Eid al-Adha: A Great Occasion for Muslims
Hasan A. Yahya, Ph.Ds
This article is written for Muslims and non-Muslims for knowledge and understanding between cultures. After reading this article, you will gain some knowledge about a misunderstood Islamic occasions, sometimes among its followers. Yes, a lot of them think that this Eid is so cruel to sheep and is so uncivilized. Because they did not know the reasons for this Eid,Or they do judge the act from the outside. It’s just an invitation to take a deeper look on the occasion.
1. Eid al-Adha is one of the two main occasions for Muslim to celebrate. The occasion is to share those who went for pilgrimage to Makka each year. Almost about three million people gather each year to perform the fifth principle in Muslim Faith. After Shahadatayn, prayer, fasting and giving alms or Zakat. Muslim have to eat meat (Sheep, Cows, and checkens, are legal, but pork like in the Jewish faith is illegal).Eid Al Adha, means the “Fest of Sacrifice”. Muslims celebrate it in remembrance of the story of prophet Ibrahim. As you know God tests us all the time. And God wanted Ibrahim to prove his strong belief in him by checking if he’d do anything for the love of God. So God asked him to kill his own son, which is something impossible normally, and which was so harsh on Ibrahim, but still he chose to fulfill God’s will and sacrifice his son. But the minute he was about to kill his son, God replaced the boy with a sheep to be killed instead of the boy as a reward for his strong belief, proving once again that God tests people’s faith but is never willing to hurt them.
2. Eid Al Adha is an occasion to remember God’s mercy and the devotion and faith of the believers. It’s an occasion to share the poor and give them a chance to eat meat that they can’t afford. If you can afford buying a sheep, then never forget to donate as much as you can for the poor, this is the spirit of Eid Al Adha, it’s not about showing off nor stuffing yourself with different meat dishes. And make sure you use appropriate places for the purpose of slaughtering, and streets aren’t the place for sure. Yet the difference between what God asked us to do and what people are actually doing is what destroyed the balance of nature. God asked us to be good to other creatures, care for them and when we need them, we should do our best not to hurt them. You shouldn’t cut off the leaves of a plant for fun, you shouldn’t burn it and you should use it in a gentle way. Just like animals, you shouldn’t torture them and you shouldn’t use them in a bad way. So no negative use, but you can still use them. “I will not eat meat. I don’t want to have Mad Cow Disease”, anyone who says this has the right to be scared, but the problem won’t be solved that way. We wouldn’t have got Mad Cow Disease nor Birds’ flue or any other animal disease if we took the right precautions before eating their meat. And God has created us all to live together and improve. Animals eat plants and other animals and sometimes humans. And Humans eat plants and animals and some plants eat other plants and insects and live on the rest of dead bodies. We’re all created as a natural circle and practice loyalty to God. To justify this point, many people might not be satisfied with this argument, but it’s serious, actually a lot of normal people test others’ loyalty towards them in different ways. Men test women’s love, women test men’s loyalty, kids test their family's appreciation, friends test each other’s trust… etc. Some ways could be reasonable like for example a father asking his son to stop smoking to show his love for his dad, or a mother asking her little girl to eat all her dish to prove her love for her mom. And some are silly, like a woman asking her husband to sell the dearest thing he has just to prove his love for her. Or a guy asking a girl to forget about the whole world and run away with him to a new place where he has no life and no future at all, just to prove her love for him... But the difference between God’s testing and people’s testing is that God just tests and isn’t waiting for things to actually happen, and God rewards without you even doing the thing. God wants nothing in return. But people, we ask, we want things to be done our way, and then we’re just “pleased”. No rewards but a “thank you” that might not even come from the bottom of the heart.
3. Eid al-Adha is an act celebrated to please God and have His forgiveness, no matter what logic behind it. Some people believe as animal friends and call for the rights of animals and all, when they actually aren’t any different from those who eat animal meat. It is a fact, that we all eat, some eat everything, some eat only vegetables, or fruits or serials. The thing is when you eat vegetables you are eating living creatures as well. And if something doesn’t have eyes nor legs, or if it doesn’t have a mouth, that doesn’t mean it’s dead! Plants are alive, they have souls, they have families, a grand tree, a baby plant … they’re just like all other living creatures.
4. One more point I have to explain here, concerning some words describe meat in the super-markets such as “Halal” meat. It means it was slaughtered following Islamic instructions, which are: taking a healthy animal (sheep, cow, chicken..), then saying: “In the name of God the Merciful” to it (yes you should talk to it to calm it down and show respect to its soul as well as mercy for its body) and then quickly cut a certain vein in a certain point in the neck. And if you make a quick research you’ll find out that it’s the best way for both the animal and the human, why? For the animal because it’s so quick, and hits the point where pain is felt the least, so it doesn’t hurt the animal at all, opposite to using electric shocks and stuff which leaves the animal suffering before it’s dead. And good for the humans because this cut vein releases excess old blood (following scientific pressure rules) leaving the body with only pure fresh blood that was newly generated and that will be easily took out of the body while cooking. Oh, and last but not least, the released blood should be cleaned away. (1150 words) www.hasanyahya.com
About the author: Hasan Yahya is an American Arab scholar, and a professor of sociology. He published 20 plus books and 180 plus articles on sociology, psychology, politics, poetry, IQ Test Measurement and short stories in both Arabic and English. His articles (180 Plus) may be found on articlesbase.com, Face book and other internet sites. His recent book published on Amazon titled: Lawlaki: Lawlaki Poetry Diwan, Zawjat lil-Bay's: Tales from America, 2000 Bayt Min al-Shi'r al-Arabi (from Emri’ al-Qays to Nizar Qabbani) and Zawjatu al-Sultan, all in Arabic.(On Amazon, July 2009). His recent activities reflects his talents and knowledge on youtube’s Dr.Yahya Channel TV videos under the name of askdryahya.