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THE PHILOSOPHY OF QURBANI VS ITS HARD CORE REALITY

The issue raised as hard core reality regarding Qurbani might be due the ones quest
for understanding of underlying wisdom of Qurbani. It is interesting to understand the
sincere sacrifice of a Muslim in Qurbani, as well as its wise purposes and noble
philosophy. However, the same issue was raised by the orientalists previously. The
orientalists considered Qurbani in Islam as killing innocent animals. As the issue
seems to be critical and it draws our attention, this is the high time to make a
comment on it in order to clear the misconception regarding it. It is mentioned in the
hadith on the authority of Ibrahim Ibn Abdur Rahman al-Azari, he said, the messanger
of Allah pbuh said: The honest [and just] people of every successor [next generation]
will convey this Deen [its knowledge], they will disprove the distortion of extremists,
and the impersonation [and plagiarism] of wrongdoers and interpretation of ignorant
people. Narrated by al-Bayhaqi, an authentic hadith according to Imam Ahmad. The
writing is divided into three parts:
1.
2.
3.

A BRIEF SKETCH OF SOME ESSENTIAL ISLAMIC CONCEPTS (by me)

PHILOSOPHY OF QURBANI BY BY MUFTI TAQI USMANI (by Justice Taqi Uthmani)
AN ANALYSIS OF HARD CORE REALITY (by me)

1. A BRIEF SKETCH OF SOME ESSENTIAL ISLAMIC CONCEPTS

To have a correct approach and mindset regarding the sacrifice of Qurbani, it is
necessary to keep in our mind a few points: 1) Universal objectives of Islamic Law, 2)
Concept of welfare in Islam, 3) Principle of Priority, 4) Principle Balance 5) Intention
of pleasing Allah, 6) Being firmed in Iman, Not apologetic, 7) Logical and critical
thinking, 8) Orientalist, 9) Reductionism:
1) Universal Objectives of Islamic Law: Ensuring human welfare and establishing
peace and security in the world is the core concept of higher objectives of all divine
guidance more especially Islam. Allah swt prescribed many ahkam (provisions and
rulings) since the inception of sending prophets and messengers which meet at some
divinely common purposes that could help mankind to live a systematic and peaceful
life on this earth. This is the very meaning of the concept of maslahah (welfare/
benefits/wisdom/logic) as known in Islamic Jurisprudence.
All the Muslim classical (except Ibn Hazm) and contemporary great scholars are
unanimously agreed that Islamic laws are based on logic, wisdom and human welfare
whether we could explore the wisdom or not. This is agreed by all scholars of
Maqasid al-shariah- Universal aims of Islamic Law. It is the responsibility of Muslim
scholars to explore the wisdom behind the shariah rulings in order to show the world
the beauty of Islam and call people to the way of Allah.
However, Shah Wali Ullah al-Dehlawi said (agreed by others as well) that we
Muslims must believe and obey the command of Allah and his prophet even if we are
not able to explore the wisdom behind any particular command of Islam. This is test
for a Mumin whether he obeys the command of Allah or not and whether he blames

Islam as meaningless and impractical if he cannot understand and explore the wisdom
or benefit behind it. Here is the real submission to Allah swt and the following the
footsteps of our holy prophet Muhammad pbuh required.
2) Concept of Welfare in Islam: It is noteworthy that Ibn al-Qayyim summarized his
juridical methodology that is based on wisdom and peoples welfare with the
following strong words: The Islamic law is all about wisdom and achieving peoples
welfare in this life and the afterlife. It is all about justice, mercy, wisdom, and good.
Thus, any ruling that replaces justice with injustice, mercy with its opposite, common
good with mischief, or wisdom with nonsense, is a ruling that does not belong to the
Islamic law, even if it is claimed to be so according to some interpretation.
3) Intention of Pleasing Allah swt: Muslim attitude to each and every single activity
in his life is to be for the sake of Allah as commanded in the ayat of Sacrifice: Say:
"Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are [all] for
Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds [6:162], and in the Hadith of niyyah: It has been
narrated on the authority of Umar b. al-Khattab that the Messenger of Allah ( )said: (The
value of) an action depends on the intention behind it. A man will be rewarded only
for what he intended. The emigration of one who emigrates for the sake of Allah and
His Messenger ( )is for the sake of Allah and His Messenger ( ; )and the
emigration of one who emigrates for gaining a worldly advantage or for marrying a
woman is for what he has emigrated [Shahih Muslim: 1907].
4) Being Firmed in Iman, Not Apologetic: A Muslim should not be apologetic about
their religious activities if they do not understand the underlying wisdom their religion
in a particular activity as long as they are firmed in their belief in the true and
authentic religion. This is because this contradictory with the spirit of contentment,
happiness, and taste of Iman. Rather, they should have quest for wisdom in way that
leads to knowledge.
5) Logical and Critical Thinking: Islam emphasizes (hundred times more than other
religions) the logical, critical and creative thinking in order to understand the religion
(Unity of God, True Prophethood, Seal of Devine message, Authenticity of Quran
and other abrogated divine scriptures, existence of angels, resurrection for everlasting
life after the final great calamity) and its underlying wisdoms/logics/benefits/welfare.
Islam appreciates, encourages and obligated the critical approach as long as it leads to
understanding of the unity of the Creator and matches his guidance.
6) Principle of Priority in Islam: one of the wise and beautiful principles of Islam is
the principle of priority. It is applied when two or more issues conflict each other, and
it is impossible to reconcile among the conflicted issues rather having one negates
others. Here, the principle of priority operates.
We do not see any conflict here among Qurbani, spending for knowledge and
loving fellow ones. Some people may plan to spend the money of Qurbani for best
sacrifice of spending for knowledge and loving fellow ones assuming that if he has a

fix amount of money. If he spends it for qurbani he cannot spend for such best
sacrifice. He will be wrong in his plan and target because his target is to perform the
command of Allah in the best manner to please him. Of course he should have real
priority without negating any other command. In fact, Qurbani is command for the
people who can afford it possessing Nisab-the fixed amount of wealth (Nisab of
Qurbani is the same of Zakat according to Abu Hanifah or ability and solvency
according to other Imams). In addition, Qurbani is wajib according to Abu Hanifah
only or Sunnah according to all other Imams. However, if a poor man spends his
money for best sacrifice as mentioned, he is not only allowed to do so but he is also
encouraged to do so, because he does not possess the Nisab of Qurbani and hence the
command of Qurbani is not applied to him.
7) Principle of Balance in Islam: Another principle of Islam is to make balance
among the commands and obligations when performing them. It must be applied if
someone negates or ignores or undermines or undervalues any obligation of Islam
because of the assumed excuse of overpressure or importance of few obligations or
responsibilities in the form of ibadah or in the name of humanitarian activity. This is
because holistic submission to the command of Allah is required. Otherwise,
imbalance in the obedience of Allahs command will resemble the partial belief of
Mushrikum as they believe in a few verses of Quran which are in favor of them.
8) Orientalists: They are non-Muslim and secular Muslim scholars who research in
Islam and Islamic literature, and oriental countries and Muslim countries in order to
explore strengths and weaknesses of Islam and Muslims to serve the western agenda
against Muslims. They create misconceptions about Islam and spread them to alienate
Non-Muslims from embracing Islam, to confuse the uneducated Muslims, to estrange
the Muslims of weak Iman, and to serve many other purposes.
9) Reductionism: It is a trend and attitude of ignoring the continuity of human history
and the early development of human civilization in order to create misconceptions and
execute some agenda. This is done by ignoring the history of previous nations, or the
previous history of the same nation, or ignoring the historical reasons and context that
help to analyze an issue correctly. Islam is the victim of this reductionism. In fact,
Islamic civilization is a continuation of previous human civilization and final version
of divine religions. Hence, all the practices we have in Islam are among the previous
practices approved by Islam or among the practices modified by Islam or among the
practices prescribed newly by Islam. However, some previous practices are
disapproved by Islam. This process of approval and disapproval is on the basis of
human welfare/ wisdom/ logic/ maslahah/ maqasid al-shariah.

2. PHILOSOPHY OF QURBANI
By Mufti Taqi Usmani
The Urdu and Persian word "Qurbaani" is derived from the Arabic word 'Qurban'. It
means an act performed to seek nearness to Almighty Allah and to seek His good
pleasure. Originally, the word 'Qurban' included all acts of charity because the
purpose of charity is nothing but to seek Allah's pleasure. But, in precise religious
terminology, the word was later confined to the sacrifice of an animal slaughtered for
the sake of Allah.
The sacrifice of an animal has always been treated as a recognised form of worship in
all religious orders originating from a divine book. Even in pagan societies, the
sacrifice of an animal is recognized as a form of worship, but it is done in the name of
some idols and not in the name of Allah, a practice totally rejected by Islam.
In the Sharih of our beloved Prophet (Sallallaahu layhi Wasallam) the sacrifice of
an animal has been recognised as a form of worship only during three days of the
month of Dhul Hijjah, namely the 10th, 11th and 12th of the month. This is to
commemorate the unparalleled sacrifice offered by Prophet Sayyidina Ibrahim
(layhis salaam) when he, in pursuance to a command of Allah conveyed to him in a
dream, prepared himself to slaughter his beloved son Sayyidinah Ismail (layhis
salaam) and actually did so, but Allah Almighty, after testing the ultimate limits of his
submission, sent down a sheep and saved his son from the logical fate of slaughter. It
is from that time onwards that sacrifice of an animal became an obligatory duty to be
performed by every well-to-do Muslim.
Qurbani is a demonstration to Allah and proof of complete obedience to Allah's will
or command. When a Muslim offers Qurbani, this exactly what he intends to prove.
Thus, the Qurbani offered by a Muslim signifies that he is slave of Allah at his best
and that he would not hesitate even for a moment, once he receives an absolute
command from his Creator, to surrender before it, to obey it willingly, even it be at
the price of his life and possessions. When a true and perfect Muslim receives such a
command from Allah, his natural instincts stop him from indulging in the futile search
for the reasoning behind the command; nor does he make his obedience dependent
upon the command's 'reasonableness' as perceived through his limited understanding.
He knows that Allah is All-Knowing, All- Wise and that his own ability to reason
cannot encompass the knowledge and wisdom underlying the divine command, even
if he cannot find any reason or wisdom behind it.
This is exactly what the Prophet Ibrahim (layhis salaam) did. Apparently, there was
no reason why a father should slaughter his innocent son. But, when came the
command of Allah, he never asked about the reason for that command, nor did he
hesitate to obey it. Even his minor son, when asked by his father about the dream he
had seen, never questioned the legitimacy of the command, nor did he pine or whine

about it, nor did he ask for one good reason why he was being slaughtered. The one
only response he made was:
"Father, do what you have been ordered to do. You shall find me, God willing, among
the patient".
The present-day Qurbani is offered in memory of this great model of submission set
before us by the great father and the great son. Qurbani must be offered in our time
emulating the same ideal and attitude of submission.
This then is the true philosophy of Qurbani. With this in mind, one can easily unveil
the fallacy of those who raise objections against Qurbani on the basis of economic
calculations and lounge statistics and make it out to be a wastage of money, resource
and livestock. Unable to see beyond mundane benefits, they cannot understand the
spirit Islam wants to implant and nourish among its followers, the spirit of total
submission to Allah's will equips man with the most superior qualities so necessary to
keep humanity in a state of lasting peace and welfare.
Qurbani is nothing but a powerful symbol of the required human conduct vis--vis the
divine commands, however, "irrational" or "uneconomic" they may seem to be in their
appearance. Thus, the distrustful quest for mundane economic benefits behind
Qurbani is, in fact the negation of its real philosophy, and the very spirit underlying it.
No doubt, there are, in every form of worship ordained by Allah, certain worldly
benefits too, but they are not the main purpose of these prescribed duties, nor should
they be treated as preconditions to submission and obedience. All acts of worship,
including Qurbani, must be carried out with the spirit of total submission to Allah,
irrespective of their economic, social or political benefits. This is what Ibrahim
(layhis salaam) did, and this is what every true Muslim is required to do.
WARNING FOR THOSE WHO IGNORE QURBANI
There is a Hadith from Hadhrat Abu Hurayra (Radhiallaahu nhu) that Rasulullah
(Sallallahu-alayhi-wasallam) said, 'That person who has the means of performing
Qurbani but does not do so should not even come near the Eidgah (Place of Eid). This
is collected by Ibn Majah and is a hasan- a form of authentic hadith.
http://www.central-mosque.com/fiqh/philqurbani.htm
3. AN ANALYSIS OF HARD CORE REALITY
The reality felt is as follows: One of our fellow Muslims made a few comments on
the Islamic practice of sacrifice by Qurbani as following:
What's wrong if we do not do so-called Qurbani by killing innocent animals. Our
Qurbani has nothing related to sacrifice. The best sacrifice is spending for the cause
of propagation of the right knowledge (Hadith) and love our fellow ones.

You are going to get vanished if you do not have right knowledge. You do not have
feelings for your fellows. You love to kill them, you love torture them, you love not to
do anything for them. OTHERS ARE OPPOSITE. They love their people.
I'm not emotional but talking about hard core reality. First learn how to love your
fellow ones for the sake of Allah sbwt.
COMMENTS: After having a proper mindset and understanding the philosophy of
Qurbani, it is better to understand the danger of the feeling above. I tried here to pick
up some phrases which are colored and analyzed accordingly.
1. Learn how to love your fellow ones: Why are we going to love our fellow ones?
How are we going to love our fellow ones for the sake of Allah swt? Who is our role
model in this regard?
If the answer is because Allah commamded us to sacrifice for His sake following His
messenger (and of course this is the exact answer and it is must), we must obey Allah
in his command of Qurbani albeit some people cannot see any logic/ wisdom/ welfare
behind it. What we need here is to read the literature on purpose of the command of
Qurbani and its spiritual, social impacts on the society as prescribed in Islam and as
practiced in reality. However, if the answer is opposite, and the love of human being
is for other purposes, this is not our concern here.
2. For the sake of Allah swt: To lead our life for sake of Allah means we must try our
best to prefer guidelines and pleasure of Allah swt in all forms of our Ibadah. It does
not mean that we perform those forms of ibadah for the sake of Allah only when we
understand their wisdom and see their inner beauty and that we have Chance to reject
other forms of ibadah/ command of Allah/ traditions of His prophet if we cannot
explore or do not understand their wisdom and beauty.
3. So-called Qurbani: Qurbani is not so-called ritual or command. This approach is
undermining and neglecting for the command of Allah swt and the tradition of his
prophet pbuh. We must be careful in this regard even we have good intention because
to my humble understanding such expression is similar to mockery of the Symbolic of
Deen and blasphemy even we are Muminun/ believers and we have good intention.
Despite we perform good actions with good intention; we have to be very careful in
expression whether it resembles disbelievers sayings/mockery. I worry that if it is
considered the same in the judgment of Allah swt in the Hereafter (May Allah save us
all). It is mentioned in Quran: And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were
only conversing and playing. Say, is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that
you were mocking? Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We
pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were
criminals [9:65-66]. If we do this (may Allah save us), why are we concerned about
the love of fellow ones? Where is the sake of Allah here? Such expression requires
Tawbah if any one tells it even with good intention.

As the disbelievers used to mock Allah swt, the holy Quran and the holy prophet
Muhammad pbuh and hurt him, Allah swt mentioned mockery as kufr/disbelief in the
Quran and warned the disbelievers. Thus, Islam prohibited all forms of mocking
expressions and blasphemous approaches to Islam and its rituals. As the mockery and
blasphemy are the actions and characters of disbelievers, Muslims are prohibited to
utter any mocking expression or to have any blasphemous approach. Based on the
Quranic verse above and its context, the scholars of the science of Islamic CreedAqeedah straightforwardly considered the one who mocks/ blasphemes as kafir/
disbeliever. While explaining the text of Imam Najmuddin Nasafi, Sasduddin alTaftazani says, if any one utters any word of kufr/ disbelief which is blasphemy/
mockery/ undervaluing for any obligation of Deen, he will be considered as kafir even
he has no intention of disbelief. It is also agreed by Sadrul Wara al-Misbahi (p. 353).
Hence, believers should be very careful in expressions and criticism concerning Islam
(Allah, prophet, Quran, Ibadah, obligations, Sunnah of prophets and others symbolic
actions and places of Deen) in order to save them from any form of mockery because
the niyyah/ intention is not effective here to save our Iman. Niyyah is effective to save
our Iman only in coercion when a Muslim is forced by Zalim/disbeliever to do so.
This is based on the Quranic statement as Allah swt says: Anyone who, after
accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief, except under compulsion, his heart
remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath
from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty [16:106]. This verse
straightforwardly proves that mockery/ blasphemy/ undervaluing/ criticism of any
symbolic of Islam is kufr in normal situation (but not under compulsion only). May
Allah swt save our Iman.
4. By killing: Slaughtering animals for the sake of animals Creator is Not Killing.
Rather, it is animals submission to their Creator. That is why; human can easily take
control over an animal of a big size and can slaughter it. It is instilled in animals
nature that they are created to serve the best creation (human being) of their Creator.
Otherwise, animals are stronger than human beings and they are able to deny while
slaughtering as we apparently see when some people do not apply the proper
techniques to lay a cow on the ground.
5. Innocent animals: Animals are not innocent. Innocence and guiltiness are not the
characters of animals i.e. animals are not characterized by innocent or guilty and they
will not be accountable and responsible for their activities. Hence, they should not be
punished. This is the Islamic philosophy of ethics concerning animals. However, one
of the deviated philosophies of ethics brings the animals under the rules of ethics.
They make animals accountable for animally activities and they view to punish them
accordingly. In addition, they also consider slaughtering animals as crime whatever
purpose a man have. This is because they do not understand the Creator of all
creatures and purposes of their creation. Another deviated philosophy brings the God
under the rules of ethics. Hence, if they consider anything is not reasonable or wrong
they blame the God. However, in Islamic philosophy, the Creator and the animals are

excluded from the rules of ethics. Rather, the Creator is the authority of ethics. He swt
guided people to ethics and moralities and commanded to apply them for establishing
peace and love in the world.
It is to be noted here that the orientalists used to raise such issues intentionally or
confusingly (even they understand and sometimes they do not understand) to spread
misconceptions against Islam for their purposes as mentioned. In addition, the
fundamentalist and extremist Hindus raised the issue of Qurbani to achieve their
religious and political goals.
Thus, the expression so-called Qurbani by killing innocent animals leads us to
execute the agenda of orientalists, and extremist and fundamentalist Hindus as well as
to be apologetic to our true and authentic religion- Islam, to have weakness in our
Iman and to let others to laugh looking at us Muslims.
6. Our Qurbani has nothing related to sacrifice: We have to understand the forms of
sacrifice including Qurbani and their proper implementation in addition to its divine
wisdom. Some people may not see any sacrifice in Qurbani. It seems to be for some
factors: 1) Either we do not understand the aspect of sacrifice and underlying
wisdoms/ purposes in Qurbani, or 2) We may understand but we do not observe it in
the reality, or 3) We do not perform Qurbani as it should be, or 4) We know but we do
not consider Qurbani as a form of sacrifice, or 6) It is difficult for us to feel sacrificed
in our Qurbani and this is weakness of our Iman, or 7) We are not much aware of the
spiritual and social welfare of Qurbani, or 8) We are confused and misled by
misconceptions spread by orientalists, and so on.
7. The best sacrifice is spending for the cause of propagation of the right knowledge
(Hadith) and loving our fellow ones: These are Not only the best practices rather these
are among the best sacrifices for the sake of Allah. Moreover, sacrificing for the sake
of Allah by slaughtering animals is one of the outcomes of spending for the
propagation of the right knowledge (Hadith) and loving our fellow ones. It is to be
noted that our best effort of sacrifice (spending for spreading knowledge and loving)
must not negate the command of Allah swt and His prophets tradition. This is
because they are not conflicted to each other and hence it doesnt lead to priority of
propagation of the right knowledge (Hadith) and loving our fellow ones and
ignoring some aspects such as Qurbani. Rather, we do all in parallel maintaining the
obligation of Qurbani to strengthen our spirituality and to share poors feelings as well
as spending for knowledge and loving our fellow ones.
8. Qurbani has nothing to do with killing people or loving fellow ones. Rather,
Qurbani is symbolic of superiority of human being on the animals and all other
creations when the prophet Ismail was replaced by an animal for the prophet Ibrahim
to fulfill his sacrifice commanded by Allah swt, albeit it was a plan designed by Allah
swt to test Ibrahim by sacrificing his beloved one in order for Allah to elevate his
status.

9. Qurbani is in a continuous practice of human civilization. Islam guided and

corrected the purpose of Qurbani and its way which was practiced by previous
religions/ civilizations/ nations. Qurbani was practiced for the first time by the first
twine (Habil and Qabil) of human generation by the command of Allah to
differentiate between acceptance and rejection of the guideline of the Creator- Allah
swt. After that prophet Nooh and prophet Ibrahim sacrificed animals by burning for
the sake of their Creator- Allah. Their successors followed them as well. People of
Musa sacrificed animals by burning or freeing them in the desert. The people of Greek
and Roman civilizations used to sacrifice animals. People of the very classical
Phoenician, Canaanites, Sur Empire, Persian, and Egyptian civilizations used to
sacrifice animals for their God/Gods (Wisdom of Islamic Legislation and its
Philosophy by Ali Ahmad al-Jarhawi). Hence, sacrifice animals in a modified styleof Islam (by slaughtering with ihsan in a way that cause less pain to animals, not by
burning which is gruesome) is not something strange and invented by Islam to be
cruel. Rather, Qurbani is a continuation of the practice of sacrifice by animals that
Islam appreciated, modified and commanded.
10. Moreover, in the history of human civilization, Islam for the first time stopped the
cruelest form of sacrifice by killing the greatest creation- human being when people of
other civilizations used to sacrifice by killing human beings (beautiful girls) for the
sake of their goods or deities. Hence, Qurbani is a symbolic of mercy, and love for our
fellow ones not being cruel to them.
I seek the pleasure of Allah swt by this effort. May Allah swt gift us the proper
understanding of His Deen and accept us all. Ameen.