“The message of today is to sacrifice. The easiest way to sacrifice is to be selfless and that can only be achieved if we are not egotistic. Then one can become humble and the next step is to serve mankind and to sacrifice whatever is possible.”
Source/Credit: Bucks County Courier Times
By Anthony DiMattia | September 24, 2015
For Syed Fazal and other Muslims around the world, Thursday was a day of sacrifice.
Fazal, general secretary of the Philadelphia regional chapter of the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, was one of more than a billion in the Muslim faith to celebrate the Eid al-Adha (EED-al-ODD-ha), or "festival of the sacrifice." One of the most sacred days on the Muslim calendar, the holiday commemorates the belief that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God's command.
The observance marks the end of the annual five-day pilgrimage to Mecca, or Hajj, which every Muslim is expected to make once in their lifetime.
Fazal was joined Thursday by other members of the Philadelphia chapter during a prayer service at the County Downe Banquet Hall on Wisteria Lane in Bensalem. Following a short sermon, members greeted and shared a meal before families gathered later in the day for a dinner to commemorate the holiday.
The holiday is typically celebrated with prayers, small gifts for children, the distribution of meat to the needy, and social gatherings.
Mujeeb Choudhary, president of the Philadelphia regional chapter of the Ahmadiyya, said the account of Abraham is described in the Quran, the Torah and the Bible, but discrepancies have led to differing beliefs on what happened thousands of years ago.
The story begins when Abraham fathered Ishmael with Hagar because Sarah, his wife, was unable to give birth. Abraham moved Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca after Sarah demanded their exile from Palestine. Thirteen years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
"Abraham left home to travel to Mecca to carry out God's command," Choudhary said. "During his travel, Satan appeared to Abraham three times to convince him not to sacrifice his son and, each time, Abraham refused to listen."
When he reached Mecca and prepared to make the sacrifice, Abraham asked his son what he thought, Choudhary said. According to the texts, either Ishmael or Isaac said, "Oh my father, do what you have been commanded." Before Abraham was able to kill his son, God revealed himself from heaven and stopped the sacrifice.
For Thursday's sermon, a portion of the roughly 500 parishioners of the Philadelphia sect packed into the hall celebrated while a new 800-member mosque is constructed at Broad Street and Glenwood Avenue near Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.
“This will be the only mosque in Philadelphia built from the ground up,” member Madeel Abdullah said. “The other mosques are houses or warehouses converted to mosques.”
Founded in 1889, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community includes tens of millions of followers in more than 190 countries, according to www.ahmadiyya.us.
It is the only Islamic group that believes the messiah returned in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas, a man from India who lived from 1835 to 1908. Ahmadiyya members believe that God sent Ahmadas as the metaphorical second coming of Jesus to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice and peace, according to www.ahmadiyya.us.
“We believe that Jesus has come back, not in the physical form, but in the spiritual form,” Abdullah said.
Through Ahmadas' teachings, the sect became the only Islamic group to endorse a separation of mosque and state.
For Choudhary, the holiday is one way the public can be taught the true meaning of Islam.
“We must convey the message that people don’t have to fear Islam,” he said. “We are shoulder to shoulder with American armed forces because the holy Quran told us that we must obey the law of the land.”
-- Anthony DiMattia: 215-949-4205; email: adimattia@calkins.com; Twitter: @dailydimattia
Read original post here: USA: Area Muslims celebrate sacred holiday of sacrifice in Bensalem
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times. Ahmadiyya Times is not an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.