On July 31, I joined almost two billion Muslims across the globe in celebrating the largest Islamic holiday: Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice.
We commemorate the unrivaled sacrifice of Prophet Abraham and that of his family, revered as paradigms and ancestors shared among three major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
We’re familiar with Abraham’s readiness to slaughter his promised son based on a series of divinely revealed dreams. But did you know that his wife Hagar and son Ishmael also obeyed God’s will without hesitation? Ishmael was only an adolescent when he replied to his father “do as thou art commanded” in Quran 37:103. Although God stopped Abraham from carrying out the dream literally, Abraham and Hagar had already fulfilled the dream and passed the test when he settled Hagar and infant Ishmael in the barren deserts of Faran, Arabia, in order to bring life to it (Gen. 21:14-19, Quran 14:38). There, they raised the foundations of the first House of God on Earth known as the Kaaba in Mecca, originally built by our father Adam. This would become the center of the largest pilgrimage on earth: Hajj, a pillar among five actions in Islam.
As an Ahmadi Muslim, I’m reminded to willingly sacrifice that which I love for the benefit of the less fortunate. This is why we sacrifice an animal to donate it to the poor as was revealed: “Their flesh reaches not Allah, nor does their blood, but it is your righteousness that reaches Him” (Quran 22:38). While our mosques remain closed for congregational worship, we still utilize them for essential services like food and blood drives.
Irfan Chaudhry, Sandy
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