Sacrifice and Showing Off (Eid ul Adha)
Muzaffar Ahmed Bhatt from Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir says:
'I am very grateful that you gave me permission for the Opening of the Spiritual Heart.'
'I can never thank you enough. Please continue to bless me as I am a lowly sinner.'
'Today I would like to ask you about sacrificing animals [on Eid ul Adha] and the importance of it.'
'Secondly, every man has many Lower Selves...'
'The Koran says that every Nafs (Lower Self) must taste death.'
'The Koran also says that the saints and prophets of God are immortal.'
'So which Nafs (Lower Self) live forever?'
'And are they present [in this world]? If they are present, then why are they not alive in the graves?'
The sacrifice of an animal that set by God to be carried out every year [by Muslims] -
There is a long story behind it.
You must have heard that in India, according to Hinduism,
Initially, human beings would be sacrificed.
Have you heard about it?
Today, we say that it is wrong.
However, this was the decree of God.
This was not wrong.
What is the proof of this?
If human sacrifice was wrong, why would God command Abraham to sacrifice his son?
Do you agree?
But what happened was:
when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son,
up until that point, it would be humans who would be sacrificed to God.
[You were supposed to sacrifice the one] you loved the most.
However, when Abraham wanted to cut his son's neck and it didn't work,
and [in his place] appeared a sheep
that was when the law changed.
And instead of human sacrifice, animals began to be sacrificed to God.
However, Hinduism had been established by Adam [before this incident with Abraham].
In Hinduism, they would sacrifice human beings and it was correct.
Do you understand?
Now, what I explained was the exoteric aspect.
You have to sacrifice an animal [on Eid ul Adha] - but why?
There has to be a reason, right?
The average man does not purify his Lower Self.
He doesn't mortify the Lower Self, he doesn't go to the jungle [for spiritual austerity].
So for him, God has made it obligatory to fast for one month out the entire year.
If that it not enough, he also has to sacrifice an animal [once a year] and this will cleanse his sins.
Whereas, the elite [of God] do not sacrifice animals; rather, they sacrifice their Lower Selves.
So the common man fasts and sacrifices an animal, whereas the elite sacrifice their Lower Selves.
So this is the reality of that.
The other question you asked about every Lower Self tasting death -
the word 'Nafs' is not always used to refer to the Lower Self.
Rather, God has also used this word to refer to human beings [as a whole].
Right?
According to the Koran, 'Every Nafs must die.'
But the soul does not die.
Our Lower Selves - whether they are purified or they are impure, a time will come when they die.
However, the soul does not die.
Those who have the power [and ability] to, they should make the sacrifice [on Eid ul Adha].
They should use money earned through permissible means to do so.
By doing this, sins are washed away and it is a custom of Abraham.
However, this cannot be done through money earned unlawfully.
How many people sacrificing animals this Eid ul Adha ask themselves this question before buying the animal?
'How much of the money I am using to buy this animal was earned lawfully and how much was earned unlawfully?'
You should think about it, shouldn't you?
If you have bought it with unlawfully earned money, how would your sacrifice [be acceptable to God]?
Would it count as a sacrifice?
And another thing is:
Here you will need to be a little open-minded.
Don't declare this to be Kufr (rejection fo the truth).
The era in which the sacrifice of animals was decreed was a time in which people didn't get to eat meat [much].
It was a time of poverty.
Today by butchering all these animals, we are just wasting our money.
Would it not be better to take the money we would have used for the sacrifice of an animal -
- and instead donate that money to the organisations that help the poor, orphans and the helpless?
You just butcher these huge animals and keep more than half of it in your freezer.
And you distribute the rest of the meat among people who are already well fed.
How does humanity benefit from the butchering of these animals and the distribution of their meat?
Is there any benefit?
So it is better instead to [help] the poor and the helpless.
There are so many people in Pakistan who have suffered due to the rise in terrorism.
Some people have lost their mother, others have lost their father and others have lost children.
[If everything was all well], Edhi Homes would not be filled to capacity.
In Pakistan, the clerics just talk - take, for example, Moulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi
He talks against Abdul Sattar Edhi
He says, 'Edhi is raising 20 000 illegitimate children.'
But these are the children of your own nation!
These are the offspring of horrible men and women who gave birth to them and abandoned them on the streets.
Abdul Sattar Edhi picked up those babies off the streets and began raising them.
Do you only remember Islam in this regard, that he provides for 'illegitimate' children?
What a filthy tongue [these clerics] have!
They do not have any humanity in them.
And how is that child to blame for this?
Is it not the child that is illegitimate; the parents who had the child out of wedlock and then abandoned it are illegitimate.
Why do you hate that child?
If that child was worthy of your hate, why did God put a soul in [the child's body]?
Don't you agree?
This is what is left in Pakistan: showing off and hypocrisy.
It is better if you donate the money you would have spent on sacrificing an animal on helping a poor person instead
How many young people are there that want to obtain a higher education but cannot afford it?
Why don't you offer to give one of them a scholarship?
Don't you agree?
Worry about the living!
By butchering all these big animals on Eid ul Adha, you have simply made it a day of showing off.
And then, in Pakistan, the sacrifice of animals [on Eid ul Adha] causes disease to spread.
After butchering the animal, people take out the entrails and other waste material and throw it on the street.
And then the offal begins to rot; it stinks and decomposes, causing the spread of disease.
So for the 6 months following Eid ul Adha [people suffer from a rise of disease].
The nation already [tends to be] unclean.
And on top of that this is what happens [during Eid ul Adha], at least in Karachi.
This is probably what happens in Lahore and other cities in Pakistan as well.
They just take out the entrails of the animal and throw it outside!
I don't know if God actually likes it when we sacrifice animals on Eid ul Adha.
To eat meat is a huge issue for people.
They say, 'Today we get to eat meat!' What an ignorant statement.
Eid ul Adha (Bakra Eid) is just a day for showing off now.
The soul of it [the original purpose], is lost.
Now people compete over how expensive an animal they sacrifice.
And on top of that, do you know what is happening these days?
People buy animals and then call transgender dancers, and they dance around the animal.
Really!
It doesn't seem like people are celebrating a religious holiday [on Eid ul Adha].
This is a competition of egos.
A competition of egos.
People say, 'We bought a goat for Rs 1 million.'
Some others say, 'We sacrificed an animal for Rs 2 million.'
What does God get out of this? Nothing.
You are buying animals with unlawfully earned money!
Right now you don't even know how much of your wealth was earned lawfully and how much of it was earned unlawfully.
And then, there might just be one or two people who are actually concerned about earning lawfully.
People are just worried about earning money, they are not concerned about lawful or unlawful provision.
For example, you have a job and you are supposed to work for 8 hours.
And out of those 8 hours, you take a 30 minutes without telling anyone.
Then according to God, you can't take money for that 30 minute break.
That money will become unlawful if you take the full wage [for 8 hours of work].
You will have to tell your boss, 'I was supposed to work for 8 hours but I slept for 30 minutes, so deduct it from my wages.'
It is one thing to be dishonest and lie
But this also counts if you have a job and - obviously, you will work and you will take a salary for it at the end of the month
But if during the time you were meant to work, you took a break and you took money for the entire time -
Then in that case, it is unlawful for you to take that money.
So first you have to see how much you earn lawfully and how much of it was unlawfully earned.
God knows everything.
Deep down in their hearts, they know they are not doing it to please God.
They are doing it to please themselves. 'Look, I have done this.'