Eid Ul Adha is one of the most popular festivals in the world, as it’s celebrated by Muslims around the world. Most people associate this festival with eating food of the sacrificed animal. However that’s not the Real Purpose of the Festival. The Purpose of the Festival is so great that once a person hears about it , he will be amazed.
This festival is based upon a beautiful Incident which is so great that after hearing any believer of God will have tears of Love from his eyes.
History
The Festival of Eid Ul Adha is based upon a true life incident of the Prophet of God. Prophet Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him) saw a recurring dream in which God is asking Him to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Peace be Upon Him). When he continuously saw the dream he asked his son about the dream. His son agreed to be Sacrificed as well. When Prophet Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him) went to sacrifice his son on the way to the designated place, the devil tried to deviate him, by stating “what kind of God You have? Who’s asking to sacrifice your own son? etc etc but prophet Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him ) threw stones to the devil & reached the designated place. When Prophet Abraham Peace Be Upon Him is about to Sacrifice His son, Angels of God appear & ask him to stop. And told Prophet Abraham that this was a test of God for Him & his son & both passed the test with flying colours.
The test was about God being the Greatest Love of Life. We can & we should love others as per Religion but God should be the greatest love of our life. Hence to remind believers this festival is celebrated. And goats or other animals are sacrificed merely to remind us that God should always be the greatest love of our lives.
Similar Incident
Prophet Jacob (Peace Be Upon Him) had a son Prophet Joseph (Peace Be Upon Him) . Prophet Joseph ( Peace Be Upon Him) was separated from his father due to the Plot of his brothers. Until Prophet Jacob (Peace Be Upon Him)turned old his other sons never told him the truth about what they did to brother.
However after separating from decades & not knowing what happened exactly to Prophet Joseph (Peace Be Upon Him) : finally Prophet Jacob (Peace Be Upon Him) met his Son Prophet Joseph (Peace Be Upon Him).
So this separation was to test Love of God, keeping God as the Greatest Love of Life. This incident is similar to the earlier incident of Prophet Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him) which we discussed.
Other Objectives of Celebrating Eid Ul Adha
As we discussed Eid Ul Adha is chiefly Celebration of Love for God & God being the greatest love of our Lives. However apart from this there are some more objectives which get fulfilled because of the Celebration of Eid Ul Adha.
Distribution of Food To Poor
1/3rd of the Part of the Sacrificed animal is kept for distribution among the poor. Hence it fills the empty stomach of the poor.
Praying Together
Believers come together & Pray together. It develops a sense of togetherness & community.
Social Gathering
Like any other festival it creates an opportunity for believers to get together & eat together.
As we discussed, the main purpose of the Celebration of Eid Ul Adha is to remind ourselves that God should always remain the Greatest Love of Our Lives.
Then the question arises as
Why should God be The Greatest Love of Our Lives?
Purpose of Life
The Purpose of Life is to please God , the Quran says “this life is a Test for You , to test among you who are good in deeds”. So this has a direct relationship with the purpose of Life , as if we Love God the Most then we will always act to Please God & we will refrain ourselves from doing things which are evil in nature.
Prevents Deviation
If God remains the Greatest Love of Our Lives then there is no chance of us being deviated & going on the wrong Path.
For example, if a person loves money more than God then he will forget about earning in a righteous manner & will become greedy & think to earn anyhow at any cost.
For example, if a person loves His spouse more than God & suppose the spouse tells him to earn more anyhow without worrying about the means of income. The chances are high that he will deviate & go on the wrong track.
God Consciousness
If God is the Greatest Love of Our Lives then we will be always conscious about God. We will always act in a Righteous manner & avoid wrongful things.
God Fearing
If God is our Greatest Love then we will always be fearing God. We will think ten times before violating the commandments of God & doing sinful things.
Prevents from being Hurt
If a person loves money more than God & if he loses money he will get Hurt. Similarly if a person loves some human more than God then knowing the nature of Human life it’s temporary. So God forbids but if that most loved person goes first from this world then the person who is loving him the most will be badly hurt so much that there will be no hope left in his life. It is not to say that when a person loves God the most he won’t be badly hurt when he loses his loved one. It is natural for any human being to get deeply hurt and broken after losing his loved one. However the difference here is that because God is the greatest love of life there is a hope and strength left in him to still live for the pleasure of God. Ultimately as per Islam this world is a temporary world this life is a temporary life and on the day of Judgment all the human beings will be resurrected and they will be waking up like we wake up from deep sleep.
If God is Our Greatest Love should we not Love other things ?
The Beauty about Islam is it doesn’t command believers to stop loving other things which are Righteous. In fact it’s the duty of a believer to Love everyone: Parents, Spouses, Kids , Family , Society & everyone in general. It’s the duty of every Momin to act with love & kindness with all the fellow human beings.
However, the only thing Islam tries to remind us of is First & Foremost & above all we should Love God the most.
Because ultimately other things that we get are also created by God & Given to us.
Working Hard & Earning more isn’t Wrong
As per Islam it’s the duty of a believer to work hard & to strive to earn more & to improve financially. As the more a person earns the more charity he can do.
What’s Prescribed is loving materialistic things more than God. As if we love materialistic things more than God, obviously we will deviate.
Conclusion
In this essay we focused upon finding the true purpose and the main purpose of the celebration of Eid ul Adha. It should not be forgotten that the celebration is not nearly a cultural event but it is a very important religious event.
It is the day in a year on which all the believers remind themselves that God should always remain the greatest love of our life.
If God remains the greatest Love of our lives then we will be much stronger , much better human beings and we will be able to live this life much more happily and peacefully.
It is not to say that when God is the greatest love of life that person will not get hurt or will not become sad or will not experience the basic and fundamental struggles that we all go through.
However the fundamental difference is that when God is the greatest Love of our life we will always have belief & Hope in God. We will never feel totally alone as we know that ultimately no matter what happens God is always with us.
Secondly it is important for a believer to keep himself alive for his duty towards God. As in personal life when problems come it is easy for a person to become decimated and to lose hope. However when God remains the greatest love of our life we will always be willing to go through the struggle as ultimately we know Whatever happens we have to live for God. So when a person thinks this way he always has the courage and reason to live.
In this essay we tried to focus more on the unknown part of the topic. The real purpose of the celebration is quite unknown. Hence we extensively dealt with the Purpose as rest of the things are quite known. Generally there is a tendency to associate this festival with eating the sacrificed animal. However that is only a small part of the festival but the main part remains the purpose of the festival which is very holy and very sacred in nature.
God comes First then everyone else & everything else. because when God comes First in our lives we will always remain God Fearing, God conscious & we can live a Righteous life as desired & commanded by God to all believers.
Kindly note that best efforts are taken to Avoid any mistakes like spelling & typing mistakes etc yet if some mistakes occurred kindly understand & ignore.
May God Bless All of Us & Guide us to the Righteous Path. May God remain the Greatest Love of our lives.
By: AMIT LAXMICHAND GALA
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