Remembrance
of Ibrahim Alaihis Salam’s multiple Sacrifices [Eid Al-Adha
and Hajj
Rituals are Focused on them]
... by Shakeel Ahmad
<shakeeluae@gmail.com>
Because of
his many sacrifices, Allah made Ibrahim Alaihis Salam his friend
(Khalil-Allah - friend of Allah, as in Quran 4:125). What a Unique
Distinction!
Let us recall those sacrifices, once again, on the auspicious occasion
of Eid Al Adha and Hajj, when millions of muslims seek salvation
following in the tradition of sacrifices rendered by a mighty prophet
(may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), with an aim to become
as emotionally intelligent as Ibrahim Alaihis Salam.
1. Facing the ire of his own father, who did not mind stoning
him,
(The
father) replied: "Dost thou hate my gods, O Abraham? If thou forbear
not, I will indeed stone thee: Now get away from me for a good long
while!" (19:46)
Or, throwing him into the fire, which eventually happened, as reported
by Allah in Quran:
They
said, "Burn him and protect your gods, If ye do (anything at all)!"
(21: 68)
So
naught was the answer of (Abraham's) people except that they said:
"Slay him or burn him." (29:24), and
They
said, "Build him a furnace, and throw him into the blazing fire!"
(37:97)
The threats, or real actions of unbelievers to harm him, did not deter
Ibrahim Alaihis Salam from his mission of conveying Allah’s message to
his people or calling them to Allah’s straight path, as is evident from
Quranic verses 6:74, 6:80-84, 19: 42-47 ("O
my father! why worship that which heareth not and seeth not, and can
profit thee nothing? …”). Allah Himself says “There
is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with
him” (60:4) and “-
for those whose hope is in Allah and in the Last Day.”
(60:6).
2. Facing
the fire, in peace, for the sake of Allah, promoting tauheed:
The crowd went in all directions gathering kindling and
firewood. A big pile of timber was piled, as high as could
be. Hundreds of people assembled talking noisily of what Ibrahim did.
Prophet Ibrahim was then tied tightly with a rope. Ibrahim
was calm, not afraid, knowing that Allah (swt) will save him.
He didn't even resist them, making the people quite astonished.
Ibrahim was tossed to the center of the woodpile which was then set
ablaze. The flames of the fire sizzled and hissed, and everyone thought
Ibrahim was burning to death, inside this inferno. They noticed they
did not hear Ibrahim scream, none at all, and wondered why. Ibrahim
A.S.’s absolute trust in the Almighty is manifest in the fact that when
Jibreel A.S. asked him to pray to Allah, he reaffirmed his faith by
saying Allah was seeing all of this, and he would take good care of his
servant. And, Allah did just that by ordering "O
fire! be thou cool, and (a means of) safety for Abraham!"
(Quran, 21:69).
3. Migration for the
sake of Allah: When Ibrahim A.S. realized that no one else
was going to believe in his call, he decided to emigrate with his wife
and Lot A.S. to a city called Ur, then to Haran, then to Palestine, and
to Egypt (Quran, 29:26), calling people of all those places to tawheed,
and guiding them to truth and righteousness.
4.
Leaving his beloved wife and infant son in an isolated place inhabited
by wild animals: Ibn Abbas narrated (more or less): When
Abraham had differences with his wife (because of Sarah’s jealousy of
Hajar, Ismael's mother), he took Ismael A.S. and Hajar away; they had a
water skin containing some water. When Abraham reached Mecca, he made
her sit under a tree and started his return journey. Hajar followed him
for a while asking him “On whom are you leaving us behind in this
desolate place where there is no habitation, nor any provisions for
habitation” Ibrahim A.S. kept going, without responding to her
questions. She repeated that to him many times, but he did not look
back at her. Finally, she asked him, "Has Allah ordered you to do so?"
To this, he responded, "Yes." She then said, "Then He will not neglect
us", and returned.
Ibrahim A.S. was not negligent of his siblings; he was himself in great
pain, but was following Allah’s commands. He left his most beloved son
who came to him in his old age, and a young caring wife when he needed
her most. Ibrahim A.S.’s love for Ismail A.S. and Hajar reflects well
in his prayer to Allah, offered on reaching Thaniya where they could
not see him, "O
our Lord! I have made some of my offspring dwell in a valley without
cultivation, by Your Sacred House (Kaba at Mecca) in order, O our Lord
that they may offer prayer perfectly. So fill some hearts among men
with love towards them, and O Allah provide them with fruits so that
they may give thanks." (Quran, 14:37)
The well-known act of Hajar to run from the hill of Safa to the hill of
Marwa, and in the valley between them, in search for water for the
thirsty Ismail A.S., the striking of ground by angel Jibreel’s feathers
leading to the gushing of Zamzam water, etc, became rituals to be
performed by all Hujjaj-e-karam until Qayamah, by the orders of Allah.
5.
Readiness to sacrifice his own son, a son who came to him
in old age (after a lot of waiting, at the fag end of his life),
unfazed by the lure of shaitan (stoning him). Allah relates to us of
this great trial of Ibrahim A.S. (and his righteous son):
And
he said after his rescue from the fire: "Verily! I am going to my Lord.
He will guide me! My Lord! Grant me (offspring) from the righteous."
So, We gave him the glad tidings of a forbearing boy. Then, when (the
son) reached (the age of) (serious) work with him, he said: "O my son!
I see in vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: Now see what is thy
view!" (The son) said: "O my father! Do as thou art commanded: thou
will find me, if Allah so wills one practising Patience and
Constancy!", So when they had both submitted their wills (to Allah),
and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), We
called out to him "O Abraham! "Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!"
- thus indeed do We reward those who do right. For this was obviously a
trial- And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice: And We left
(this blessing) for him among generations (to come) in later times:
"Peace and salutation to Abraham!" [37:99-109]
6.
Actually performing the final act of slaying his most beloved son, in
submission to the Amighty’s call: The final act of
sacrifice, as described in Quran (37:99-109), occurred on the tenth of
Dhul Hijja, when Ibrahim A.S. performed an act of sacrifice which Allah
termed as “momentous” - not known from anyone else. This great example
of sacrifice for the sake of Allah endeared Allah so much that he
declared “We
left (this blessing) for him among generations (to come) in later
times: "Peace and salutation to Abraham!" [37:108-9]
Thus the Almighty Allah made this a ritual (Eid Al-Adha) for the
believers to perform, so that they could recall the greatness of
Ibrahim A.S.’s pinnacle of obedience.
Say:
"Verily, my Lord hath guided me to a way that is straight,- a religion
of right,- the path (trod) by Abraham the true in Faith, and he
(certainly) joined not gods with Allah." [Quran,
6: 161]
|
Reaction
against the movie – Is it only against the movie?
--- By Dr
Javed Jamil (doctorforu123@yahoo.com)
The whole world has been
witnessing an intense debate on the violent protests in the Muslim
World against America on the issue of the film against Prophet
Muhammad. The US administration’s immediate reaction was total
condemnation of the attack on American embassy and the death of
Americans; as always it threatened to bring the culprits to “justice”.
Justice in American terminology almost always means violent reprisals
hugely disproportionate to the original act, which can lead to
widespread destructions, changes of regimes and massive loss of human
life. In recent days however, there have been more sober voices and the
US administration seems to have realized the anger of Muslims. There
have been efforts to totally dissociate from the movie, total rejection
of the motives behind the movie and attempt of nabbing the persons
involved in the production of the movie. However, still, the main focus
is on the nature of the Muslim reaction and an attempt to paint it as
totally unjustified. All the rightly minded Muslims have appealed for
peace and spoken against the violence. But at the same time, they have
been challenging the kind of interpretations of “freedom of speech”
that are being promoted by the Western media. They have been able to
highlight the fact that when it comes to Western interests, “freedom of
speech” is conveniently forgotten. Denying holocaust is a serious
punishable crime in most of the Western countries and critics of West
and America find hard to get visa for even academic visits.
The purpose of
this writing however is not to discuss the concept of
“freedom of speech”. What I want to point out is that in the midst of
the whole debate, what is being missed is that the Muslim anger is not
just limited to the anger against the film. There is a clear indication
that this anger is directed against America and its policies towards
Muslims. The film has only provided them an opportunity to vent their
anger, which was boiling in their minds for years. It can be easily
seen that the protests have been more widespread in the countries that
have been the victims of American intervention in one way or the other
in recent past. Libya took the lead where NATO used military power to
change the regime. In Egypt, America did everything to influence the
events and tried to contain the emergence of Islamic groups. The same
is true of Tunisia. In Yemen, too, America has been playing an active
role, which is perceived negatively by the masses. And of course,
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq remain the worst victims of American
designs of hegemony. Lebanon and Iran are two other countries where
anti-American sentiments are on the higher side. These are exactly the
countries where the protests have been most widespread, vocal and often
violent.India, with a population of around 20 millions, has remained
peaceful. Bangladesh and Indonesia, the other two most populous
countries, have witnessed protests but in terms of intensity they were
nowhere near the Arab countries andPakistan. Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi
Arab, Kuwait – all these countries have remained largely peaceful.
The message is clear. The West led by the US has to revise its policy
towards Islam and Muslim countries. America must learn to respect
Islamic ideology, Islamic concepts, Muslim lives and the sovereignty
and independence of Muslim countries. Before telling Muslims not to
react violently, it has to examine its own record. When West reacts in
response to 9/11 declaring within minutes that it was handiwork of
Muslims, never bothering even to conduct an independent conclusive
inquiry, not responding to then Afghan government's demand to show the
proof, then turning a whole country to ruins, then attacking another
country, killing in all more than 2 million people to take revenge for
3000 people, this reaction is justified by the international
institutions. If Muslims react angrily to an insult against their
Prophet, they become worst criminals. This is high time the debate
focused not on Muslim begaviour but on America’s behaviour. There
should be an international debate on the behaviour of West in general
and America in particular towards all international issues with
particular focus on their behaviour towards Islam and Muslims. If West
has to leave peacefully and let others live peacefully, they have to
let this debate take place without bias. West needs to reexamines its
whole approach and must learn to behave sensible with the Muslim world.
Muslims can no longer be threatened with force, invasions and changes
of regimes. They must be allowed to choose their own course of action.
Muslims on their part must learn to play a more aggressive role in the
international affairs, andThe whole world has been witnessing an
intense debate on the violent protests in the Muslim World against
America on the issue of the film against Prophet Muhammad. The US
administration’s immediate reaction was total condemnation of the
attack on American embassy and the death of Americans; as always it
threatened to bring the culprits to “justice”. Justice in American
terminology almost always means violent reprisals hugely
disproportionate to the original act, which can lead to widespread
destructions, changes of regimes and massive loss of human life. In
recent days however, there have been more sober voices and the US
administration seems to have realized the anger of Muslims. There have
been efforts to totally dissociate from the movie, total rejection of
the motives behind the movie and attempt of nabbing the persons
involved in the production of the movie. However, still, the main focus
is on the nature of the Muslim reaction and an attempt to paint it as
totally unjustified. All the rightly minded Muslims have appealed for
peace and spoken against the violence. But at the same time, they have
been challenging the kind of interpretations of “freedom of speech”
that are being promoted by the Western media. They have been able to
highlight the fact that when it comes to Western interests, “freedom of
speech” is conveniently forgotten. Denying holocaust is a serious
punishable crime in most of the Western countries and critics of West
and America find hard to get visa for even academic visits.
The purpose of
this writing however is not to discuss the concept of
“freedom of speech”. What I want to point out is that in the midst of
the whole debate, what is being missed is that the Muslim anger is not
just limited to the anger against the film. There is a clear indication
that this anger is directed against America and its policies towards
Muslims. The film has only provided them an opportunity to vent their
anger, which was boiling in their minds for years. It can be easily
seen that the protests have been more widespread in the countries that
have been the victims of American intervention in one way or the other
in recent past. Libya took the lead where NATO used military power to
change the regime. In Egypt, America did everything to influence the
events and tried to contain the emergence of Islamic groups. The same
is true of Tunisia. In Yemen, too, America has been playing an active
role, which is perceived negatively by the masses. And of course,
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq remain the worst victims of American
designs of hegemony. Lebanon and Iran are two other countries where
anti-American sentiments are on the higher side. These are exactly the
countries where the protests have been most widespread, vocal and often
violent.India, with a population of around 20 millions, has remained
peaceful. Bangladesh and Indonesia, the other two most populous
countries, have witnessed protests but in terms of intensity they were
nowhere near the Arab countries andPakistan. Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi
Arab, Kuwait – all these countries have remained largely peaceful.
The message is clear. The West led by the US has to revise its policy
towards Islam and Muslim countries. America must learn to respect
Islamic ideology, Islamic concepts, Muslim lives and the sovereignty
and independence of Muslim countries. Before telling Muslims not to
react violently, it has to examine its own record. When West reacts in
response to 9/11 declaring within minutes that it was handiwork of
Muslims, never bothering even to conduct an independent conclusive
inquiry, not responding to then Afghan government's demand to show the
proof, then turning a whole country to ruins, then attacking another
country, killing in all more than 2 million people to take revenge for
3000 people, this reaction is justified by the international
institutions. If Muslims react angrily to an insult against their
Prophet, they become worst criminals. This is high time the debate
focused not on Muslim begaviour but on America’s behaviour. There
should be an international debate on the behaviour of West in general
and America in particular towards all international issues with
particular focus on their behaviour towards Islam and Muslims. If West
has to leave peacefully and let others live peacefully, they have to
let this debate take place without bias. West needs to reexamines its
whole approach and must learn to behave sensible with the Muslim world.
Muslims can no longer be threatened with force, invasions and changes
of regimes. They must be allowed to choose their own course of action.
Muslims on their part must learn to play a more aggressive role in the
international affairs, and through peaceful ways.
|
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