Odyssey of Sacrifice — Page 15
! 17 ! Concept of Sacrifice The concept of sacrificing for the sake of God is as old as the history o f mankind itself. We learn from the Holy Quran that the two sons of Adam, Abel and Cain , offered sacrifices. This incident is mentioned in the Holy Quran in Surah Al - Ma ’ idah in the following words: And relate to them truly the story of the two sons of Adam, when they each offered an offering, and it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other. The latter said, ‘I will surely kill thee. ’ The former replied, ‘Allah accepts only from the righteous. If thou stretch out thy hand against me to kill me, I am not going to stretch out my hand against thee to kill thee. I do fear Allah, the Lord of the universe. 2 In essence, Allah accepted the sacrifice of one of the sons but rejected the other’s. This was the first lesson taught to mankind : only such sacrif ices are accepted by Allah that are sincere and free from any impurity and are done only for the sake of Allah ’s pleasure. The Holy Quran has explained this rule about sacrifice in the following words: Their [sacrificial animals] flesh reaches not Allah, nor does their blood, but it is your righteousness that reaches Him. Thus has He subjected !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! 2 The Holy Quran 4:28 - 29