Eid-ul-Adha

Peace upon to you my brothers and sisters. Alhamdulillah, thank God that today we still live in Islam. May Allah always bless us and pour out forgiveness to all of us. As we acknowledge, we will be celebrating Aidiladha next week. As many are aware, it is one of the biggest and most important events in the annual Muslim calendar.

            Eid-ul-Adha is  the  Muslim festival that marks the end of the pilgrimage to Makkah  known as Hajj. Eid-ul-Adha is also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,”and it commemorates Prophet Ibrahim’s faith and devotion to God.

According to Islam, God asked Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, and although he was a good man and loved his son very much; his faith and devotion to God was strong enough that he would accommodate God’s request. Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his own son for God caused God to spare his son’s life in which a lamb was sacrificed in his place.

Islam encourages us to be ever willing to sacrifice in the name of God and actually sacrifice can come in many forms such as time, energy, and material. And we should realise that sacrifice is not only limited on the day of Aidiladha but should be practice in our daily life as our devotion to God.

This is mentioned in verse 2 of Surah al-Kauthar in the Quran: "Therefore to thy Lord turn in prayer and sacrifice."

            Indeed, the true apotheosis of qurban goes beyond the sacrificing of animals. In the context of contemporary society, we need people who are willing to come forward to help others in need.

            The act of qurban should be extended to our everyday lives in the form of altruistic acts. One form of altruism is organ and tissue donation. In Malaysia, the number of organ pledges has increased over the years.

            We as muslim in Malaysia should be aware the majority of the pledges in Malaysia are from non-Muslim and in fact many Muslims are those who are waiting for the organ donations. However, many Muslims are still reluctant to do this donation although National Fatwa Committee has deliberated way back in 1970 that organ donation is permissible in Islam. This reluctance may be the result of a lack of information, lack of understanding or pure selfishness. Nevertheless, we should keep in mind that the reward for saving other people's lives is also significant in the eyes of Islam.

 This is stated in verse 32 of Surah al-Maidah where God says to the effect: "If anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people."

            We should keep in mind that doing service for humanity is one of the greatest ways we can show our devotion to Allah. Allah likes it so much when we help others that He forgives us our sins for something as simple as moving some thorns out of the path where people walk. Allah grants His forgiveness to those who sacrifice of themselves to help the victims of misfortune.

Abû Hurayrah quotes the Prophet (peace be upon him) as saying: “A man was going on his way when he saw brambles in the path. He moved these out of the way. Allah so esteemed his virtuous act that He granted him forgiveness." [Sahih Muslim] The main lesson to draw from this hadith is the prayers and other ritual acts of worship that we perform are fruitless unless we engage in the service of humanity.

The value of helping others is a universal truth, because Allah does not ignore the person who makes sacrifices in the service of fulfilling people's needs. We as Muslims should try to cultivate the habit of giving service to humanity, seeking only Allah's pleasure and His reward in the Hereafter. J

Editted by : NOR AZLIN BINTI MUSTAPA

ACADEMIC AND TARBIYAH BUREAU

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Based on articles in official portal of INSTITUT KEFAHAMAN ISLAM MALAYSIA (IKIM) and Islam Today Website.