Whenever God showers a people or a community with His favour and His grace, he invariably requires some sacrifice from them. In other words, sacrifice is essential if one wants to gain the nearness of Allah and His pleasure. What is this sacrifice? It varies depending on the circumstances of every age. At the time of the Holy Prophet^(sa), for instance, financial sacrifice did exist, but sacrificing one’s life was more important because Muslims were undergoing continuous atrocities at the hands of the disbelievers, and were forced i...