Eid-al-Azha
The sacrifice of an animal on the occasion of Eid al-Adha every year has a significant bearing on human life. It symbolizes the moulding and making of a pure life. Today, however, this sacrifice has become an annual ritual. It remains alive only as a soulless religious tradition, as something to be done as a ritual on a particular day. It seems to have no impact whatsoever on people’s lives. However, if the sacrifice were made in its true spirit, our entire society would have been very different.
Sacrifice is not the end but the beginning of real action. Sometimes, a seemingly small thing turns into something of great significance. What may appear small may symbolize something of enormous importance. So is it with sacrifice on the day of Eid al-Adha? On the face of it, the sacrifice involves offering an ordinary animal in the name of God. However, it symbolises something great rather than an occasional, spiritless and meaningless custom. By sacrificing an animal on this day, we symbolize our determination to sacrifice everything, including even our lives, for a higher purpose.
God has made this world so that he who effaces himself alone is crowned with success. The sacrifice of an animal on the day of Eid al-Adha is an annual event that reminds us of this divine law. It is not something that has no connection with mainstream life. Sacrifice is, in fact, a universal law.