Eid-ul-Adha: The Moral Lesson
Dr. Mohiuddin
Waseem
This week (Jan 06), Muslims all
over the world celebrated `Eid-Ul-Adha', a day to
commemorate the sacrificial act of Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him (PBUH).
Both, the Judeo-Christianity and the Islamic traditions affirm to the fact that
Prophet Abraham was tested by God Almighty in one thing which he held most dear
to his heart; a vision wherein he was to sacrifice his only son to God. When
Abraham discussed his vision with his son (Ishmael) (PBUH) he replied, "O
my father do as you are commanded. You shall, by God's will, find me to be
among the patient".
Abraham took his son Ishmael and
placed him on the ground and when he was about to sacrifice Ishmael, God called
out "O Abraham! Thou hast already fulfilled the vision! This was indeed a
manifest trial". God then provided him a ram as an alternate sacrifice in
place of his son and a reward for his sincere intentions. Afterwards God
blessed Abraham with a second son Isaac (PBUH), a great and righteous prophet.
The story can be found in the pages of the Holy Quran Chapter 37, verses
100-113.
The Biblical story in the book of
Genesis differs by naming Isaac as the favorite son stating, “And God said,
take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah;
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will
tell thee of” (Genesis 22:2). Other than that difference the stories in the
Holy Quran and the Bible are in agreement that God did not want Abraham to
actually sacrifice his son but the purpose of this trial was to test his
loyalty. Here too God stops Abraham at the last minute and makes Isaac's
sacrifice unnecessary by providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be
sacrificed instead.
Though the Holy Quran (Chapter
37) does not spell out the name of Ishmael in the text (Arabic), in the Muslim
mind the likelihood of him being the sacrificial one is strengthened by the
fact that the Quran immediately after mentioning the story of sacrifice (verses
99-111) says, “And We gave him (Abraham) the glad tidings of Isaac, a prophet,
one of the righteous”(verse 112-113) therefore one who was not born yet (Isaac)
cannot be the sacrificial one. Similarly the “only son” of Bible cannot be
Isaac because even the bible is in agreement that Isaac was Abraham’s second
son and at a time when Abraham had only ‘one son’ it was Ishmael himself.
The famous 13th century Muslim scholar
Ibn Kathir in his famous
book “Stories of the Prophets” is of the opinion that biblical account of
naming Isaac was tempered with at the hands of some Jewish scribes. He further
elaborates his point by saying, “The only thing which could have incited them
to tamper with this is their jealousy with Arabs. Ishmael is the father of
Arabs who lived in the area of Hijaz, from which our
Prophet (Mohammad) (PBUH) came. Isaac is the father of Jacob, who was called
Regardless of whom the
sacrificial one was either Ishmael or Isaac; I believe both the sons of Abraham
were righteous prophets and if asked, would have shown the same obedience to
their father in fulfilling his vision without even asking a single question.
Even if we agree for the sake of discussion that there truly was a rivalry
between Bani Ishmael and Bani
Isaac as Ibn Kathir
suggested, the message of monotheism which came out of Abraham’s family
deserves more discussion than the political feud within the family, which
serves nothing but smears the characters of these mighty prophets and seeds
hatred among the followers of Abrahamic faiths to no
avail.
In such debates we often overlook
the fact that killing of human beings especially children was a common
religious practice in ancient cultures. It was common among agrarian societies,
e.g. in the ancient
It is immaterial to me which son
of Abraham fulfilled his vision because I read the story of sacrifice in the
context of ancient Middle Eastern cultures which in those days favored human
sacrifice. I am in favor of modern understanding of the text where God inspired
Abraham in order to teach him a lesson that human sacrifice is abhorrent and it
is the surrender of ones will alone that God required.
I believe all civilizations of the world are indebted to Abraham’s family who
demonstrated the moral lesson of their sacrificial act in such a way that
abolished the era of human sacrifice in favor of animal sacrifice.
Editor's Note: This article
was originally published at PakistanLink.com You can
access the article at http://www.pakistanlink.com/Opinion/2006/Jan06/13/04.HTM
