Odyssey of Sacrifice — Page 16
! 18 them to you, that you may glorify Allah for His guiding you. And give glad tidings to those who do good. 3 Further evaluation of the philosophy of sacrifices teaches us that a person sacrifices his wealth to present a gift to someone, but the person for whom the sacrifice is made accepts it by accepting the gift. For example, a husband presents jewelry to his wife as a gift. The jewelry is a gift for the wife but a financial sacrifice for the husband. When the wife accepts the gift, and wea rs the jewelry with a smile on her face , then the acceptance of this gift serves as the acceptance of the sacrifice. Our beloved prophet, Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) has explained this philosophy by saying that gifts increase love between two parties. If t he person giving the gift beautifies his intentions and thinks that he is giving the gift because the P rophet of Allah (sa) has asked to be compassionate to one’s family and has given the glad tiding that giving gifts increases love , then the reward of the person making the financial sacrifice is also increased manifold. Let us take this narrative of sacrifice a little further when Prophet Abraham (as) saw in a vision that he is sacrificing his son. He started to prepare for this sacrifice upon the consen t of Prophet Ishmael (as). When he was ready to sacrif ice, and was about to begin, Allah informed him that there is no need for this sacrifice as his sacrifice h as already been accepted by Allah. Mankind was taught this lesson a second time that if one is sincere in his intentions and does it merely for the sake of Allah , then the sacrifice is accepted in the court of Allah. A poet has pointed out the importance of sincerity in these words: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! 3 The Holy Quran 22:38