Ayi Laila Muhsin

Every year, muslims ummah around the world celebrate two eids or religious festivals: eidul Fitr and eidul Adha. Eidul Adha is the day that muslims sacrifice animals. Eidul Adha is also called eidul Qurban in some places or Eidul-Kabeer. Qurban in Arabic means closer or much closer. It is known by this name because it is expected that, hopefully, by doing our sacrifice we’re getting closer to Allah, as our Prophet Ibrahim ‘alayhissalam did it for the first time.

Allah says in the holy quran “Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you. Thus have We subjected them to you that you may glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and give good tidings to the doers of good.” Verse (22:37)

From this, we can understand that the purpose of the sacrifice is for us to be conscious of Allah and to do make efforts for His sake with very pure intentions. We all learn from Prophet Ibrahim A. S and his family that we need to sacrifice not only our animals but also our egoistic selfish feelings. Prophet Ibrahim A.S followed Allah’s command to slaughter his beloved son, Ismail as a test of his faith. We will appreciate his steadfastness even better when we realise that it was the son that he wanted for so long with first wife, Sarah. Sarah sacrificed her feelings by accepting that prophet Ibraheem married Hajar. After Ismaïl was born, Hajar also sacrificed to live far away from her beloved husband, she and Ismail lived alone.

What can we sacrifice then?

Sometimes, we realise that it’s harder to buy qurban animals than our accessories things. For those who have not been able to afford animals, Allah is also aware of your good intention to do it. From the sunnah of the prophet, we are encouraged to do the following activities regardless of whether we have been able to afford an animal sacrifice or not.

Let’s get more rewards from following list:

– Take a bath and use miswak

– Wear your best clothes

– Use perfume (for male)

– Not eating before eid prayer

– Recite takbir of tashriq:

ﺍَﻟﻠﻪُ ﺃَﻛْﺒَﺮُ ، ﺍَﻟﻠﻪُ ﺃَﻛْﺒَﺮُ، ﺍَﻟﻠﻪُ ﺃَﻛْﺒَﺮُ، ﻟَﺎ ﺇِﻟَﻪَ ﺇِﻟَّﺎ ﺍﻟﻠﻪُ ، ﻭَﺍﻟﻠﻪُ ﺃَﻛْﺒَﺮُ، ﺍَﻟﻠﻪُ ﺃَﻛْﺒَﺮُ، ﻭَﻟِﻠَّﻪِ ﺍﻟْﺤَﻤْﺪُ

– Listen to khutbah

– Use different paths when you are going to the eid prayer centre and return through another path from the masjid.

May Allah grant us understanding and ease to do it this year.

Have a joyous eid with your family!

Author: Ayi Laila Muhsin

Eidul Adha in Brief