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A question for you. If Allah does not need a sacrifice, why did He tell Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael? ( I know Christians talk of Isaac, but it's not really relevent to the question). If God didn't require a sacrifice, why do Muslims have sacrifices in their religious practises?
Easy, It was To Test Abrahams Loyalty, and we sacrifice because we celebrate what he has done, it shows that he will listen to Allah for whatever he told him, and when he was About to Sacrifice Ishmael A lamb appeard right before he
Abdullah,
Thanks for your reply. I think we would all agree with this understanding that one of the reasons for this command from God was that it was a test of Abraham's loyalty Perhaps there is another word that descibes it better. It's faith.. Abraham was so submitted to God, he was willing to do anything God asked of him, even to sacrifice his own son if that was what God desired.
Let's follow the story from the Qur'an for those that don't know it and see another perspective. (for those who want to follow the biblical version, please look at Genesis 22)
O my son! I see in a vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: Now see what is thy view! Surah 37.102
The son replied: "O my father! Do as thou art commanded: Thou wilt find me, if God so wills one practicing Patience and Constancy" (Surah 37.102).
As a father, to be asked to do this was heart wrenching.. to kill his son to show his faithfulness to God... that he was submitted to God (Allah) above all else.
I think the state of the world and the number of Muslim martyrs for the sake of Allah will prove this next sentence (and please tell me if I am wrong)
Every Muslim will agree that God called for the sacrifice of his son because there was nothing more precious that he could forsake to prove his love for God. If there was, God would surely have asked it. Many are the Muslims who have said to me, "if a man will give his son for God, he will give anything for God". Because of his unfailing love for God Abraham duly stood the test and resolved to obey God and sacrifice his son.
Now, we said the loyalty of Abraham (or his faith) was being tested here, but perhaps there were other things that we can learn from the test. Not just that Abraham was loyal (faithful) to God, but that God was equally faithful to Abraham.
You see, what God asked of Abraham, to sacrifice his son to God, was also a look into the nature of God Himself.
God had promised Abraham that His descendents would be an numerous as the stars, yet here He has told him (be it a command, or a vision depending on the Biblical discussion or the Qur'anic discussion), to take his only son and sacrifice him. For Abraham to obey God's command, he had to act in faith that God would bring to pass that prophecy given him on numerous occasions even when he had no children of his own and he and his wife were of old age.
Secondly, the act of child sacrifice itself. During his lifetime Abraham witnessed with moral abhorrence and repulsion the manner of the idol-worship of his contemporaries. To him the worship of idols was really offered to demons and the formalities of this worship confirmed his misgivings. The worst idolaters offered their sons up as sacrifices to idols and to Abraham this was the last word in human degradation and wickedness.
So, how could this command, vision, be true to the character of God? Abraham was now confronted with a similar order to sacrifice his own son to the God he worshipped in spirit and in truth. How could he reconcile this command with his belief that God was absolutely moral and holy?
The Qur'an simply says that God commanded him Aslim - "Submit". Abraham's reply was aslamtu - "I submit" (Surah 2.131).
Did Abraham immediately obey Allah's unquestioning obedience to the command? There is nothing in the Qur'an to suggest he did. The Qur'an says is that he put the command to his son to see if he was willing to go through with the ordeal. In the Qur'an it is significantly said that, after his son had given an indication of his acceptance of the command, they both submitted their wills (to God) (Surah 37.103). The word used for submitted is once again from the same three root letters (sin, lam and mim) as Islam and Muslim, namely aslamaa.
He did not enquire how the command could be reconciled with God's holiness or what purpose it served, nor how the promise could yet be fulfilled. He simply took the command as it came and resolved to obey it, irrespective of the implications or what it said of the character of God
Now, what of the promise that Abraham would have offspring as many as the stars?
By obeying without questioning, Abraham would have had thoughts like these. He could have said to himself, "It seems God has forgotten his promise. Well, fourteen years is a long time and anyone can forget something in that time". Or he could have thought, "God has changed his mind. After all, he is God and can do what he likes. Perhaps my son has not come up to expectations and God has decided not to fulfil his promise". Virtually any Muslim will agree that Abraham, a man of faith, would never have believed such things. God neither forgets, nor does he fail to fulfil his promises (Joshua 21.45). The third reaction open to him was simply to say, "I do not know or understand how God can fulfil his promises if I must sacrifice my son, but if he so commands, I will simply obey".
In this case, however, we have very much the Qur'an's limited assessment of Abraham's faith. Aslamyu - "I submit" - is the sole reaction of Abraham to God's decree (Surah 2.131) - an uncomprehending submission, an unquestioning resignation. This is nothing more than what many call blind faith and we cannot accept that this was the full character of his faith, especially as it is set forth as a model for all believers.
Let me finish by saying, there is a fourth response which explains the need for sacrifice and why it is the most important of the festivals of Islam .. the Greater Festival, Idul-Adha - the "Festival of Sacrifice
Abraham had unwavering faith in the faithfulness and character of God." God, in his faithfulness, must yet fulfil his promise. His word must yet prove true. Even if he had to sacrifice his son, God WOULD accomplish through that sacrifice all that God had promised him.
Now, I don't think either Muslims or Christians would doubt that Abraham would have carried out the sacrifice if God had not provided the sacrifice (ram, lamb). The only way therefore that the promise of God could have been accomplished, was that Abraham knew God would raise his son from the dead, even if he did sacrifice him. The Bible says in Romans 4:17 "he believed in God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist (Romans 4.17).
This is not speculation.. for in Hebrews it says
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom it was said, 'Through Isaac shall your descendants be named'. He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Hebrews 11.17-19.
Now.. this same thought is found in the Qur'an too and confirm Abraham's belief that God could raise the dead:
Behold! Abraham said: My Lord! Show me how thou givest life to the dead. Surah 2.260
You see, Abraham knew that the promise he had received from God and the command to sacrifice his son, were completely and inseperably linked. Through the son would come the answer to the promise.. the blessing through him of multitudes beyond number.
Both Islam and Christianity hold that Abraham was "the Friend of God", that he was appointed a leader for mankind and the father of the faithful, and that his faith, his millah, is an example of true faith in all ages.... and he typifies the Father heart of God.
Through the experience of Abraham as a loving but suffering father, God sought to reveal a deep secret about himself and His beloved Son - His Word. In order to ransom the world from slavery to sin, God had to pay the greatest price ever. It was the sacrificial and atoning death of his only Begotten Son who became flesh. The suffering of Abraham in connection with the expected sacrifice of his son was a mere shadowy and symbolic indication of the awesome mystery of the suffering of God due to human sin.
Now.. does it ever surprise you that Allah would reveal to Muhammed the need for a blood sacrifice was to be the most important festival in Islam? Does it not seem surprising that for the Prophet, for whom there was no Jewish and Christian understanding of the need of sacrifice to take away the sin of the world, should still keep it as central to the Muslim faith and religious practice?
One of the great anomalies of the Eid-ul-Adha festival is that it commemorates an act of love by a man for God which, in its excellence, has no parallel from heaven in return. God has given man things - children, health, possessions, religion - but he has given him nothing of himself. It is like a man who bestows gifts upon his beloved but never gives himself to her in marriage. In the Eid sacrifice we see a man showing more love for God than God has ever shown for man.
Let me suggest one thing that has never been completely understood by Muslims and yet it's in the Qur'an and you celebrate and remember it every year when you sacrifice during the Idul-Adha
Once a year the Muslim world remembers a man's love for God in being willing to sacrifice his son for God - but every day of the year all true Christians honour God's incomparable love in actually giving his Son for us