Mufti Menk – What is Eid ul Adha and why do Muslims Sacrifice?

			Made a Peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon you all my beloved brothers and sisters in
humanity and in faith as well. Muslims generally have two major occasions of happiness and joy, the
days known as the days of eat. They always come after dedicated worship after a huge sacrifice.
After having done something major for the Almighty. For example, the first aid, known as eidl fitter
is at the end of the ninth month of the lunar calendar that the Muslims actually follow. And that is
the month of Ramadan, where in which we fast, we stay away from things that are otherwise
permissible, normal water, and normal general food that we would eat on any day and even relations
		

			with our spouses. So we stay away from that during the daylight hours only for an entire month. The
idea is to achieve closeness to the almighty to discipline yourself. Islam is all about discipline,
you need to be able to
		

			obey instructions and listen to that which is beneficial to you. So after dedicating your month to
acts of worship, and benefiting yourself as well through, perhaps improving your health through the
fasting, disciplining yourself for the Almighty, and enjoying the beautiful month of Ramadan, the
Almighty gives us a day known as the day of Eden fitter, depicting the end of the fasting season.
And that is a beautiful day deserved, well deserved after a month of goodness. Now in a similar way,
in the last month of the lunar calendar, which is known as the month of Ville, hedger. That's the
12th month of the lunar calendar.
		

			in that month, from the beginning of the month, right up to the ninth, the 10th days, we're trained
to actually engage in extra acts of worship, the Prophet Muhammad May peace be upon him has said
that there are no days where in which the almighty loves acts of worship more than the first 10 days
of the ledger, which is the 12th month of the lunar calendar. Now, Ramadan we know was all about
fasting, what about the Hajj, the Hajj is all about the Prophet Abraham and his sacrifice. So he
sacrificed his son, according to the Muslim scriptures, that son was Ishmael, according to the
Jewish and the Christian scriptures, that son was his heart, or Isaac, may peace be upon them or,
		

			nonetheless, this son who was sacrificed, what was the reason behind that sacrifice? The Prophet
Abraham May peace be upon him was very close to the Almighty. He was the father of all the prophets
who came after him, according to Islamic belief. And he was revered, he was respected, he was highly
Lula meaning a friend of the Almighty. And he had built what we know as the Kaaba in Mecca, a house
of worship, where in which people would gather and worship the almighty alone their maker, and no
one else. So when that happened, at a certain point, he saw a dream. And in that dream, he was
instructed by the almighty to sacrifice his son, perhaps according to Muslim scriptures, in order to
		

			serve as a lesson for all of us that the almighty actually should come before, everything and
anything else. obedience to the Almighty is always first. So when you get too attached to something,
it becomes unhealthy. If you're too attached to your son, or your daughter or your spouse or
anything material, there is a point beyond which it becomes unhealthy because if you were to lose
them to the almighty his destiny, through death, or something bad were to happen, you would not be
able to survive the loss. So we're not allowed to harm anyone. Obviously, that instruction was
something divine for a purpose. And even the fulfillment of it was not exactly as it was instructed,
		

			but I'll explain in a moment how it happened. Going back to the lesson that we learned from it, when
you get too attached to something material, for example, say your car or your phone or something in
your house, your clothing, the day the clothing is burnt with the iron the day the car is damaged,
the day your product is broken, you may become so angry and vexed that you might lose control. You
might harm people, you might do something silly, you might harm yourself, depending on what exactly
you've lost. So the Almighty is telling us listen, I come before everything else. Destiny is chosen
by me. prescribed by me. Yes, you have a role to play. And I've given you a choice, and the only
		

			thing you're going to be questioned about on the Day of Judgment is how
		

			you utilize the choice that I actually gave you. If I did not give you a choice about something,
I'll never ask you about it because it's not fair. So, the prophet Abraham was instructed to
sacrifice his son. He told his son, according to the Quranic scripture, obviously I'm speaking about
the Muslim narrative. He told his son, oh, my son, I've been instructed through a dream to actually
sacrifice you, what do I do? His son says, well do as you're told, because the Almighty will never
let us down. And so he then was
		

			known, it's known that he took his son and he was about to enact what the almighty had instructed
him when the almighty replaced that son with a ram from heaven. Right. And that depicted the
ultimate submission to the Almighty.
		

			Which means you have understood that everything comes from the Almighty, everything belongs to the
Almighty, don't get so attached. Obviously, we're all naturally attached. But there is a level
beyond which it becomes toxic, and it even becomes dangerous for us. So the Almighty is the owner,
he gave it to you in the first place and he is going to take it back at some point. Now, that
sacrifice, when it was replaced with around the almighty loved it so much that he asked us all to
reenact that more for the lesson than anything else. So the Almighty says look, the meat or the
blood is not going to get to the Almighty, Allah Allah no formula according to the puranic script in
		

			the Arabic language, while our de ma Qing Yana otaku I'm income, it is the piety and the God
consciousness that is of essence, not the meat and the blood etc, of the ram or the sacrificial
animal. So, in the first 10 days of the hedger, the prophet peace be upon him Muhammad peace be upon
him said, there are no days were in which acts of worship are more loved by the almighty than the
first 10 days of the ledger.
		

			When it came to Ramadan, the nights were more sacred indeed. And we were taught that the nights of
Ramadan are so loved by Allah when you worship the Almighty, in those days, or in those nights,
sorry. And during the day, you're actually fasting. So when it comes to the hedger, it's the day
that's of essence and the night, yes, you spend in the worship of the Almighty as well. Muslims pray
five times a day, two of those prayers are at night, one of them is just after sunset. One is
slightly later, and one is before the sun rises. So actually, three of them are after sunset, two of
them are at night, and two of them are during the day that makes five. Those are short prayers that
		

			don't last more than a few minutes. But it's just to be able to turn to the Almighty, remind
yourself, I came from there, I'm going to go back there, the one who made me is going to have mercy
on me and he's the only one I worship. And I call him Allah, which means the worshipped one, aloha
or ello him in the Hebrew language. Now, the prophet Abraham and his sacrifice, his life is
celebrated by the Muslims in a great way, his son, his mother, his son, isaako, his heart may peace
be upon them all his wives, and everything that he did. The dedication is studied by the Muslims,
just like it's studied by others. But we reenact this, we worship the almighty for these nine whole
		

			days. And on the 10th day, we're given an IED known as evil abhart. Evil other actually lasts for
three days. So that EAD where we're in which we're meant to reach out to the poor, again, with meat,
with food, stuff, with something to eat with something to celebrate with. We're meant to be reaching
out to the poor. And that's why the Almighty says divide, you're sacrificing two, three, a third,
you can eat from a third, give your family and friends and the third dedicated to the poor. That's
an amazing Islamic teaching, even your wealth, it would be brilliant if you could divide it into
three. It's not compulsory, regarding your general wealth, because there is a bare minimum that you
		

			have to give known as the charity zakat. So charity in the English language has the understanding
that it's totally voluntary. Whereas when it comes to the Zakat that the Muslims give, it's not
voluntary, but it's a type of charity that's actually compulsory, you must give two and a half
percent. So when it comes to the sacrificial animal we give and we reach out to the poor. The idea
is to be able to become a better person with all of these teachings. The idea is to improve on two
things. Every time Islam has taught us something. The idea is to improve on two things. One is your
relationship with the one who made you and two is your relationship with everything else that he has
		

			made. As simple as that now, you have people from
		

			different understandings at times a minority who misinterpret things, and they, they are cruel
towards those who perhaps belong to other faiths, maybe other races, maybe other nationalities. This
is not only within the Muslims, but a lot of people have this misunderstanding, we are actually
brothers and sisters, because we come from Adam and Eve. And even though we may not share the same
faith, notice at the beginning, I said, My beloved brothers and sisters, in humanity, at least, and
even in faith, some of you might be my brothers and sisters in faith, too. But if you're not, no big
deal, you're still my brothers and sisters, in humanity, the minimum I afford you is the respect of
		

			a human being of an extended family of mine, even if I disagree with you. And that's something that
we're taught as Muslims. And this is where when the sacrifice comes in, we as Muslims, we do have a
little bit of difference of opinion regarding certain details, you know, how old should the animal
be? Exactly What time should it happen and so on? Is there a leeway is there no leeway. But that
does not remove us from being connected in the same way. When you don't belong to my faith. It
doesn't remove us from being connected through humanity, and we should discuss our face. I mean,
today, I'm speaking to you tomorrow, you can speak to me, tell me what you believe what you think we
		

			should be free to do this in a very respectful way. No attacking people. No, abusing them, no
swearing them, just present your opinion. You may want to express why you feel someone else is
wrong, but in a beautiful way, just to get them to understand and then to make their minds up as to
what exactly they want to do. Now, this is something that is lacking in today's world, or should I
say it needs to be encouraged more. And I pray that this beautiful occasion of the eagle at heart,
the heat of the sacrifice is actually going to be a time of reflection, a time of sacrifice,
dedication, a time of worship, a time of reaching out to the poor, and the time of building the bond
		

			with both the departments that were supposed to be building the bonds with number one, my
relationship with my maker, number two, my relationship with the rest of the creatures of the same
Baker, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I pray that we've benefited Joseph comala
maybe Almighty recompense you with beautiful goodness. I mean, as salaam alaikum Peace be upon you