Qurban (Ritual Sacrifice): Difference between revisions

Qurban (قربان, Urdu and Persian ghorbani/qorbani قرباني) means "sacrifice" in Arabic. Its origin is actually Aramaic and ultimately Hebrew. The consonantal root ق-ر-ب q-r-b is semantically associated with the idea of closeness, such as the common adjective قريب "qarib" meaning "close" (also as a noun close one/relative). Its ultimate meaning stems from the ancient animal sacrifices of the priests in Holy of Holies temple in Jerusalem, who would "come close" to the שכינה‎ "shekhina", the holy presence of God (יהוה YHVH) to offer YHVH the sacrifice. [[Islam|Islamic]] [[Islam and Scripture|scriptures]] (the [[Qur'an]] and [[Hadith]]) arecognizes at least two close instances of human sacrifice which were averted at last second and contemporary Muslims continue to engage in yearly animal sacrifice on عيد الأضحى "Eid Al-Adha", the Eid of the Sacrifice. The word is also used in Christian Arabic to refer to the "sacrifice" of the Mass, where the priest consecrates the sacrificial "body and blood" of the Lord Jesus Christ.   

Ibrāhīm (Arabic: ابراهيم, Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם) , the biblical patriarch Abraham in the Bible( allegedly born circa 1900 BC to 1861 BC – died between 1814 BC to 1716 BC, though the evidence for this is very late), is an important prophet in Islam. He is the son of Tarekh and the father of the Prophet Ismail (Ishmael) -his first born son- and the Prophet Ishaq (Isaac) his second born. Ibrahim is considered the Father of the Prophets in orthodox Islam. Ibrahim is commonly termed Khalil Allah, or "Friend of God" or "Braheem". Islam regards many of the biblical patriarchs as prophets of Allah, and hence as Muslims (i.e., monotheists). Ibrahim is regarded as a Hanif (a term of considerable confusion in the Qur'an that seems to indicate some type of monotheism or obedience to Allah). According to the Islamic tradition, Ibrahim was ordered to sacrifice his favored son Isma'il by Allah, an order that Ibrahim faithfully followed up until the last second when Allah stopped him and provided a ram to sacrifice in Isma'il 's stead, saving Isma'il .

of obedience to [[God in Islam|God]] and the sacrifice's close-call aversion by Allah providing a ram to sacrifice in Isma'il's stead. Qurban is used to refer to the sacrifice of a livestock animal during Eid ul-Adha. Eid al-Adha is the latter of two [[Muslim holidays|Eid]] festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran.<ref>[{{Quran-url-only|2|196}} Quranic Basis for Eid al-Adha]</ref> (Muslims in Iran celebrate a third, non-denominational [[Eid e shuja|Eid]].)  Like [[Eid al-Fitr]], Eid al-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon.  

The grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, Abd-al-Muttalib, is also  reported by the Islamic tradition to have had an almost-sacrifice. According to the tradition, he went to the [[Ka'aba]] in order to engage in ميسر‎ "maisir" or gambling on which one of his 10 children to sacrifice to the pagan god [[Hubal]]. After the die fell as it were on Abdullah, the future father of Muhammad, his daughters implored Abd-al-Muttalib to sacrifice 10 camels instead. After repeatedly playing the game of chance again, the dice finally fell on the camels, which he sacrificed, and this was seen as  evidence of divine intervention. This story is thus used to explain Qur'an surah 37 ayahs 106-107  

Evidence from outside of the Islamic tradition, however, shows that human sacrifice, of children and prisoners of war, stopped before the 7th century AD in the 6th century in Arabia, which may indicate that this story was invented in order to explain the Qur'an verse rather than representing an authentic tradition about the life of the prophet.  

==Social Impact of Qurban==