Eid al-Adha an Islamic call to sacrifice
TEXARKANA, Texas— On Saturday morning, Muslims gathered together to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which finds roots in the story of Ibrahim obeying God’s command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.
“(Our service) was about the commemoration of the faith of Ibrahim and following in his footsteps,” said Saad Mustafa, the former imam of Texarkana’s Muslim community.
Mustafa said the observance is a lesson on sacrificing.
“In the case of Ibrahim here, he had to sacrifice his son. Sometimes you have to let your son go and defend the country, you have to make sacrifices in life. That’s the significance.”
According to the traditional account, Ibrahim was prepared to sacrifice son Ishmael when God then commanded him to sacrifice a sheep instead.
“There are many legendary embellishments that may or may not be true,” Mustafa said. “But every time Ibrahim put the knife on his (Ishmael’s) neck to sacrifice, the knife would not cut. He hears a voice in his heart telling him, ‘Look here.’ He sees a big sacrifice that God has given in place of Ishmael.”
Mustafa said Ibrahim built the first house of worship dedicated to Allah in a place called Mecca.
“The prophet Muhammad always claimed to be reviving the faith of Ibrahim; he never claimed to be bringing anything new,” Mustafa said.
According to Mustafa, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha by partaking in traditions that honor Ibrahim’s triumph over temptation.
“Every day we are faced with the choice of doing what is right and pleasing to God and what is right by man versus doing what is pleasing to the self and ignoring others and God,” Mustafa said.
Mustafa said people often think Muslims consider Allah to be an idol, and that Muslims worship the god of the moon.
“Allah is nothing other than the one and only God,” Mustafa said. “We prefer to say his name in Arabic because of the uniqueness of the name of God in Arabic.