Significance of the FESTIVAL of SACRIFICE

Eid-ul-Adha (The festival of sacrifice) or what is also called as Baqrid in the subcontinent is one of the two eids or festivals in the religion of Islam. It is celebrated on the 10th of Dhul hijja month of the islamic calender.

Many know this day as a day when Muslims slaughter animals and have sheerkurma in the morning and biryani in the noon. But many people (including many muslims) are unaware of the significance of the ritual slaughter. In this blog, I shall discuss the significance of this festival and the practice of ritual slaughter.

Thousands of years ago, there lived a man by the name of Ibrahim (also called as Abraham in the bible) who was also a Prophet of God. Ibrahim didn't have children for a long time. He was blessed with children only after old age. God tested Ibrahim by asking him to sacrifice his son for the sake of God. Although Ibrahim loved his son dearly, he obliged by the command of God and  with a lot of pain in his heart, he became ready to sacrifice his son. But just before he would slaughter his son, God stopped him from doing it and Ibrahim passed the test of God. Ibrahim submitted to the will of Almighty and was ready to sacrifice what he loved a lot for the sake of God. Commemorating this incident of absolute submission to the will of God, muslims slaughter goat or sheep or camel or cattle on the day of Eid ul Adha. 

Because he who created us, and by whose will our hearts beat and our lungs breath; and by whose power, the skies rain and the earth grows - deserves that we surrender to him in complete submission to his will. To him alone belongs the sovereignty of the universe and to him alone belongs the right of legislation to decide something to be RIGHT or WRONG. Even if something is beloved to us and God's will is against our personal inclinations, we sacrifice those inclinations of our self and submit to the will of God. In our daily lives, there will come many instances wherein we might need to sacrifice certain things in order to oblige by the will of Almighty. Sometimes you may get an opportunity to earn a lot of money by cheating others; sometimes you may feel in the examination hall that you will get distinction by copying; sometimes you may get into trouble for speaking the truth; sometimes your family and your people may become your enemies for standing up against evil & injustice. But if you have truely submitted to the will of God, you will sacrifice your inclinations and surrender to the commands of God. And that is what it means to be a Muslim!

A muslim is not someone who merely has an Arabic name or wears a certain kind of clothes, but it is him who submits his will to God. Infact the arabic word MUSLIM means the same - the one who submits his will to God or the one who surrenders to Gods will.

God says in the Quran "Neither their meat nor blood reaches God. Rather, it is your piety that reaches Him " (Chapter 22 verse 37). God is not in need of meat or blood of the animal, but by doing this ritual we oblige by the command of God to commemorate the sacrifice of Ibrahim and implement his submission to God in our lives.

The meat of the slaughter is distributed in the following manner:
1/3rd for the poor
1/3rd for family and friends
1/3rd for one's own use.

One may ask, ' why this ritual of sacrificing an animal'. The response is - We human beings need certain rituals, to help us remind of something. We hoist our national flag and salute it on Independence day commemorating the sacrifices of Indians to get rid of British oppression. It's a ritual we do every year. But it helps us as a reminder and rejuvenates the patriotism in us. Kind of like, Muslims slaughter the animal commemorating the sacrifice of Ibrahim to rejuvenate the submission of God in our souls.

Surrender to the will of king of kings, the judge of judges, the master of universe even if that means you have to sacrifice your time, wealth, family or your self, because they have been granted to you by him. And that is the significance of Eid ul adha AKA Baqrid.


Eid Mubarak 🙂

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