Congratulations to Our Muslim Brothers on Eid al-Adha
Congratulations to Our Muslim Brothers on Eid al-Adha
From the depths of our hearts, we congratulate our Muslim brothers in Egypt and throughout the whole world on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. May God return it to all in the depth of happiness, and may God return it to our beloved homeland after all our national hopes have been fulfilled.
The name of this feast carries the meaning of sacrifice and the meaning of redemption.
It is a beautiful name, containing all the meanings of giving. Although our father Abraham did not actually offer his son, yet his complete heartfelt readiness for this offering was accepted by the Lord as a complete sacrifice and as a fragrant incense, because the measure of a person’s depth is in his heart and his inner feelings, not in his outward appearance.
And the heart of Abraham was pure before God.
Our father Abraham loved God from the depths of his being; he loved Him more than his only son whom he begot in his old age through divine promises.
How beautiful it is that God would be the all in all for a person, and that a person would rise above the level of flesh and blood.
Abraham, in his position, was humble, trusting in the wisdom of God and in His love, and he did not accept to examine the wisdom of God by his human mind.
It may seem strange that God would ask an old father to offer his only son as a burnt offering. But the humble mind does not examine the works of God; rather, it accepts them in complete surrender, in trust, and in love. For the wisdom of God is higher than our minds. It is not for us to understand, but rather it is for us to trust, and to leave the understanding for God to reveal to us in His good time.
What increases the greatness of Abraham is that he did not hesitate to offer his son, nor did he delay, nor argue, nor grieve, nor feel that he himself was the victim before his son.
Rather, the Scripture says that he “rose early in the morning.” He is an example of the wondrous obedience that carries out the will of God on earth as it is carried out in heaven.
It is a wonderful image of a holy family: the father who will slaughter and the son who is the sacrifice, all in obedience to the good will of God.
The obedience of the son was not less than the obedience of his father. He was completely surrendered, trusting in his father’s love even when he held the knife to slaughter him, and he was believing in the love of God in whom his father believed.
And his faith was in its proper place, and he returned with his father safe.
We congratulate all our Muslim brothers on the feast, and we congratulate the leader of Egypt and its president, Muhammad Anwar Sadat, and all those working with him. And we place before all of us the lofty principles inspired by the story of Abraham offering his son as a burnt offering.
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