Eid-ul-Adha and sacrifice

The origins of the modern word ‘sacrifice’ bring together the ideas of doing something (‘sacer’, Latin for ‘holy’ or ‘sacred’, and the Latin ‘facer’, meaning ‘to do or make’). This sacrifice requires an act, which itself may involve an act of doing or of not doing, but merely giving up something (chocolate, as part of a diet) is not a sacrifice as such because it does not connect to the divine. The word ‘sacrifice’, however much it may be debased in modern language, needs that connection.

By itself, the word thus has religious significance. In its history, which can be traced through several millennia, the idea of sacrifice has undergone many changes. Still, its basis, in all its aspects, has been about ‘the self-giving of a human being to the divinity’, without which the external rites have no religious value.

During the celebration of Eid-ul-Adha or Bakra Eid, Muslims commemorate the prophet Abraham (‘Ibrahim’ in Arabic) and the required sacrifice of his son at God’s command by themselves slaughtering an animal, often a sheep or goat (In the Bible, a ram was the substitute for Isaac, Abraham’s son).

This action is very often misunderstood by those outside Islam, perhaps because the idea of animal sacrifice as an offering to the divine pre-dates Islam, as something practised by believers in pagan societies, as well as in monotheistic religions such as Judaism, seeking to appease the One True God by blood sacrifice and burnt offerings. The Hindus sacrificed animals by the name ‘Bali’. Christianity sees Jesus as a last sacrifice, the final lamb, so to speak, in an otherwise valid tradition of animal sacrifice (where the blood of another absolves one’s sins).

Islam, however, broke away from this longstanding tradition of appeasing an ‘angry God’ and instead demanded personal sacrifice and submission as the only way to die before death and reach fana’ or ‘extinction in Allah’. The notion that one’s sins can be absolved through the spilling of the blood of another, the ‘vicarious atonement of sin’, is not to be found in the Qur’an. Neither is the idea of gaining favour by offering the life of another to Allah. In Islam, all that is demanded as a sacrifice is a personal willingness to submit one’s ego and individual will to Allah. 

The act symbolises a willingness to follow the divine command by giving up things that benefit us or are close to our hearts, as Abraham was asked to do. A willingness to give up some of what we possess to strengthen ties of friendship and help those in need (during Eid, portions of the slaughtered animal are usually donated to the poor, sharing the blessings that have come from Allah).

But none of this is about sacrifice as atonement for sins or using the blood to wash us free from sin:

‘It is not their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him’ (Qur’an 22:37) 

The value of the idea of sacrifice lies in our willingness to make sacrifices as part of our daily lives to stay on the Straight Path. These can be small sacrifices, giving up things that are precious, important or meaningful to us, but doing so to adhere more closely to the divine will. ‘Islam’ means ‘surrender to the will of God’.

For us, knowing what the ‘will of God’ means is, of course, the challenge: recognising it and responding to it. We start from where we are. Whether Muslim or not, we can take the idea of sacrifice and apply it in our interactions with others, whether through the things we do, the goods we share, or how we engage with family, friends, or strangers.

Have a blessed and peaceful Eid-ul-Adha!

Nishant R

Nishant R is constantly in pursuit of enhancing his spiritual journey and spreading 'Light and Love'.