AR Bhat
What is utmost devotion? If we take a closer look at Islam it’ll be clear that practicing Muslims are required to submit themselves completely to Allah, the very word Islam itself means submission to the will of God. The Islamic history is full of instances wherein people have gone to extreme extent to full fill God’s desire but one such anecdote is that of Prophet Ibrahim A.S, such was his devotion that even today it’s remembered and celebrated as Eid-al-Adha.
Prophet Ibrahim A.S is a towering personality in the middle East, he’s not only a revered in Islam but also in Christianity and Judaism as Abraham, his legend now inspire Muslims all over the World due to his utmost devotion to God. The story goes:-
Prophet Ibrahim A.S a devote believer was not his usual self, something had been bothering him so he finally decided to speak to his son Ishmael about it, so he calls his son and with a heavy heart tells him that he has been having a recurrent dream and that he is slaughtering him. Ishmael who too believed him God asked his father to fulfil God’s wish and not let his devotion be clouded by the love he has for his son. Ibrahim prepares to sacrifice his son to prove his devotion.
Shaytaan then set on play his dirty tricks wherein he tried to dissuade Ibrahim and his family from carrying out God’s command but Ibrahim’s faith was not shaken and he drove Shaytaan away by throwing pebbles at him.
Acknowledging the purity of Ibrahim’s heart and his utmost devotion towards him God honoured both Ibrahim and Ishmael by sending angel Jibreel (Gabriel) who then announced that God is pleased by Ibrahim’s devotion and produced a lamb from heaven for him to sacrifice and spared his son.
From that day on Ibrahim’s devotion is remembered and celebrated by Muslims across the World as Eid-al-Adha and his actions against Shaytaan are symbolically repeated by throwing stones at pillars during Hajj rites.
The celebrations during this day includes sacrificing animals and then distributing it’s meat in three equal parts, one third of it is for the family that sacrificed the animal, one third for friends and relatives and one third is to be given away as charity to poor. This festival not only serves as a remembrance of Ibrahim’s sacrifice but also as a reminder to teach the importance of charity to the needy. It also teaches us that while following the path of God we may be dissuaded by certain powers which wants us to stray from the path of the God but we must hold firm to our faith and shouldn’t let anyone dissuade us.
Some may be skeptical of the tale others may argue that its animal cruelty but we must look at the principle of it, as for those who are skeptical criticism arises due to divine interventions and involvement of angels. Every religion in the world is related to divinity in some form or the other, the very basis of religion is divine therefore, rather than going into the specifics of it we must appreciate the message it gives out. In this tale the message is one of ultimate devotion to God, for parents their child is the world they work tirelessly and without any expectations to nurture their children and any parent would willingly sacrifice themselves for the sake of their child but out here Ibrahim’s devotion outweighed the love for his child which serves as a reminder that one must be ready to sacrifice even the dearest of the thing in the path of God.
As for animal cruelty all that one can argue is that the meat is not wasted rather a third of it is given away as charity thereby serving a social message that we must always look after the people who are not as blessed as us.
These festivals not only give a message of inclusivity but also gives us a look at the religion that governs billions of people across the world so we all must respect that and also incorporate the social message that comes with it in our lives. The message of devotion, charity and not to let oneself dissuade from their paths in life no matter the temptation to do so one must always believe in their path and work tirelessly to become a better human being both for themselves and for the World.
