Eid-ul-Adha
The Light (UK), April 1998 Issue (p. 2)
“And for every nation We appointed acts of devotion that they might mention the name of Allah on what He has given them of the cattle quadrupeds. So your God is One God, therefore to Him should you submit. And give good news to the humble.
“Whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned, and who are patient in their afflictions, and who keep up prayer, and spend of what We have given them.
“And the camels, We have made them of the signs appointed by Allah for you — for you therein is much good. So mention the name of Allah on them standing in a row. Then when they fall down on their sides, eat of them and feed the contented one and the beggar. Thus have We made them subservient to you that you may be grateful.
“Not their flesh, nor their blood, reaches Allah, but to Him is acceptable observance of duty on your part. Thus has He made them subservient to you, that you may magnify Allah for guiding you aright. And give good news to those who do good to others.
“Surely Allah defends those who believe. Surely Allah loves not anyone who is unfaithful, ungrateful.” (The Holy Quran 22:34–38)
These are some of the verses of the Holy Quran which deal with the subject of Hajj [Pilgrimage] and the sacrifice that is made at that time. The Holy Quran makes it clear that, though they may be different, yet the rituals of sacrifice of all religions were Divinely ordained. The original purpose of sacrifice in all religions was to remind people of the Unity of Godhead and that one is to submit to Him completely and without question.
According to the Holy Quran the acceptance of the Oneness of Allah is not a mere verbal profession. Just because you say “La illa ha illala” does not mean that you truly believe that there is only one god. The measure of true belief is action. Elsewhere talking of another people, the Holy Quran states that they have taken their doctors of religion to be gods. This means that even when those people were shown absolute proof of what Allah wanted them to do, they disobeyed Him at the instigation of their religious leaders. At other places the Holy Book tells us that we set up Gods besides Allah. We do not have to build temples and place idols in them to show that we have done so.
We should search our hearts to see who lives there. Does the One True God live there? Do our worldly desires live there? Is our heart full of love of wealth and power? Is it full of the fear of the person who is the current leader of our country so that we are afraid of speaking the truth to their face? Ask yourself these questions. If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you do not believe in the One True God, you have in your heart created an associate with Him. If that is the case then verbal protestations that you recite the kalimah [pronouncement of faith] will achieve little.
You may convince yourself by some torturous reasoning that you believe in the One God but your actions will always belie your protestations of belief in the Unity of God. If you believe in Allah and truly believe that He controls everything then you will not be afraid of any calamity. For, as the Holy Quran tells us, nothing happens in this world except by Allah’s permission. The good that comes your way, the affliction inflicted upon you, joy, sadness, trials all come from our Lord.
This is what verse 35 quoted above refers to. Those who are humble, submit to whatever befalls them, pray and give charity, they are the ones that Allah loves. When this verse speaks of the “hearts tremble”, it reminds us that, with few exceptions, we are creatures undeserving of Allah’s love and kindness. We should think on our actions and compare them with how Allah treats us and then tremble at the thought of what might happen if Allah were to withdraw his love and compassion from us. We should tremble at the thought of what will happen to us if Allah treated us in the same way as we treat others!
We commit sins and He forgives us. However, we do not forgive those who may have done us an injustice. We harbour grudges in our hearts and try and exact retribution when we can. We do not deserve the good things of this life, yet he provides them all for us without wishing for anything in return. If we do someone a favour, we never tire of reminding them and expect them to be forever grateful to us. When we do some good, He rewards us even more. Yet, if we employ a worker, regardless of how well he completes the task given to him, we do our best to pay him as little as possible. How eloquent is the verse when it says:
“Whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned….”
This should cause us to pray to Allah for forgiveness of our sins and to be given the strength to emulate his example. The first step to this being to give to others part of what we have earned through toil and labour.
What is the most important thing to be remembered about the sacrifice which is made at the time of Eid-ul-Adha? It is the spirit behind the sacrifice. As the Holy Quran says:
“Not their flesh, nor their blood, reaches Allah, but to Him is acceptable observance of duty on your part.”
This is the most important aspect of the sacrifice that has to be remembered. Allah has even greater control over the whole universe than we have over the animal we are sacrificing. He could compel us to do whatever He wanted. He does not do so but He wants us to do our duty of our free will.
In the end it is only those who believe who shall be successful because they are the ones that Allah will help. As has been said before belief in Islam does not just mean a mere verbal profession. It means that we put into practice what we say we believe. It is clear for the whole world to see the difference between the two. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions (Allah be pleased with them all) all believed in the Unity of Godhead and the fact that He has power over everything. This meant that they were not afraid of anything or anyone. The most humble Muslim would openly challenge Mighty Umar to justify his actions. And Umar on his part would reply.
Today we are afraid of our leaders or we want to benefit from their authority and position. In turn our leaders are intolerant. Even when their mistakes are pointed out to them they do not accept them. Instead they resort to imprisoning the critics. That is the path to disaster and that is why Muslim countries are backward.