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The spirit of sacrifice
The global pandemic should humble all of us and remind us that irrespective of our faiths, we have limitations.
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A livestock vendor takes photographs of cattle with a mobile phone to display on a website for online customers ahead of Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice) at a market in Dhaka on July 24, 2020. (AFP/Munir Uz zaman)
W
ith many restrictions on people’s movement in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this week’s Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice), will be much less of a festive occasion than usual. It should still be celebrated but perhaps more through a reflection of what the day means. The message of sacrifice today is even more important than at any other time before.
The pandemic is still peaking, with infection and death rates remaining stubbornly high — even among the highest in the world today. The government has banned the holding of mass prayers in open fields in most parts of Java and Bali, where COVID-19 is most menacing. The ritual of slaughtering of cattle, usually held by neighborhood mosques in Jakarta, has been canceled. With mobility restricted by lockdowns, the tradition of family gatherings or visiting friends or neighbors will be limited.
Instead, people are encouraged to pray at home, any slaughtering should be conducted at licensed abattoirs, and that they should turn to communication technology to meet and greet friends and relatives. In Saudi Arabia, the center of Idul Adha celebrations, a much scaled-down haj pilgrimage is taking place that climaxes on Tuesday.
The spirit of sacrifice, sans the rituals because of these restrictions, however, must not be lost.
The slaughtering of cattle symbolizes that Muslims must be prepared to part with their most treasured possession. In the Islamic narrative, Prophet Ibrahim was ready to sacrifice his son Ismail as commanded by God, but at the last minute, his son was replaced by a lamb.
This is an act of worship, a recognition of the presence of a greater power that governs the universe. The global pandemic should humble all of us that irrespective of our faiths, we have limitations. Advances in science and technology, including in the medical world, have not been able to stop COVID-19 and we have not even figured out a cure for it.
Humility is a rare character nowadays, particularly among our leaders in all fields as nations make huge material progress this past century. Idul Adha should bring home this message. Sacrifices can take all forms. Many leaders — in politics, economics and business, science and even in religion — certainly need to sacrifice their ego.
The slaughtering of cattle and for the meat to be shared with those less fortunate is a reminder of our obligation to help those in need or to share the wealth we are blessed with.
The current pandemic brings out the message of the need for peoples, communities and nations to work together and help one another. COVID-19 does not discriminate against who it infects in terms of wealth, race, ethnicity, faith and gender. There is so much cooperation going on in fighting the pandemic. We need to see a lot more of it, from the smallest level within neighborhoods and communities to the highest level between countries and nations.
Pandemic aside, there is still a lot to celebrate on the Day of Sacrifice.
