By Ishola Balogun
As we all celebrate eid-il-adha on Sunday, we neeed to remind ourselves of the lessons of the eid. Just like we strove to internalise the lessons of the Eid-il-Fitr after the end of Ramadan about ten weeks ago.  Eid in Islam come with special reasons in the life of man and a way of preserving our relationships with Allah.

It is not enough though to learn the lessons, we have to imbibe it, internalise it and make it part of our lives.  This way, we would have not only lifted  our souls to rise above the ordinary but also would have served Allah and get rewarded bountifully on it.

It is the lesson of submission, obdience, and worship of Allah. It is the lesson of brotherhood and peace.

If we ponder over the story of Ibrahim (Alei salam) carefully, we’d find that Allah ordered His believing slave to slaughter his beloved son! Both the father and the son (Ismail) fully submitted to the order of Allah without questioning it.

Ibrahim didn’t look for a reason for the command that Allah gave him, nor did Ismail knowing that he was going to be sacrificed objected to it. Rather they both willingly accepted and submitted to the will of Allah.  They knew He is a God that cannot be questioned, they knew whenever He decides a thing, His supreme authority cannot be challenged, they realised He was the Creator and that their purpose was to worship Him.

They therefore submitted to him without any iota of idea that Allah was going to give a ram in place of Ismail.  Ismail who willingly accepted to be slaughted never knew too and submitted to be slaughtered all for Allah.

The slaughtering of animal ram, cow, or camel in some part of the world is therefore done on this occasion as a worship to Allah.  We must therefore submit to His ordinances completely without attempting to rationalise it.

Again, it was to show that human killing in not permissable and that to a large extent have been learned accross borders.  In the ancient cultures of the premordial days, killing of human beings especially children was a common practice.

For example in the agrarian societies and in the ancient Middle East, the sacrifice of humans to pagan gods was a normal way of showing ones devotion and loyalty to the deity. Also in the ancient China and some parts of Africa, human sacrifice was connected with ancestor worship in which human beings, slaves and servants were killed or buried alive along with the deceased kings as a form of cultural rites.

The practice was widely prevalent even across the Atlantic. We thank  Allah that He used Ibrahim to teach him a lesson that human sacrifice is abhorrent and it is the surrender of ones will alone to God that matters.  Ibrahim’s family demonstrated the moral lesson of this sacrificial act in such a way that abolished the era of human sacrifice in favor of animal sacrifice. That indeed was the purpose.

Morally, the ram and food that we eat on this day should remind us of many who are dying of hunger in our environment.  We should remember and and strive to ameleiorate the sufferring of the poor and the needy, we should strive to affect others and seek the pleasure of  Allah and be of the Muhsinun (good doers)

Remember to observe fast tomorrow, Saturday 9th of Dhul-Hijja, the day that Muslims in Makkah will gather on mount Arafat to worship Allah.   Arafat is a hillside not too far from Makkah. It was from this place Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) gave his famous Farewell Sermon during his last hajj.

The day is significant in that from dawn to sunset, pilgrims stand in supplication and devotion, wearing the same white garment, chanting the same praises and praying for God’s abundant forgiveness and mercy.  Muslims around the world who are not participating in the pilgrimage join their brothers there to fast and supplicate to God.

On the eid day, which is Sunday, Go to eid like a fasting muslim, in your best clothes to offer the two-rakah salah.  Listen to sermon, witness the first slaughtering of animal in the community, return home, eat, slaughter your animal and share to others. Enjoy yourselves.  Eid-il-Mubarak.