Hajj
and `Eid Al-Adha take us back in history to the time of a
97-year-old man being asked to take the life of a 13–year-old
boy. Who is that man? And who is that boy? And who is the one who
is making this request? If we know who the three points in this
equation are, we would have a better perspective on life and on
what life is all about.
The
man who was asked at 97 years of age to take the life of a
13-year-old boy is none other than the close friend of Allah, the
Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), the father of the prophets
and messengers. And the 13-year-old boy whose life Ibrahim was
asked to take is none other than his own son. Ibrahim had waited
for 83 years to see him walk around him, touch him, and give him
the pleasure of being a father. All of us know what that means;
all of us know what it really means for your son or daughter to
come and show his or her love that he or she possesses for you.
But
when the boy reached the age when he was able to run and play
around his father, Ibrahim went to him and said, “My darling
son, I saw in my dream that I was sacrificing you.” We all know
that the dreams of prophets and messengers are forms of revelation
from Allah Almighty. So it was the truth.
Now,
who was the one who made that request? It was none other than
Allah. The One Who created life had asked Ibrahim to take the life
of his son away. And we know that His decree was that Isma`il’s
life would not be taken away, but it was a lesson for humanity to
understand what life is all about.
Allah
wanted Ibrahim to teach humanity a lesson. Thus, brothers and
sisters, we have to understand this lesson and reflect upon it.
There are two things in life that Allah Almighty made beautiful in
this life. These two things are mentioned in the Qur’an more
than once:
(Wealth
and children are an ornament of the life of the world.) (Al-Kahf
18:46)
That
is it! Wealth and children make life beautiful. Look what
happened! Allah Almighty chose one individual to sacrifice one of
these two things, and He did not ask any other human being to do
the same. One individual was enough to sacrifice one of these two
things, and that is his child, and He asked all of us to sacrifice
the second one, wealth, so that by seeing how one man was able to
do something which we cannot, we are able to sacrifice the second
of the ornaments of life. Because Ibrahim passed the test, Allah
Almighty called him an ummah (one man equal to a whole nation, a
whole ummah).
One
individual became an ummah. Why? Because Ibrahim passed the test
of a whole ummah. He was asked to sacrifice one of the two things
that are ornaments of life, and all of us have been asked to
sacrifice the second. So because of that, he indeed, is an ummah
in the same way that we are an ummah. He truly deserves that
title:
(Lo!
Abraham was an ummah, obedient to Allah.) (An-Nahl 16:120)
This
is the spirit of `Eid Al-Adha. We have to sacrifice, brothers and
sisters, when we are called upon to sacrifice what we really like
to keep:
(Ye
will not attain unto Birr (piety and perfect goodness)
until ye spend of that which ye love.) (Aal `Imran 3:92)
If
you have a lot of money and you take a thousand dollars and give
it, this would not be birr. Birr is to have two dollars and
to give one of the dollars away although you need the two dollars
and would like to keep them for essentials. This is a sacrifice.
Sacrifice is to do something that is difficult to do. This is
sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice to do an easy thing and then to
appear at the surface as if you did a lot. No, only Allah Almighty
knows what sacrifice is all about. So, brothers and sisters, after
we finish this salah, let’s go and consider what we
really need to sacrifice. Each one of us has an Isma`il in his or
her life that needs to be sacrificed—each one of us!
