Every year on Eid-ul-Azha, commonly known as Bakra Eid, I recall
those childhood memories when I simply failed to understand the purpose of this
highly significant day. I only celebrated Ramzan Eid back then and didn’t understand
the point of sacrificing all these animals and then celebrating a day for it. At
that time Bakra Eid only meant one thing: MESS!
I was a fussy child. The blood soaked roads, the nauseous
odors and the cattle waste spread everywhere was something I simply dreaded. Hence,
Bakra Eid was the day I dreaded the most in my life.
Rewinding back decades, I remember sleeping with my parents for
many days after Bakra Eid because I would get nightmares of butchers and their
knives. *shivers*
I used to wonder why Allah asked us to celebrate this day.
Why is it even a festivity? When asked aloud, our elders used to brief us the historic
events that mark this day. That led to more confusion. If even we had to
sacrifice an animal because Hazrat Ibrahim did it, why do we have to celebrate?
Sacrificing and then celebrating – these were two opposite words for me and I just
couldn’t link the two of them together.
It is just a pity that I learnt the significance of Bakra
Eid after so many years of my life. I feel remorse at wasting those childhood
days, fussing over the house getting dirty. Luckily for my son, I learnt this
lesson just in time to teach him what Bakra Eid actually means.
As I see him playing with his goats, feeding them with his
own hands, caressing them and enjoying every moment, I think about his reaction
when he will find out that his beloved goats will be slaughtered on Eid Day. But
that is when I will teach him an important lesson.
SOMETIMES, WE JUST HAVE TO SACRIFICE THE THINGS WE LOVE THE
MOST FOR THE SAKE OF SOMETHING THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE.
In this case, it is the love of Allah. We do it out of His
love. His love is more important than our love for the cattle. We buy the
cattle from our own money, we nurture and feed them ourselves, we take care of all
their needs and then we sacrifice them with our own hands. Because Allah asked
us to. That is what our test is. And the celebration after that is the reward
of clearing the test.
That is how sacrifice and celebration are linked together.
Eid-ul-Azha is all about sacrificing. If you are honored
with the chance of going for pilgrimage at this time of year, you will find
yourself doing things that look senseless and are not routinely required. “Some
things in Islam escape all logical thinking”, this is what our elders will tell
us if we ask them “why is it required? What is the purpose?”
Leaving your comfortable and luxurious house to live in Mina
for 3 days, praying in the ground of Arafat and staying there under the extreme
heat of sun with no air-conditioners, spending a night on the rocky ground of Muzdalfa
under open skies with nothing to provide shelter and then finally shaving off
your head; this does sound senseless, doesn’t it? But if you think logically,
this is the time you learn some very important lessons of sacrificing. You sacrifice
all your luxuries and comforts to blindly follow what Allah has required. Think
about it. Allah doesn’t ask a man to shave his beard because he knows that is
easy for him. But instead he asks a man to shave his head because he knows men
love their hair. This reminds me of a joke that a man who got an expensive hair
transplant would never go for pilgrimage.
But that is what SACRIFICE is and that is what Islam teaches
us.
And Islam is so perfect that it doesn’t require a woman to
shave her head because then it will destroy the woman’s beauty and her
femininity.
My mother often says, “Be thankful that Allah sent down a
lamb in place of Hazrat Ismail. If it were him, we had to sacrifice humans.”
No, my dear mother.
The Quran says: “This day have I
perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you and have chosen
for you Islam as your religion…” [5:3]
And this is a proof that Islam is a perfect religion.
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