Sacrifice/ Qurbani- a religious obligation

              

Some people are questioning the obligatory nature of sacrifice/ ‘Qurbani’ at ‘Eid ul Azha’; such people argue that sacrifice is mandatory to be made during ‘hajj’, but it is not mandatory for  Muslims who are not performing ‘hajj’. Let us analyze this view in the light of Quran.

Quran says:

  “Indeed, We have granted you [ Muhammad (ﷺ)] al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off” (sura al-kawthar).

This ‘sura’ has been addressed to our Nabi (ﷺ) individually. In the second verse, our Nabi (ﷺ) has been commanded to make sacrifice/ ‘qurbani’. It may be noted this commandment of making sacrifice has not been confined to ‘performance of hajj’. Therefore we cannot adduce from this verse that making sacrifice is confined to performance of hajj. In fact this commandment is applicable to both situations i.e. with or without performance of hajj. In other words, our Nabi (ﷺ) has been commanded to make sacrifice with or without performance of hajj.

We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/12/an-analysis-of-mr-ghamdis-basic.html if any commandment has been given to our Nabi (ﷺ) but Muslims have NOT been excluded specifically from the application of such commandment, it would mean that such commandment is applicable to Muslims as well. In other words, the commandment of making sacrifice, addressed to our Nabi (s.a.w.w), is applicable to common Muslims as well because common Muslims have not been prohibited from making sacrifice.  A brief of argument made in that article is reiterated  in the following lines.

Quran says:

“O Prophet (s.a.w.w), indeed We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allah has returned to you [of captives] and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you and a believing woman if she gives herself to the Prophet [and] if the Prophet wishes to marry her, [this is] only for you, excluding the [other] believers. We certainly know what We have made obligatory upon them concerning their wives and those their right hands possess, [but this is for you] in order that there will be upon you no discomfort. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful” (al-ahzab-50).

This verse has been addressed to our Nabi (s.a.w.w). In this verse,  commandment regarding legality/permission of marrying daughters of paternal and maternal uncles and daughters of maternal and paternal aunts is addressed  to our Nabi (s.a.w.w), and this commandment is not addressed to common Muslims. But this commandment applies to common Muslims as well because there is no Quranic commandment which prohibits the Muslims from marrying daughters of paternal/ maternal uncles and aunts. Therefore this commandment of marrying daughters of paternal and maternal uncles, and daughters of paternal and maternal aunts is applicable to common Muslims as well.  In other words, if any commandment has been given to our Nabi (ﷺ) and common Muslims have NOT been excluded from application of such commandment, it would mean such commandment would apply to common Muslims as well.

We may conclude that the commandment of making sacrifice in sura al-kawthar, though has been addressed to our Nabi (ﷺ), is equally applicable to common Muslims as well because no Quranic verse prohibits common Muslims from making such sacrifice. In other words, making sacrifice, with or without performance of hajj, is obligatory for all Muslims who have required financial resources. 

NOTE: some people argue that verse no.2 of sura kawthar means to offer salah and to put hands on the chest (Right or wrong, they interpret 'in har' as putting hands on the chest).  As we can see harf 'wau' is used between salah and  'in, har' in this sura. This harf 'wau' is used for two purposes. first for providing an information/act which is added to and part of the information/act previously mentioned; and secondly for providing a information/ act which is separate from the previous information/ act and is not part of previous information/act. In sura kawthar verse non.2, this harf 'wau' has been used for the second purpose. In other words, salah is separate from 'in, har'- it means 'in,har means to make sacrifice; this version is based on second purpose of using harf 'wau'. So verse no.2 cannot be taken as meaning 'to offer salah and putting hands on the chest'- this version is based on first purpose of using harf 'wau'. The correct meaning is based on the second purpose of using harf 'wau' because this interpretation of verse no.2 is endorsed by our Nabi (s.a.w.w) through his (s.a.w.w) Sunnah.  

Like · Reply · Just now