Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha

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Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ‘Īd al-’Aḍḥá, "festival of sacrifice")

also called Bakrid, is celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his young first-born son Ishmael as an act of submission to God and his son's acceptance of the sacrifice, before God.

According to Islamic tradition, approximately four thousand years ago, the valley of Mecca was a dry, rocky and uninhabited place. Abraham was instructed to bring his Egyptian wife Hajir and Ishmael, his only child at the time, to Arabia from the land of Canaan by God's command. 

Years later, Abraham was instructed by God to return from Canaan to build a place of worship adjacent to Hagar's well (the Zamzam Well). Abraham and Ishmael constructed a stone and mortar structure known as the Kaaba which was to be the gathering place for all who wished to strengthen their faith in God. As the years passed, Ishmael was blessed with Prophethood and gave the nomads of the desert his message of submission to God. After many centuries, Mecca became a thriving desert city and a major centre for trade, thanks to its reliable water source, the well of Zamzam.

One of the main trials of Abraham's life was to face the command of God to devote his dearest possession, his only son. Upon hearing this command, he prepared to submit to God's will. During this preparation, Shaitan tempted Abraham and his family by trying to dissuade them from carrying out God's commandment, and Ibrahim drove Shaitan away by throwing pebbles at him. In commemoration of their rejection of Shaitan, stones are thrown at symbolic pillars signifying Satan during the Hajj rites.

 When Ishmael was about 13 (Abraham being 99), God decided to test their faith in public. Abraham had a recurring dream, in which God was commanding him to offer his son as a sacrifice – an unimaginable act – sacrificing his son, which God had granted him after many years of deep prayer. Abraham knew that the dreams of the prophets were divinely inspired, and one of the ways in which God communicated with his prophets. When the intent of the dreams became clear to him, Abraham decided to fulfil God's command and offer Ishmael for sacrifice.

Abraham could not bear to watch his son die so he covered his eyes by a blindfold. When he cut Ishmael's throat and removed the blindfold, he was astonished to see that Ishmael was unharmed and instead, he found a dead ram which was slaughtered. Abraham had passed the test by his willingness to carry out God's command.

Now question arises that Abraham sacrificed his most loving son who was granted to him after many years of prayers, to fulfil God’s command and faith in God, how do we prove it sacrifice (qurbani) of goat we purchased from market a day before, with our money power. In my opinion sacrifice of most loving thing, is intention behind qurbani to prove faith.

We can sacrifice our ego, jealousy, hatred feeling, greed and hurting words to prove our faith and to love God.

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