADHA: The Day of Sacrifice. Slaughter Your Greed And Desires!

Eid-ul-Adha

The Day of Sacrifice

Sacrificing Lambs Is Fine

But The Best Sacrifice Is To

Slaughter Your Worldly Desires

And Greed

(M. Javed Naseem)

Today, the Muslim Ummah is celebrating Eid-ul-Adha (the festival of sacrifice) held every year to commemorate Prophet Abraham’s (or Ibrahim’s) submission to the Lord Creator. Abraham was commanded in a dream to sacrifice the most precious thing of his life and there was nothing dearer to him than his first son Ishmael. As he put the knife on the throat of his son, the angel appeared and told him that he had passed the toughest test and his sacrifice had been accepted by God. So, the son was replaced by a lamb and he sacrificed a lamb. Muslims follow the same ritual and sacrifice different animals (lambs, sheep, goats, cows or camels) to please their Lord. They are supposed to share the meat with the poor and the less fortunate.

  

There are three messages in this ritual:

1. Surrender or submit to your Lord unconditionally and obey His Will! Obedience to Allah is the first and the foremost thing in the life of a believer.
2. No precious object (offspring, wealth or property), nothing is more important than the pleasure of the Lord Almighty, Who gives us all the bounties. So, we should give (or sacrifice) the best things for Him.
3. Share with the poor, the needy and the less fortunate whatever good things Allah has blessed you with, showing Him your gratitude.

Strive For Peace And Justice By

Fighting Injustice And Corruption

With All Your Might!

In today’s world, we are running a race of material possessions and monetary gains. We have forgotten all codes of ethics, all morals, our values and our obligations. In fact we have forgotten God and have been following the Devil who is our eternal enemy. Hence all the bloodshed, wars, bombing and killing, injustice, moral bankruptcy and numerous other political, economic, social, cultural and spiritual problems.

What we have lost is invaluable. We have lost contentment, patience, modesty and with that our peace and happiness. Money cannot get you those precious commodities. We need to revert to the One and Only Who can provide us with those blessings. We need to revert to Allah and follow His commands to achieve peace and happiness.

We are fighting wars left, right and center. What we really need to fight is our own self, our desires and our greed. And that requires a lot of courage!

On this great day of Eid-al-Adha, I forward to you the Divine Message that is contained in the last 10 verses of Surah (Chapter 89) al-Fajr (the Dawn) of the Holy Quran. Allah, the Almighty, says:

89:15
“Now, as for man, when his Lord tries him,

giving him honor and gifts, then says he, (puffed up),

"My Lord has honored me."

89:16
“But when He tries him, restricting his subsistence

for him, then says he (in despair),

"My Lord has humiliated me!"

89:17
“Nay, nay! But you honor not the orphans!”

89:18
“Nor do you encourage one another to feed the poor!”

89:19
“And you devour inheritance - all with greed!”

89:20
”And you love wealth with inordinate love!”

Allah has clearly defined the root-cause of all our problems: We are committing crimes against other human beings, especially the down-trodden, the weak, the orphans, and the poor with our greed. We are running a fatal race of materialism defying all rules and norms. In other words we are promoting corruption and injustice on the earth. And believe Me, Allah does not like that a bit. Don’t you know that ‘all that is in the Heavens, the Earth and in between, belongs to Allah’? You cannot be allowed to destroy that! Therefore, Allah reminds us of the warning and the consequences on the Day of Judgment, in the following verses:

89:21
”Nay! When the earth is pounded to powder;”

89:22
”And your Lord comes, and His angels, rank upon rank;”

89:23
”And Hell, that Day, is brought (face to face),

on that day will man remember, but how will

that remembrance profit him?”

89:24
”He will say: "Ah! Would that I had sent forth

(good deeds) for (this) life (in the Hereafter)!"

89:25
”For, that Day, His chastisement will be such that

no chastisement could be worse than His.”

(al-Quran 89:15-25)

The earlier nations had the same problems and they were punished. They were destroyed and we can learn a lesson from their ruins around the world. God sent to them Prophets with the similar messages. The Bible says:

1-Peter 3:11

“They must turn from evil and do good;

they must seek peace and pursue it.”

James 3:18

“Peacemakers who sow in peace

reap a harvest of righteousness.”

We are speeding towards Hell and there seems to be no ‘speed-breakers’ on the way. Can we still reflect and repent? Time is running out!

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