Wakeel Ahmad Mir
The COVID-19 pandemic has put the whole world in a state of chaos and depression. The alarming rate of increase in COVID positive patients in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir particularly in the valley of Kashmir is disturbing and a matter of great concern. In the mean time we are approaching to Eid al-Adha , one of the important festivals of the Muslims all over the World. The happiness of Eid and the dark clouds of COVID are mingling with each other. Unfortunately the days of happiness seem to be enveloped under the opaque curtains of sorrows. Since these are the commands of our Lord, so we should have no excuse in facing these challenges. We should do our best as an individual as well as the part of society and contribute each and every effort on our level to beat this deadly virus. Eid is an event of happiness. So taking the tragedies, woes and sorrows aside we have to take part in this happiness. We have to refresh our mood and prepare ourselves for this blissful event. In a dark night if a ray of light approaches to us, we should not befool ourselves by ignoring it but we should take it as an advantage to reach out the destination. The main motive is to understand the concept and message of Eid. Eid al-Bakr reminds us the sacrifices which Prophet Abraham and his son Ismail performed in the way of Almighty Allah. There is a binding force of love, trust and belief which compels Abraham to sit in the flashes of fire and the same force compels his son Ismail to get himself ready to cut his head in conformity to the orders of his Beloved. The celebration of Eid conveys us that the main objective is to bow our heads before the orders of our Creator. We have to accept the supremacy of Allah. For example, we have been ordered by Almighty to have mercy and be sympathetic towards poor and orphans. We have to act upon the orders not because our mind or intellect persuades us for this, but we have to do it by considering it as an order of our Almighty. It seems a bit typical concept, but when we put our hopes only attached to our Sustainer, we will cherish the real taste of worship. The story of Prophets Abraham and Ismail is an eye opener for those who take lessons from these incidents. They surrendered their all wills and actions before the orders of Almighty. They had reached at such a zenith of maturity in terms of faith that even their mind didn’t dare to chime in with their matters of love for their Beloved. Though we cannot compare ourselves with the love and faith they had attained. It is like holding a candle to the sun. But being humans in general and Muslims in particular, we cannot depart ourselves from these heroes. They are our role models. No doubt we can never ever reach their calibre, because theirs’ is a unique world. But at least we should try to become a reader of that library or a visitor or customer of that bazaar.
Sacrifice comes from love and love is something unexplainable. It is to prefer others over one’s own self.
Every year the days of Eid approach us as the occasions. The Muslims all over the world celebrate it with great zeal according to the religious and traditional norms. But this is only a single side of this blessed opportunity. When we consider Islam as a din, then each and every moment of our life is connected to the philosophy of Eid. Like a birthday is celebrated yearly does not mean that only that particular day in the year is relevant to our birth. Actually every hour, every minute and every second of our life is directly connected to our birth. Our life is directly proportional to the time we spent in this world. In the same way though there is a particular day/days for Eid celebration but in actuality each and every moment is linked with the principles and etiquettes of Eid. In the present scenario, the people who spent their time, wealth and even risk their lives for the sake of lives of masses are actually acting upon the mission of Prophets Abraham and Ismail. They have understood the concept and philosophy of Eid al-Adha and have every right to celebrate it. But those who are searching the opportunity to loot and grab the relief and proposed funds are following the steps of Nimrod (or Namrood) and his company. They have ethically no right to celebrate the Eid. Similarly those who always stand firm in the sacred mission of serving and preserving humanity are the descendents of Abraham. While as those who sell their heads at the cost of worldly knick-knacks are distracting from the path of Abraham and are heading towards the evil path of Nimrod. Lastly I may like to conclude this write up by commenting that the main crux of Eid al-Adha is to prepare ourselves to sacrifice our qualities, our emotions, our prayers, our traits and at the peak our lives for the Absolute Reality. Sacrifice comes from love and love is something unexplainable. It is to prefer others over one’s own self. So we have to do good with the humanity on our side without thinking of any reward from them. We have to keep our hopes on Allah, the best Rewarder. Like the poet jots down,
Us ki wo janey ussay wafa tha ki na tha
Tum Faraz apni taraf sai to nibhatey jatey
(The author is a content write. Views are his own) [email protected]
