Surah Hajj (37)
– Akmal Haider Falahi (Ph.D. Arabic, AMU)
لَن يَنَالَ ٱللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا وَلَا دِمَآؤُهَا وَلَـٰكِن يَنَالُهُ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ مِنكُمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ سَخَّرَهَا لَكُمْ لِتُكَبِّرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَىٰكُمْ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ ٣٧
“Their flesh and blood do not reach God: it is your piety that reaches Him. Thus God has subjected them to you, so that you may glorify Him for the guidance He has given you. Give glad tidings to those who do good.” (22:37)
In the month of Dhul-Hijjah, one of the most important elements of Islam, the duty of Hajj is performed and a great Sunnah of Sacrifice is performed, both of which are obligatory on Muslims who are wealthy.
Both of these are works in which many things are sacrificed: spending a lot of money on Hajj, enduring the hardships of the journey, leaving home and travelling to the city of Makkah, and then enduring the hardships there. It is done; if it is summer, the hardships are increased, and then some things that are permissible on other days have to be left out. Thus, a pilgrim has to sacrifice wealth, time, desires, and luxuries.
And in Qurbani, a person sacrifices his favourite and domesticated animals (which he loves a lot) in the way of Allah with the feeling that “I am now sacrificing this favourite animal of mine in the way of You. But if necessary, I will not hesitate to sacrifice everything, i.e., my abilities, my energies, my time, my children, my property, and even my life, in your way.”
In this way, we see that the main thing in these two “Hajj rituals and sacrifice rituals” is “Qurbani”.
Therefore, Allah Ta’ala has explained to the Muslims in the above verse that the essence of sacrifice is “piety” That is, the same sacrifice is acceptable to Allah Ta’ala, behind which the secret of piety is hidden; that is, that sacrifice is only for the pleasure of Allah. There should not even be any suspicion of someone else’s pleasure or someone else’s pleasure in the name, because no matter how great the sacrifice may be on the surface, if there is even the slightest flaw in it, then it has no status in the sight of Allah.
In this verse, another teaching is also given that the great blessing “Islam” which Allah has given you, in gratitude for it, always describes the greatness of Allah, and those who with this pure passion, action, and effort will live, for them there are great glad tidings, i.e., “good tidings of Paradise”.
We pray to Allah Almighty to make us sincere in our actions.
