For the past couple of days, I have been trying to understand Eid-Ul-Adha and its history in deep detail; this question is part of that understanding I am trying to have.
I am trying to understand the true purpose of Eid-Ul-Adha celebrations. Below are three of the purposes that I have come across:-
- It is done to commemorate the happenings of Prophet Ibrahim. But nowhere in Quran it is specifically mentioned that do sacrifice animals to commemorate the happenings of Prophet Ibrahim. Also nowhere it is mentioned how this Sunnah of Ibraheem started. Also I can not find a satisfactory answer as to why Allah asked Prophet Ibraheem in the first place to sacrifice his son.
https://quran.com/2/196?translations=20
https://quran.com/5/2?translations=20
https://quran.com/22/28?translations=20
https://quran.com/22/34?translations=20
https://quran.com/22/36?translations=20
https://quran.com/6/162?translations=20
https://quran.com/108/2?translations=20
https://quran.com/37/107?translations=20
https://quran.com/37/107?translations=20
https://quran.com/16/123?translations=20
Above are some of the references in the Quran where it has been talked about the sacrificing of animals but nowhere it has been explicitly mentioned to do this to commemorate the happenings of Prophet Ibrahim.
Another purpose that I have been told is that by sacrificing an animal, Allah wants to check one's willingness and piety to sacrifice a loved one in the name of Allah but this is not applicable as nowhere a sacrifice of an animal can be compared with the sacrifice of a human being. It does not even come close to that as many people nowadays do not have even keep sacrificial animals as pets for a long time. They just buy it a week ago and sacrifice the animal. Also, there are permissions that you can have another person sacrifice the animal for you which again kills the purpose. You can still choose not to look at the sacrifice of animals again killing the purpose.
Somewhere I read that animals are sacrificed on this day to mark the end of the Hajj but again this applies to the people who have gone for the Hajj and not to those who are sitting afar. The below surah mentions the same if I am not wrong.
Please clarify!