Present-day sacrifice - what say you...

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A pilgrimage is a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. It is a journey of importance to a person’s beliefs and faith. The Holy Land is the focal point for the pilgrimages of the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Most Hindu places of pilgrimage are associated with legendary events from the lives of various gods. Buddhists have many but the most popular ones are in India and Nepal.

We are now in the Islamic calendar month of Dzul-Hijjah. Aidiladha falls on the 10th day of this month and lasts for four days. Pilgrims and Muslims all over the world celebrate this festival of sacrifice. It honours the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of submission to God’s command.

When Ibrahim attempted to cut his son’s throat, God then through His angel Jibra’il (Gabriel) informed him that his sacrifice has already been substituted with a ram. Ibrahim had passed the test and showed that his love for God superceded all others. The meat from the sacrificed animal is then divided into three - the family retains one-third, another third given to relatives, friends and neighbours, and the remaining third is given to the poor and needy.

In today’s context, sacrifice means to to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person.

In a personal context, sports personalities sacrifice a lot to excel, celebrities sacrifice their personal life for the sake of being famous and people in love have to sacrifice a lot for the relationship. Elton John’s song ‘Sacrifice’ has the following wordings... “Just a simple word... It’s two hearts living”.

Most of us would have heard this a thousand times, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.

I have to admit that our beloved country has done a lot not only for me but also for many other Malaysians and non-Malaysians. The beautiful sceneries, good food, beautiful weather and the beautiful people around us.

So, what can we do for our beloved country? We should take good care of the environment; our helpless jungles, forests and parks; our serene hills; our polluted rivers; practice cleanliness; avoid vandalism and avoid the rape of our natural surroundings in the name of development.

In present day Malaysia, let me change John F Kennedy’s statement to “Ask not what your government can do for you, ask what you can do for your government”.

Surely, many of us have sacrificed, are being sacrificed or will be sacrificed for the sake of development.

We now have to ask, for all the sacrifices made, did we get to enjoy the benefits? If so, is it equitable like what Ibrahim did or is it for a selected few? When Ibrahim made the sacrifice, many people (relatives, friends, neighbours, the poor and needy) enjoyed the benefits equitably.

There was a quote I saw, “Never sacrifice three things: Your Family, Your Heart or Your Dignity”.

By the way, Elton John’s song also has these words, “Sweet deceit comes calling... And negativity lands... Cold cold heart... Hard done by you”.

What say you...

To my Muslim brothers and sisters, ‘Selamat Aidiladha’ and to my cousins (Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and other faiths), enjoy the long weekend.

Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, La ilaha illallahu wallahu akbar, Allahu akbar walillahil-hamd (Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, There is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest, and praise be to Allah).