Author: Harris Abdullah
It is disheartening to see that the image of Islam has been heavily tainted by extremism in Islam. The Muslims religious leaders and world leaders are quick to come out to defend Islam as a religion of peace. In what way can such defense be tenable when the world is witnessing atrocities carried out by Muslim extremists which do not seem to abate? It is shocking to see how such extreme movement could attract many Muslims from different countries. Is there any attraction left in Islam in the wake of much turmoil around the world which often started off by Muslim extremists in different parts of the world? Do Muslims manage to show to people of other faiths that they are peaceful people? Have Muslims managed to tell the non-Muslims that Islam is a religion worth pursuing? Do you think people of other faiths are able to show respect to Muslims if Muslims want to propagate Islam through violence like what these extremists did – “that Christians must convert to Islam or pay a special tax prescribed by the Quran” and after that killed all the Christians captives? Such action only underscored the mindset of hate and not mercy, confirming a complete blindness to the truth and opposite to Allah’s will.
Why do most Muslims think that Christians need to be converted to Islam? This simply showed that they did not read the Quran as it ought to be read. The disciples of Isa are Muslims (surrender to Allah) because they are Allah’s helpers who believe in Allah, believe in the revelations of Allah and follow the messenger Isa (Surah 3: 52, 53). Allah Himself said the followers of Isa are superior to those who reject faith till the day of Resurrection (Surah 3: 55). Thus, why need to convert the disciples of Isa Al-Masih by force? Or these Muslims are the ones who reject faith because they rejected Isa, the Sign of Allah? In what way could these extremists get to Paradise when they killed other believers? It rather seems to be a kind of kill joy. Surah 4: 94 If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him.
Are Muslims still so blind to the word of the Quran that Allah is the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate? How could we qualify to speak of ourselves as Muslims when our actions are totally opposite to that of Allah’s? Do Muslims rightly represent Allah? It is time that Muslims strive and fight to get to the heart of Islam or to the heart of Allah. We Muslims recite the Quran but only few grasp it.
In some part of the world, some Muslims were angered by the sign of the cross hung up at the church façade. They said the cross was a challenge to Muslims in that area and could influence the young. Is the faith of Muslims so feeble as if paper thin that any sighting of religious symbols of other religions will somehow weaken their Muslim faith? Muslims who made news of the cross as affronting Muslims were simply insulting their own faith and this was the comment of some discerning Muslims about this matter. The cross being the symbol of Isa’s crucifixion is rejected by Muslims anyway. If by sighting the cross means Muslims could be affected, then was it something intended by Allah Himself ie. it happened because of Allah’s leave?
Islam is a way of life; that means how one conducts one’s life whether in speech, thought or action really matter to Allah. The fact that the holy scriptures kept mentioning that Allah is the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful already send us a very clear message that Islam has to do with the quality of inner attributes and not an external display of piousness as we had already pointed out previously. We Muslims, really have to plead to Allah for forgiveness due to our arrogance and blindness that brought so much pain to people of other faiths. Surah 6: 133 says “Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were His will, He could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom He will as your successors, even as He raised you up from the posterity of other people.” Allah is able to destroy any nation if He so desires but He did not because He is Owner of Mercy, He acts in accordance with His glorious attribute as the Most Merciful. If Allah functioned like men, not many or none would be left in this world. Thus, let us not be arrogant just because we are Muslims. Jihad does not give anyone a license to kill at will.
Surah 57: 27 stated that ….”We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him Compassion and Mercy….”. That means if Isa’s followers are true believers, they would not have fought one another. However, this is also not the case; some of Isa’s follower fought not in terms of physical fighting but through slander, libel, verbal abuse. Are all these less serious than taking up weapons and kill someone? Words can kill too like weapons and character assassination is one of the worst sins described in the scripture.
Muslim brethren also have compassion among themselves as mentioned in Surah 48: 29 Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other. However, in the light of extremism that happened around the world, we do not witnessed much compassion among the extreme towards other fellow Muslims. What has happened to the believers of Allah – Muslims and Christians? Why has there not the compassion and mercy of Allah in you in your hearts?
When we sin, the mercy of Allah makes it possible for us to turn around if we truly repent. The fact that Allah is merciful means He is all-forgiving. That is why in the Quran the word Most Merciful was often mentioned together with another attribute of Allah – Oft-forgiving. Is not the mercy of Allah that renders Allah being forgiving towards mankind? He forgives again and again. As His creature, our hearts ought to be full of thanksgiving for Allah’s willingness to forgive us, He is patient with us, He forbears with us which is another attribute of Allah. As Allah’s creatures, we truly depend on the mercy of Allah to even continue to be in existence in this world. Although Allah’s forgiveness is again and again, does it not grieve Him if we continue to sin just as how a father is grieved when his child continues to do wrong. Should we then exhaust the forgiveness of Allah? Given a choice, would you not prefer to have the power to reject sin or someone puts it, overcome sin?
In previous article, we saw that in Jewish history, the Jews offered sacrifices for the atonement of sin committed to gain the forgiveness of Allah and the sacrificial animals were unblemished. When Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Allah Himself ransomed Abraham with a Momentous Sacrifice (Surah 37: 107). We were not told what this great sacrifice was but this particular sacrifice was indeed Momentous. The picture here was a father who was commanded by Allah to offer his son as sacrifice. Both father and son submitted to Allah. In the end Allah took upon Himself to provide the Great Sacrifice to ransom Abraham. Most Muslims scholars agreed that the one being ransomed was the son. However, if we look at the context of the passage from Surah 37: 104 to 113, the main subject here was about Abraham; it started with Abraham and ended with Abraham. There was no mention of the son whatsoever in Surah 37: 107. Neither was there any narration on the chronological event stating who the first son was, Ishmael or Isaac. It was irrelevant as far as this narration is concerned. Also, exegetically, it is not right to say that the son was the one ransomed. Moreover, the sacrifice itself functions as a ransom and is distinct from the one being ransomed. The vision of Abraham offering his son means that the son is to be offered as a ransom for someone else.
Apparently there isn’t any other verse in the Quran related to this incident that could help us understand what this momentous sacrifice is. However, we can draw a parallel of the following:
Abraham as father //parallel to Allah being the Father
Son offered by Abraham // parallel to a Momentous/Great Sacrifice offered by Allah.
The word here is بِذِبْحٍ ‘with a sacrifice’ ie. there is only one sacrifice. I am sure even the Muslim scholars have a hard time figuring out what this one single great sacrifice is. However, this gives us a clue that the focus is not on the number but on the significance of what was being sacrificed. Perhaps, the best help we could get is from the Torah where the account of Abraham sacrificing his son was accounted in detail. In the book of Torah in Genesis 22: 13, Allah provided a ram in place of Abraham’s son for sacrifice. Now this begs the question: how could a ram constitute a momentous sacrifice? What is the significance of the ram (male sheep) being a momentous sacrifice? If the ram itself is the intended momentous/great sacrifice, why would it not clearly written in the Quran such as “And we ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice, a ram”? The picture of the ram was completely left out in the Quran. Or is the ram a symbolism and prefigure of a great sacrifice that ransomed Abraham. We were also not told when Allah ransomed Abraham with a momentous sacrifice. However, putting together the accounts of this incident from both Torah and the Quran, we can draw another parallel.
Son = great sacrifice // ram (male sheep).
In Torah, Genesis 22: 13 reads “Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
The Jews had carried out animal sacrifice more than 1 ½ millennia before the Quran was given to nabi Muhammad s.a.w. The offering by Abraham was one of the very few sacrifices recorded in the Torah before the institution of sacrificial system by Moses. We saw from the above verse that Abraham offered the ram for burnt offering. What is burnt offering? The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” actually means to “ascend,“ literally to “go up in smoke”, the whole being consumed by fire, and regarded as ascending to God while being consumed. Part of every offering was burnt in the sacred fire, but burnt offering was wholly burnt, a “whole burnt offering. It was the most frequent form of sacrifice, and apparently the only one mentioned in the book of Genesis. The law of Moses afterwards prescribed the occasions and the manner in which burnt sacrifices were to be offered. For example in Exodus 29:38-39 38 ¶ “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 39 “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;
A person could give a burnt offering at any time. It was a sacrifice of general atonement—an acknowledgement of the sin nature and a request for renewed relationship with God (Leviticus 1). A burnt offering was also offered for instance, on the Day of Atonement as mentioned in Leviticus 16,
Leviticus 16:34 reads “Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.
This kind of atonement involves 2 offerings ie. sin offering followed by burnt offering. It is easy to understand such order of sacrifices because only if one’s sin is completely atoned for can one offer oneself wholly/fully to Allah in the form of burnt offering as part of atonement. The sacrificial animal required for burnt offering for the Israelites as a whole on the Day of Atonement was a ram (Leviticus 16: 5). The animal for burnt offering was meant for atonement of sin.
Leviticus 16:24 “He (Aaron) shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.
The sacrifice functioned as ransom paid to deliver the person from sin and gain the forgiveness of Allah. Likewise for Abraham, he was ransomed with a great sacrifice. We can simply ask: Why Abraham needed to be ransomed? For the simple reason, Abraham will be the father of 3 faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Upon being ransomed, he was blessed by Allah (Surah 37: 108-113). Whether Muslims believe or not in the concept of atonement of sin through sacrifice is not the issue here because the Quran clearly said here, “Allah ransomed him”. That means Allah took the initiative to provide the sacrifice to ransom Abraham. Hence, we could draw another parallel from what we gather in our study:
Son = great sacrifice //ram (male sheep) = ransom
The significance of the sacrifice lies in the word ‘ransomed’. In order to understand this word better, we can look at Surah 5: 36 As to those who reject Faith,- if they had everything on earth, and twice repeated, to give as ransom for the penalty of the Day of Judgment, it would never be accepted of them, theirs would be a grievous penalty.
From the above verse, we can see that on the Day of Judgment, those who disbelieve and want to give all they have to ransom themselves will find that nothing can save them from grievous penalty. So, ransom is something we pay to secure a person’s release/freedom. (Why do they need release/freedom from penalty?)
Allah himself personally ransomed Abraham. Allah himself prepared the ransom to secure the freedom of Abraham and his descendents to become Allah’s holy people; this is why Abraham is rightly called the father of 3 faiths. Hence, what kind of ransom could accomplish this purpose? If the animals for offerings were all unblemished, what would be the requirements of the great sacrifice offered by Allah to ransom Abraham in order that he and his descendants (among the righteous) could receive the blessing of Allah? What was this one single ‘Great Sacrifice’? Since Allah is Holy, the sacrifice offered by Him could not be less than holy and the sacrificial object would not only be unblemished/pure but it’s truly a Unique, one of its kind and Perfect because any sacrifice offered by Allah Himself would completely reflect Allah’s attributes. Therefore, the only effective ‘Great/Momentous Sacrifice’ to achieve the purpose of Allah must be a perfect and holy sacrifice and nothing less than this. Who/what could qualify as the perfect and holy sacrifice? And what does it take to be such a sacrifice?
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Note:
- All Al-Quran verses are sourced from English Translation of Al-Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with thanks.
- All Torah verses are sourced from New American Standard Bible with Codes (1995), with thanks.