THE nation will celebrate Eid-ul-Azha, the festival of sacrifice tomorrow with offering of animals to endear the pleasure of Allah and praying for the welfare of the Muslims Ummah. It is celebrated every year on the occasion of Hajj when devotees gather in Mecca from all over the world to register their presence to the witness of Allah. The entire nation is on move this time in Bangladesh taking preparation to celebrate the festival. People are rushing home from the capital to district towns and villages to join families. We congratulate the nation on this occasion and wish the people a happy Eid celebration. The nation is passing difficult time and we call for greater unity on this occasion when many people are in distress away from home and living in fear
Eid-ul-Azha is the second largest festival of the Muslims and family members take this opportunity to share time in fraternity exchanging greetings with friends and neighbours as they keep way from busy work schedule of daily life. The Qurbani on this occasion calls for renewed pledge from the people to be more committed to and imbibed with the spirit of sacrifice. It is not slaughtering animals only, the real spirit of sacrifice lies with slaughtering one’s own greed, lust and animality, which are endangering human life all over. Sacrificing animals will have no meaning if one can’t abandon animalistic behaviours like killing fellow human beings or grabbing their belongings. The call for sacrifice therefore means giving away instead of amassing wealth illegally and robbing others as it is noticeable everywhere today. This is what the Eid-ul-Azha reminds us since the time of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) who had introduced the ritual to yearn the pleasure of Allah. Initially, he went to sacrificing his son Ismail being ordained in a dream to sacrifice his dearest thing on earth, but at the last moment Allah became pleased with him and instead asked him to sacrifice an animal that started the ritual.
On this occasion we must look back at the cruelty in many Muslim countries where leaders are torturing people and making them homeless. Corruption and greed of political leaders and powerful people are marginalizing the poor who have no power and protection to their life and property. We believe that the spirit of Eid-ul-Azha can only be established when we will be able to establish social justice and equitable distribution of national wealth such as enforcing Zakat to cut back poverty. On this occasion we also call for a stop to civil wars in several Muslim countries, which are rendering millions of people homeless and the celebration meaningless.
Peace and stability all over the world need change of social practice. We hope the occasion will rekindle people’s life with new hope and prosperity for all.
Eid-ul-Azha is the second largest festival of the Muslims and family members take this opportunity to share time in fraternity exchanging greetings with friends and neighbours as they keep way from busy work schedule of daily life. The Qurbani on this occasion calls for renewed pledge from the people to be more committed to and imbibed with the spirit of sacrifice. It is not slaughtering animals only, the real spirit of sacrifice lies with slaughtering one’s own greed, lust and animality, which are endangering human life all over. Sacrificing animals will have no meaning if one can’t abandon animalistic behaviours like killing fellow human beings or grabbing their belongings. The call for sacrifice therefore means giving away instead of amassing wealth illegally and robbing others as it is noticeable everywhere today. This is what the Eid-ul-Azha reminds us since the time of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) who had introduced the ritual to yearn the pleasure of Allah. Initially, he went to sacrificing his son Ismail being ordained in a dream to sacrifice his dearest thing on earth, but at the last moment Allah became pleased with him and instead asked him to sacrifice an animal that started the ritual.
On this occasion we must look back at the cruelty in many Muslim countries where leaders are torturing people and making them homeless. Corruption and greed of political leaders and powerful people are marginalizing the poor who have no power and protection to their life and property. We believe that the spirit of Eid-ul-Azha can only be established when we will be able to establish social justice and equitable distribution of national wealth such as enforcing Zakat to cut back poverty. On this occasion we also call for a stop to civil wars in several Muslim countries, which are rendering millions of people homeless and the celebration meaningless.
Peace and stability all over the world need change of social practice. We hope the occasion will rekindle people’s life with new hope and prosperity for all.
