Abraham and the Sacrifice
Date of Celebration : between December 31, 2006 & January 2, 2007

Muslims believe that Ibrahim (Prophet Abraham) wanted to have a son but he was too old. And then Ibrahim invoked, he promised that he would sacrifice his most liked thing for God (Arabic:Allah) if he could have a son. Then he evangeled that he will had a son, Ismail (Ishmael) and Ibrahim sacrifices a camel for Allah. But there was an examination for Ibrahim after several years. Allah revealed in a dream to Ibrahim that he should sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael). Ibrahim and Ismail set off to Mina, Mina (Saudi Arabia) for the sacrifice. As they went, the devil attempted to persuade Ibrahim to disobey Allah and not to sacrifice his beloved son. But Ibrahim stayed true to Allah, and drove the devil away. As Ibrahim prepared to sacrifice his son, Allah stopped him and gave him a sheep to sacrifice instead. This is the story behind Eid ul-Adha. Muslims celebrate Eid-ul Adha as it marks the end of the Pilgrimage or Hajj for the millions of Muslims who make the trip to Mecca each year. Islam celebrates two great festivals annually - Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha. The first is the great festival that follows the month of Ramadan when the fast is broken. The second occurs about two months later during the month of Zil-Hajj when an animal is sacrificed in commemoration of Abraham's sacrifice of his son. This festival is incorporated in the great pilgrimage to Mecca which should properly be made during this month but it is also observed all over the Muslim world at the same time.


The underlying importance of this festival is the spirit of sacrifice (qurbani) in memory of Abraham's great act of faith many centuries ago. Eid-ul-Adha is, according to Islamic teaching, a time for Muslims to learn the value of self-denial by making a sacrifice of something living to God. It is stringently denied by most Muslim theologians that the sacrifice has any further significance and it is especially denied that religious sacrifice has any atoning or propitiatory value. Abraham's great act of submission is thus regarded solely as an example of genuine surrender to the will of God and is to be followed as such. In this booklet we shall examine in some detail this great event in Abraham's life and will study all the circumstances around it to decide whether the Islamic negations of any propitiatory value or representation in the sacrifice of his son are justified, or whether there was not really some great underlying revelation in it. We shall begin by making a study of Abraham's faith for it is very rarely realised just how considerably God tested his belief in his faithfulness and trustworthiness.

THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

The story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son is of profound significance and the best way of obtaining the deepest knowledge of its meaning is to go through the life of Abraham from the very time that this son was promised to him to the end when this son became the progenitor of a great nation.

When Abraham was seventy-five years old, God spoke to him and said:

"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless them selves". (Genesis 12.1-3).


The Quran confirms that God gave this great promise toAbraham that he would be the father of many nations:

"Lo: I have appointed thee a leader for mankind". (Surah 2.124).

As Abraham left his country and was travelling through the land of Canaan (subsequently known as Palestine and Israel), God again spoke to him and said "To your descendants I will give this land" (Genesis 12.7). Later, when Abraham again came to the land of Canaan, God spoke to him and said:

"Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and your descendants for ever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted". (Genesis 13.14-16).


Abraham must have marvelled at these awesome promises. He must have wondered very deeply about the future generations and have pondered at great length as to why he should be the father of so many descendants and why they should be blessed through him. Presently, however, he was concerned about the fact that he had no offspring of his own. His nephew Lot had parted from him and his only heir at the time was a slave named Eliezer of Damascus. Therefore, when God spoke to him again, Abraham said:

"'0 Lord God, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir. " (Genesis 15.2-3).

Immediately, however, God answered him and spoke these comforting words to him:

"This man shall not be your heir, your own son shall be your heir". (Genesis 15.4).

After giving him the tidings that he would have a son, God made him come out of his house and said:

"Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them". (Genesis 15.5).

As Abraham stared in awe at the myriads of stars above him on a clear night, God said to him: "So shall your descendants be". (Genesis 15.5).


God had promised him that he would give him a son-even in his old age - and that through this son he would give him offspring as many as the stars he could see in the sky. Now Abraham knew that it was not naturally possible for him to have a son because his wife was barren and "it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women" (Genesis 18.11). Furthermore he himself was to all intents and purposes too old to bear offspring through her.

Abraham knew, therefore, that God's promise could only be fulfilled if God himself supernaturally brought about the conception and birth of the son by the power of his Spirit. Abraham nevertheless trusted him whom he considered faithful to bring this about in his own wonderful way.

"And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness". (Genesis 15.6).

Why did Abraham believe God? Was he the kind of man who did not reason about difficult matters and preferred just to leave them to God to achieve though he could neither understand nor comprehend them in any way? Was fatalistic resignation Abraham's concept of surrendering to the will of God? No - this man Abraham is set forth in the Bible as the great figurehead of faith in a human creature whose example should be followed by all men (Galatians 3.9). He considered the promise, reasoned about it, came to a conclusion it was true, and then believed. We have a fine summary of his thoughts in this passage:

"Abraham is the father of us all, as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations' - in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told 'So shall your descendants be'. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was 'reckoned to him as righteousness'." (Romans 4.16-22).

He reasoned carefully about the promise. He questioned whether it could be fulfilled. He could not naturally have a son but he knew that God was faithful and if God had promised to give him a son, then because of the faithfulness of God to his own word, the promise must come true. Abraham began with this precept firmly fixed in his mind:

"Every word of God proves true". (Proverbs 30.5).

Knowing this he believed that God would fulfil his promise. But he did not stop there - he reasoned further as to how God could bring this about. God would have to intervene in the natural order. He would have to cause something to happen which otherwise could not naturally take place. He believed, as Paul put it to the Roman Christians, that God "calls into existence things that do not exist" (Romans 4.17). Because of this exercise of faith, because he reasoned carefully about the matter and did not just accept the promise fatalistically, he came to understand how the son would be conceived and in so doing gained a greater understanding of the mind and will of God as well. God highly commended him for this exercise of faith. Abraham did not believe, as some men foolishly do, that God can just do anything he pleases according to his arbitrary will and that no one can question his acts - even when what purports to be an act of God is altogether morally questionable. Abraham did not have such a low concept of God.

He believed that God is absolutely righteous and that he would never do something which human conscience would con-firm to be unrighteous. He knew that God, whatever he did, would always act within the bounds of his own absolute moral holiness and perfection. Some consider that this attitude limits the power of God to do as he chooses - not so Abraham. He believed in a God of eternal righteousness who was all the more exalted and glorified by his own refusal to choose to do anything that would go against his own love of righteousness and holiness. As he said on another occasion, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18.25). He knew that God's will is always good and acceptable and perfect.

He knew that it was within the moral holiness of God, coupled with his omnipotence, to bring about the son he had promised. So, as Paul said, after he had reasoned about this, "no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised". (Romans 4.20). This process of reasoning strengthened his faith so that he did not just believe the promise through blind, uncomprehending acceptance of God's word, but rather saw by his faith what was behind that word - God's ability to bring "into existence things that do not exist" and when he saw this, he understood the promise, he gained knowledge of the ways of God, and because he obtained this better comprehension of the nature of God and his works, he was able to believe with sound reason (and not blind resignation) the promise he received. He was justifiably "fully convinced that God was able to do as he had promised".

God commended him for this process of faith - and because he displayed his faith by carefully reasoning about the promise in the light of God's own righteous character, God "reckoned it to him as righteousness". Such is the faith God requires from us. Such was the faith of Abraham - and therefore he is set before us as the ideal example of a man who had true faith in God.