Sharing Stories at Eid ul Adha

Big signs up in the local halal butchers urge customers to ‘Buy your Qurbani here’ and I’m reminded that Eid ul Adha, ‘The Festival of Sacrifice’, the second of two festivals celebrated by Muslim people the world over, comes up two and half months after Ramadan and coincides with the pilgrimage to Mecca.

In my ESOL classes, in past years, there has been chatter about how lucky Zeinab or Fatima is to have been able to go to the Haj (pilgrimage) in Mecca this year – the desire of all Muslim people to achieve at least once in a lifetime. (See Georgina’s post on the Love Fast series for details of the rituals associated with the Haj). Many of my students, when asked why they celebrate and what is being commemorated, will answer, “Because Allah tells us”.  A few, on gentle questioning into the why and the who and the when, will be able to refer to the honouring of the faith of the prophet Ibrahim in his willingness to submit to Allah shown by obeying God’s command to sacrifice his son.

I find it to be one of those annual opportunities to explore with my Muslim students, colleagues and friends what the meaning behind the celebration is and to share something of how we understand the story, which occurs in both our Holy Books.

The Qur’anic account of this event in Surah 37 assumes knowledge of the Biblical narrative – remember Muslims are encouraged to read the Scriptures which have come before. Interestingly, in the Qur’anic account, Ibrahim consults his son and both agree to be obedient to the command to sacrifice. For Muslims, the message of this story is the call to supreme obedience and submission to God – being willing to give up or to sacrifice one’s dearest possession. The account goes on to tell how God called out to Ibrahim, at the last minute, to stop him from carrying out the sacrifice and declare:

‘And we ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice’ Surah 37: 107

All prophets in Islam are said to come with or as a sign for the people from God. I tend to speak of this event as the sign of Ibrahim, pointing ahead to a Son who was indeed willing to die in order to fulfill God’s will - that people once alienated from Him be reconciled and reunited with God our Creator, Provider and Redeemer.

And what qualifies Jesus to be that one who stepped in, who became the (momentous) ransom so that peace with God might be assured? His own commitment to obedience to carrying out God’s will throughout His life. Unlike Adam and Eve who were seduced by Satan, Jesus refused to listen to Satan whispering in his ear. Rather than being defiled by the sick and the dead whom Jesus touched, purity went out from him and there was healing and life. Jesus, whose purity Satan could not spoil, could be the only one qualified to redeem humanity from a life of servitude to Satan’s power, freeing us to be restored to enjoy the relationship with God which was willed for us from the beginning.

Miriam Williams from the Mahabba Network

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