Eid Al-Adha; A Drill for Sacrificing Oneself for God
Muslim scholar Mohammad Soroush Mahallati has touched upon some points about the philosophy of sacrifice in Islam. What follows is a summary of his remarks.
Two questions can be framed with regard to sacrificing animals. 1) Is killing animals moral or immoral? 2) Supposing that killing animals to use their meat is not immoral, can this act have a religious aspect?
The responsibility for answering the first question lies in ethical schools. But the second question has religious aspects and is related to the tradition of sacrificing which is a sort of ritual and act of worship, especially in Abrahamic religions.
Allameh Tabatabai believes that Sharia should be based on nature; so we should see that the system of feeding works in the world.
The life of humans relies on having a suitable nutrition regime. This correlation has two conditions; 1) the food should not harm the body, 2) it does not create hatred in humans. Using meat correlates to the nature and nutrition system of mankind. Plants, animals, and humans feed on each other in nature; it is a cycle that each of these elements has a relation and role in it. God has placed the food of each creature inside this system.
Sacrifice has not been introduced by Islam as it had been in place in earlier religions, however, there are differences between this ritual in Islam compared to earlier religions.
The first characteristic of this ritual in Islam is that it should only be carried out for God Almighty; sacrifice for stars, angels, and individuals is strongly rejected in Islam.
Islam is highly sensitive about two issues; one of them is the issue of Sojud as this act is not allowed in front of anything or person other than God. The second issue is sacrifice as the aim of the act should only be God.
“It is not the flesh and blood of your sacrifice that pleases God. What pleases God is your piety.” (Surah Hajj, verse 37)
The second issue that Islam amended with regard to sacrifice is cutting wrong past traditions. In the past, people used to sacrifice animals for gods and
According to Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, it is not the act of killing an animal that pleases God, rather, what leads to satisfaction is the act of feeding. God’s satisfaction lies in the perfection of man in individual and social life as the sole act of offering blood will not help man reach these aims.
One of the other philosophies of sacrifice is that it is training for sacrificing ourselves for God and His path. Accordingly, we prepare ourselves to give away our life or valuables for the sake of God Almighty.
