What is Eid ul Adha and why do Muslims Sacrifice? | Mufti Menk

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and it's way too fun to miss. May the peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon you all, my beloved

brothers and sisters in humanity and in faith as well. Muslims generally have two major occasions of

happiness and joy the days known as the days of Eid. They always come after dedicated worship

after a huge sacrifice after having done something major for the Almighty. For example, the first

Eid known as Eidul fitter is at the end of the ninth month of the lunar calendar that the Muslims

actually follow and that is the month of Ramadan where in which we fast we stay away from things

that are otherwise permissible. Normal water and normal general food that we would eat

on any day and even relations with our spouses. So we stay away from that during the daylight hours

only. For an entire month the idea is to achieve closeness to the Almighty to discipline yourself.

Islam is all about discipline you need to be able to obey instructions and listen to that which

is beneficial to you. So after dedicating your month to acts of worship and benefiting yourself as

well through perhaps improving your health through the fasting, disciplining yourself for the Almighty

and enjoying the beautiful month of Ramadan, the Almighty gives us a day known as the day of

Eidul fitter depicting the end of the fasting season. And that is a beautiful day deserved, well

deserved after a month of goodness. Now in a similar way, in the last month of the lunar calendar

which is known as the month of the Lahidja, that's the 12th month of the lunar calendar.

In that month from the beginning of the month right up to the 9th, the 10th days,

we are trained to actually engage in extra acts of worship. The Prophet Muhammad,

may peace be upon him, has said that there are no days where in which the Almighty loves acts of

worship more than the first 10 days of the Lahidja which is the 12th month of the lunar calendar.

Now Ramadan we know was all about fasting. What about the Hajj? The Hajj is all about the Prophet

Abraham and his sacrifice. So he sacrificed his son. According to the Muslim scriptures,

that son was Ismail. According to the Jewish and the Christian scriptures, that son was Ishaq or

Isaac, may peace be upon them all. Nonetheless, this son who was sacrificed, what was the reason behind

that sacrifice? The Prophet Abraham, may peace be upon him, was very close to the Almighty. He was

the father of all the prophets who came after him, according to Islamic belief. And he was revered.

He was respected. He was Khalilullah, meaning a friend of the Almighty. And he had built what we

know as the Qaba in Mecca, a house of worship, wherein which people would gather and worship the

Almighty alone, their maker and no one else. So when that happened, at a certain point he saw a

dream. And in that dream, he was instructed by the Almighty to sacrifice his son. Perhaps,

according to Muslim scriptures, in order to serve as a lesson for all of us that the Almighty

actually should come before everything and anything else. Obedience to the Almighty is always

first. So when you get too attached to something, it becomes unhealthy. If you're too attached to

your son or your daughter or your spouse or anything material, there is a point beyond which it

becomes unhealthy. Because if you were to lose them to the Almighty's destiny through death or

something bad were to happen, you would not be able to survive the loss. So we're not allowed to

harm anyone. Obviously that instruction was something divine for a purpose. And even the fulfillment

was not exactly as it was instructed, but I'll explain in a moment how it happened. Going back

to the lesson that we learn from it, when you get too attached to something material, for example, say

your car or your phone or something in your house, your clothing, the day the clothing is burnt with

the iron, the day the car is damaged, the day your product is broken, you may become so angry and

vexed that you might lose control, you might harm people, you might do something silly, you might

harm yourself depending on what exactly you've lost. So the Almighty is telling us, listen, I come

before everything else. Destiny is chosen by me, prescribed by me. Yes, you have a role to play

and I've given you a choice. And the only thing you're going to be questioned about on the day

of judgment is how you utilize the choice that I actually gave you. If I did not give you a choice

about something, I'll never ask you about it because it's not fair. So the Prophet Abraham was

instructed to sacrifice his son. He told his son, according to the Quranic scripture, obviously I'm

speaking about the Muslim narrative, he told his son, oh my son, I've been instructed through a

dream to actually sacrifice you. What do I do? His son says, well, do as you told, because the Almighty

will never let us down. And so he then was known, it's known that he took his son and he was about

to enact what the Almighty had instructed him when the Almighty replaced that son with a ram

from heaven. And that depicted the ultimate submission to the Almighty, which means you've understood

that everything comes from the Almighty, everything belongs to the Almighty. Don't get so attached,

obviously we're all naturally attached, but there is a level beyond which it becomes toxic

and it even becomes dangerous for us. So the Almighty is the owner, he gave it to you in the first

place and he is going to take it back at some point. Now that sacrifice, when it was replaced with a

ram, the Almighty loved it so much that he asked us all to reenact that more for the lesson than

anything else. So the Almighty says, look, the meat or the blood is not going to get to the Almighty,

la yana la laha luhomua according to the Quranic script in the Arabic language, wala dhima uha,

wala kim, yana luhu takawaminkum. It is the piety and the god consciousness that is of essence,

not the meat and the blood, etc. of the ram or the sacrificial animal. So in the first 10 days of

the Prophet, peace be upon him, Muhammad, peace be upon him said, there are no days where in which

acts of worship are more loved by the Almighty than the first 10 days of the Hedja.

When it came to Ramadan, the nights were more sacred, indeed. And we were taught that the nights of

Ramadan are so loved by Allah when you worship the Almighty in those days or in those nights,

and during the day you're actually fasting. So when it comes to the Hedja, it's the day that's

of essence. And the night, yes, you spend in the worship of the Almighty as well, Muslims pray five

times a day, two of those prayers are at night, one of them is just after sunset, one is slightly

later and one is before the sun rises. So actually three of them are after sunset, two of them are at

night and two of them are during the day, that makes five. Those are short prayers that don't last

more than a few minutes, but it's just to be able to turn to the Almighty, remind yourself, I came

from there, I'm going to go back there, the one who made me is going to have mercy on me and he is

the only one I worship. And I call him Allah, which means the worshiped one, Eloha or Elohim in the

Hebrew language. Now the Prophet Abraham and his sacrifice, his life is celebrated by the Muslims

in a great way. His son Ismail, his son Isaac or his heart may peace be upon them all, his wives

and everything that he did, the dedication is studied by the Muslims just like it studied by others.

But we reenact this, we worship the Almighty for these nine whole days and on the 10th day we're

given an Eid known as Idul Abha, Idul Abha actually lasts for three days. So that Eid,

where we're in which we're meant to reach out to the poor again, with meat, with food stuff,

with something to eat, with something to celebrate with, we're meant to be reaching out to the poor.

And that's why the Almighty says, divide your sacrifice into three. A third you can eat from,

a third give your family and friends and a third dedicated to the poor. That's an amazing Islamic

teaching. Even your wealth, it would be brilliant if you could divide it into three. It's not compulsory

regarding your general wealth because there is a bare minimum that you have to give known as the

charity, the Zakat. So charity in the English language has the understanding that it's totally

voluntary. Whereas when it comes to the Zakat that the Muslims give, it's not voluntary,

but it's a type of charity that's actually compulsory. You must give two and a half percent.

So when it comes to the sacrificial animal we give and we reach out to the poor. The idea is to be

able to become a better person. With all of these teachings, the idea is to improve on two things.

Every time Islam has taught us something, the idea is to improve on two things. One is your

relationship with the one who made you and two is your relationship with everything else that he

has made as simple as that. Now you have people from different understandings at times, a minority

who misinterpret things and they are cruel towards those who perhaps belong to other faiths,

maybe other races, maybe other nationalities. This is not only within the Muslims, but a lot of

people have this misunderstanding. We are actually brothers and sisters because we come from Adam

and Eve. And even though we may not share the same faith, notice at the beginning I said,

my beloved brothers and sisters in humanity at least. And even in faith, some of you might be

my brothers and sisters in faith too, but if you're not, no big deal. You're still my brothers and

sisters in humanity. The minimum I afford you is the respect of a human being of an extended

family of mine, even if I disagree with you. And that's something that we're taught as Muslims.

And this is where when the sacrifice comes in, we as Muslims, we do have a little bit of

difference of opinion regarding certain details, you know, how old should the animal be exactly what

time should it happen? And so on, is there a leeway? Is there no leeway? But that does not remove

us from being connected in the same way when you don't belong to my faith. It doesn't remove

us from being connected through humanity. And we should discuss our faith. I mean, today I'm

speaking to you. Tomorrow you can speak to me. Tell me what you believe, what you think. We should

be free to do this in a very respectful way. No attacking people, no abusing them, no swearing

them. Just present your opinion. You may want to express why you feel someone else is wrong. But

in a beautiful way, just to get them to understand and then to make their minds up as to what exactly

they want to do. Now, this is something that is lacking in today's world. Or should I say,

it needs to be encouraged more. And I pray that this beautiful occasion of the Eid al-Adha,

the Eid of the sacrifice is actually going to be a time of reflection, a time of sacrifice,

dedication, a time of worship, a time of reaching out to the poor, and a time of building the bond

with both the departments that we're supposed to be building the bonds with. Number one,

my relationship with my maker, number two, my relationship with the rest of the creatures

of the same maker. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I pray that we've benefited

Jazakumullah Khayel Medi-o-Maiti recompense you with beautiful goodness. I mean, As-Salam alaikum,

may peace be upon you.