Yakoub over at Anarcho Akbar recently started a discussion on the sacrifices of Eid al-Adha. For the past few days I've been mulling over the subject myself trying to think of something "deep" to share on the subject... we'll see how it goes...lol...
One of the things which appeals to me most about Islam is that it has a certain eternal and ancient quality. If I wanted to sound all fancy I might say Islam is "transparent to its own particularity". It isn't just some Arab religion which started 1400 or so years ago. As Schuon puts it, Islam is about the meeting between God as such, and man as such. In some sense which is hard to explain to non-Muslims, Islam really is the first religion, the natural religion, din al-fitra, the religion of Adam, Noah, Moses and all the prophets.
In another sense, Islam is also the religion of Abraham especially. There are many examples of elements which appear in the story of Abraham found in the Bible (and are confirmed by the Quran and hadith) which are a part of Islamic practice today; for example circumcision, pilgrimage and sacrifice.
The idea of sacrifice is something which seems foreign to our modern secular sanitized pre-conceived notions of religion, but at the same time it is hits on something raw and primal which really forces us to vividly confront life and death. And it wasn't just limited to a few peoples here and there, but is widespread among many different religious groups in human history, the ancient Hebrews, the Aztecs, the Yoruba, the Greeks and Romans, and Hindus among others.
But in Islam, it is not claimed that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." God is not like some Cosmic Shylock who demands His pound of flesh before he will allow Himself to forgive you.
The Quran says about the sacrifices:
One of the things which appeals to me most about Islam is that it has a certain eternal and ancient quality. If I wanted to sound all fancy I might say Islam is "transparent to its own particularity". It isn't just some Arab religion which started 1400 or so years ago. As Schuon puts it, Islam is about the meeting between God as such, and man as such. In some sense which is hard to explain to non-Muslims, Islam really is the first religion, the natural religion, din al-fitra, the religion of Adam, Noah, Moses and all the prophets.
In another sense, Islam is also the religion of Abraham especially. There are many examples of elements which appear in the story of Abraham found in the Bible (and are confirmed by the Quran and hadith) which are a part of Islamic practice today; for example circumcision, pilgrimage and sacrifice.
The idea of sacrifice is something which seems foreign to our modern secular sanitized pre-conceived notions of religion, but at the same time it is hits on something raw and primal which really forces us to vividly confront life and death. And it wasn't just limited to a few peoples here and there, but is widespread among many different religious groups in human history, the ancient Hebrews, the Aztecs, the Yoruba, the Greeks and Romans, and Hindus among others.
But in Islam, it is not claimed that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." God is not like some Cosmic Shylock who demands His pound of flesh before he will allow Himself to forgive you.
The Quran says about the sacrifices:
It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right. [22.37]
And at once this very concrete and basic human ritual is not just seen in a superficially literal or superstitious way but is a symbol for something more which lies beneath the surface.
For more information:
The Fiqh of Qurbani by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Distributing Udhiya/Qurbani Meat to Needy Non-Muslims by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Philosophy of Qurbaani by Mufti Taqi Usmani
Zulhijjah: Eidul-Adha, Hajj, Sacrifice, etc. by Mufti Taqi Usmani
5 comments:
that was a really good post. and i thought it was quite deep... thanks
happy eid.
p.s. when you mentioned schuon, did you mean Understanding Islam? i wanna read that book.
i have two books for him that I havent read.
Yeah, Understanding Islam. It's a good book. I'd be a bit cautious about Schuon though.
I also have an earlier entry about him (or Perennialism and Traditionalism in general)
Which two books do you have?
i'll go look up your entry.
oh wait i have three of his books:
- Islam and the Perennial Philosophy
- The Transcendent Unity of Religions
- Sufism: Veil and Quintessence
but I haven't read any of them.. the language seems too "stuck up" to me, somehow. and i dont read a book unless i get a good vibe from it, and i'm not feeling that pull to any of his books.
i had got them after I met Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din (Martin Lings).. was thinking of joining their Maryamiyya tariqa back then. my cousin's wife is in it. but i'm really glad i didnt. i dont agree with perennialism, and i'm not too sure about Schuon.
i was impressed by Shaykh Abu Bakr though, and I like him. i get a good feeling about him. I liked his "Ancient Beliefs, Modern Superstitions".
but even tho i kinda like him, i sitll have a lot of reservations. i have a few books of his, and in The Book of Certainity he quotes certain ahadith that have no isnad, no basis whatsoever, and sound too... heretical.
May God bless his soul tho. I remember going to their dhikr meetings 3 or 4 times, and everytime he would start with "ya ikhwani al fuqaraa" and it was really beautiful hearing him say it.
also, altho i said i dont agree with perennialism, i agree with a lot of their empasis on traditionalism.
i thought Guenon's the Crisis of the Modern World to be quite good, and i LOVE the writings of Charles Le Gai Eaton (aka Hasan Eaton).
I've heard odd things about the Maryamiyya. I wonder to what extent the contraversial practices were connected to their beliefs?
I haven't read a ton of stuff from Lings. Just What is Sufism? (which givs kind of "pretty" explanation of perennialism without really using the term) and his biography of the prophet (saaws).
The perennial approach makes sense to me, as a way of being charitable to others... but I think within that one still has to take the decision to be Muslim seriously.
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