5 Spiritual Lessons of Eid ul Adha
As one of the five pillars of Islam central to Muslim belief, Hajj is the pilgrimage to Makkah that every Muslim must make at least once in their lifetime if they are able. The Hajj takes place during Dhul Hijjah, the 12th lunar calendar month every year. It ends with Eid ul Adha, which is known as the ‘greater eid’. The words أضحى (adha) and قربان (qurban) are synonymous in meaning ‘sacrifice’ (animal sacrifice), ‘offering’ or ‘oblation’.
But what does it all mean and what is the spiritual significance of the rituals Muslims undertake during the Hajj and on Eid ul Adha?
Let’s get to it.
Humanity is equal before God
The very first step of the Hajj is for Muslim pilgrims to enter a state of ‘ihram’ — a special dress code. You must first perform a bath, cut your nails and be clean. To observe ihram, men will wear two unstitched pieces of white cloth. Women are required to wear modest loose clothing. Both men and women must not wear jewellery, apply make-up, perfume or cosmetics. There is no gender segregation between men and women. During the pilgrimage, sexual activity, smoking and swearing are forbidden.
The ihram “represents complete impoverishment before God, and everybody has to be the same. So it is encouraged that everybody looks the same, the rich man, the poor man, the free man, the bondsman, the king the pauper — everybody becomes the same. Humanity before God is equal” according to Shaikh Hamza Yusuf.
For most of our lives, we grow up and work hard to distinguish ourselves. The spiritual significance of the dress code of the Hajj is to do away with arbitrary distinctions. In his final sermon after the Hajj, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said very clearly that we are bereft and poor before God. In an often quoted line from the Prophet’s sermon he stated: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety (taqwa) and good action.”
We are naked creatures — with all the same basic human needs. Returning to this state is the objective of the ihram, which serves to remind us of our inner renunciation of worldly preoccupations — from our jobs and bling to our make up and clothing. The Hajj signifies a turn away from fragmentation — all the social constructions we set up that preoccupy us.
“Allah does not look at your shape, appearance or property but at your hearts and deeds.” (Hadith, Sahih Muslim)
After his pilgrimage to Makkah in April 1964, the civil rights leader Malcolm X wrote to a friend the following words:
Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.
There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.
Paying reverence to Hajira (Hagar), an African emigre who founded Makkah
The Bible and Quran both make mention of Hajira (Hagar) as an Egyptian slave girl who bore Abraham his first-born, Ismail (Ishmael). As part of the Hajj, Muslims walk 7 times between the two hills of Safa and Marwa.
The scripture states that when Abraham left Hajira and Ismail and her provisions ran out, she could no longer feed Ismail. She ran between Safa and Marwa hoping to find water. After exhausting herself, she heard the voice of Angel Gabriel. The angel struck the ground (in other traditions it says Ismail hit his heel on the ground) and water gushed out. The water kept flowing and Hagar said: “Zome zome”, meaning “stop flowing” and thus the water was named Zamzam.
Hajira is the founder of Makkah. Yes, a woman founded Makkah. At this time, Makkah was a desolate place — a desert with no sign of life. When Abraham left Hajira in the desert, the Quran states that he prayed: “Our Lord, I have resided part of my progeny in an uncultivated valley near your Sacred Dwelling. My Lord, so that they may uphold the communion let the hearts of the people incline towards them and give provisions to them of the fruits so that they may give thanks.” (Quran, 14:37)
Eventually, some people came along, said to be descendants of Noah. Seeing that there now was water, they sought Hajra’s permission to settle down there. The Hadith states: “Ishmael’s mother was sitting near the water. They asked her, “Do you allow us to stay with you?” She replied, ‘Yes, but you will have no right to possess the water.’ They agreed to that.” (Following Hajra in Mecca: Islam’s Matriarchal Roots)
The Bible in Genesis (21:11–13) states that God upheld his covenant with Abraham, and said to him “I will make the son of the slave (Hagar) into a nation because he is your offspring.”
The ZamZam water is considered to have healing properties. It’s chemical composition is alkaline, it contains a number of minerals like calcium and magnesium.
Hajira holds a special significance in Islam. The word Hijra (meaning ‘departure’ or ‘emigration’ and used to signify the start of the Islamic calendar when Prophet Muhammad emigrated from Makkah to Medina after severe persecution) comes from the same root word for Hajira — H-J-R. Hajira (Hagar) is the migrant par excellence, and the Hajj pays reverence to her struggle. If aligns her struggle and name with the foundation of the Islamic lunar calendar.
Turning away from human sacrifice towards a new social order that is human-centric
The Bible and Quran state that before Moses was born, Pharaoh had a premonition that the Israelites may rise up against him. He therefore ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed. In the Islamic account, Moses’ mother was commanded by God to place him in a basket and cast him on the waters of the Nile. Pharaoh’s wife, Asiya, later found Moses floating in the waters of the Nile and he joins the royal household.
Just as with Moses before him, when Jesus was born it is said that Herod tried to harm him and ordered all the infants of Bethlehem to be killed.
The Bible also describes a Canaanite God, Moloch, to whom children used to be sacrificed. The Book of Leviticus (18:21) says: “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the first to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.” In John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) Moloch is described as the chief of Satan’s angels, who calls for war against God.
The sacrifice of children, and even adults, has plagued many societies over the course of history. During the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) time, it was common practice for infant girls to be buried alive. That is until, the Quran decreed this a major sin, and prohibited it in the strictest of terms:
“Kill not your children on a plea of want. We provide sustenance for you and for them. Come not near shameful deeds, whether open or secret. Take not life which Allah has made sacred.” (The Quran, 6:151)
A similar guidance is repeated in Chapter 17, verse 31:
“Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin.”
As part of the festivities of Eid ul Adha, Muslims are required to sacrifice an animal (a goat, sheep, cow). This ritual follows in the footsteps of Abraham who was commanded to take his son Ismail to be sacrificed, only then to be replaced by a ram by Divine decree thereby sparing the child’s life.
The story is often said to be a clear example of Abraham’s devotion to God, but it also symbolises something much more significant — a huge leap in how societies are ordered and how human beings ought to turn away from human sacrifice. Throughout the course of human history, human sacrifice was a way for social elites to exercise control over their subjects. Victims were often people who posed a threat to elites or who had fallen out of favour:
“Chiefs and priests routinely strangled, bludgeoned, drowned, and burned their victims to death in order to please various ancestors or deities. Invariably, those ordaining the sacrifices were of higher status than their victims, prompting researchers to ask whether the violence served a social purpose — namely, keeping the lower orders in line. (Did Human Sacrifice Help People Form Complex Societies?)
The Abrahamic example, and the dawn of Abrahamic faiths, served to act as a kind of social glue that counteracted the power wielded by the few over the many. Turning away from human sacrifice fostered new social ties — and a new kind of social cohesion that allowed society to be more stable.
The question scientists are debating now is: Did our modern world spring from the beliefs of those who buried the girl alive, or from those of the miner who freed her?
To put that question another way, were human societies able to grow so large and complex because cruel practices like human sacrifice shored them up, or because human sacrifice was abandoned in favor of other forms of social glue — notably, major religions like Christianity [and Islam]? (Did Human Sacrifice Help People Form Complex Societies?)
The Abrahamic principle affirmed an organizing principle that led to a unique complexifying process. Without Abraham this process would have stalled, and complex social structures taken for granted by nation-states would simply not have come about.
Above — In this lecture by Russell Banks at the Harvard Divinity School he talks about how the future of our species lies in our children, and their children. This is why it is important to protect our children from amoral forces who harm and annihilate them or use them for their own purposes, he says.
The destruction of ego (nafs) and ascending to new levels of consciousness
As part of the Hajj, Muslim pilgrims walk around the Kabah, a cube shaped structure, 7 times in an anti-clockwise orbit. The Kabah was built by Abraham as a landmark for the House of God. The grand mosque has a place known as ‘maqam-e-ibrahim’, a small golden coloured structure, where the footprints of Abraham can be seen. Tradition says he stood on a stone to summon people to perform the pilgrimage.
But why do people walk around the Kabah 7 times? The Quran states that everything in the universe, from the smallest of atoms to the planets in our universe, are all rotating in accordance with Divine will and command. The planets in our solar system rotate around the sun, the electrons around the nucleus, the moth around the candle; rotating around such a center means allegiance with love.
Each celestial body is in perfect divine order, it is swimming in its own orbit:
It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming. (The Quran 36:40)
Remember that the Quran goes to lengths about Abraham and how he became a monotheist. It details how Abraham would observe celestial bodies and planets, reflecting on the nature of God and whether there was a Higher Being — i.e. God. So there is a deep significance here around Abraham building a structure on the physical plane that mimicks and twins with etheric structures on the immaterial plane.
In the unseen realm, the Quran speaks about seven heavens, staggered on top of one another:
“The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: there not a thing but celebrates His praise; and yet ye understand not how they declare His glory…” (The Quran, 17:44)
We — within ourself — are a reflection of what is out there.
The seven heavens above which are unseen are tied to our soul. Within us, we contain seven different levels of nafs (ego). These ego states are described in the Quran, and are the following:
1. The Commanding Self (Nafs Al Ammara)
2. The Blaming Self (Nafs Al Lawwama)
3. The Inspired Self (Nafs Al Mulhamah)
4. The Secure Self ((Nafs Al Muttma’ina)
5. The Content Self (Nafs Al Radiyah)
6. The Gratified Self (Nafs Al Mardiyyah)
7. The Complete Self (Nafs Al Kamilah)
Each egoic state has its traits, specific characteristics, and describes a level of consciousness we occupy. You can read more about them here from sufism.org. These egoic states are not too dissimilar from the 7 chakras and their associated etheric properties, since imbalances in the nafs manifest as psycho-emotional and physical diseases.
So when Muslims turn around the Kabah, each turn represents a stage, a level of consciousness and our ascension above it. A person covers each stage with each turn and is elevated above it. So with each orbit of the Kabah, we ascend a level of consciousness — from nafs al ammarah (the commanding soul which is spiritually poor) to nafs al kamilah (the complete self which is tranquil and one with Universal Love, Divinity and Consciousness).
The ritual of orbiting the Kabah is reflected in the unseen realms, high up in the heavens. According to Hadith, 70,000 angels perform tawaf (circumambulation) in the heavens around Baitul Mamur (a prototype of the Kabah in the ethereal unseen realm — in the heavens above):
Just as we perform tawaf around the physical Kabah here on on earth, so do the Angels perform tawaf around Baitul Ma’mur. The Hadith states that 70,000 Angels visit Baitul Ma’mur to worship and pray every single day, who never return, hence Baitul Ma’mur is welcomed by a new legion of 70,000 Angels every day– which puts into perspective the massive number of Angelic population that exists as compared to mortal humans residing on earth. (All you need to know about Bait-ul Ma’mur)
God is infinitely merciful
Jabal Rahmah (meaning ‘mount of mercy’) is a small mountain in the plain of Arafat, about 20km from the Kabah. Standing at Arafat on the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah from the afternoon until sunset, pilgrims stand in earnest supplication and devotion, praying for forgiveness.
The common meaning of the word Arafat is ‘to know’ — and this refers to the belief that after falling from heaven, Adam and Eve reunited on earth at this very spot. This was also the place where they were both forgiven. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:
“On this day, Allah, the most Exalted, descends to the nearest heaven, and He is proud of His servants on the earth and says to those in heavens, look at My servants, they have come from far and near, with hair disheveled and faces covered with dust, to seek my Mercy. Even if their sins are as much the sand or the froth of the sea, I shall forgive them.”
According to Ali Shariati in his book on Hajj, the journey of Hajj is symbolic of knowledge, consciousness, love and faith — these are ideals pilgrims must embody in order to renew their self, and revive their relationship with God. He writes:
In returning to Allah, there are three stages (Arafat, Mashar, and Mina) through which you must pass. They are NOT three places that you visit. It is important to be aware of the emphasis placed upon the periods of stopping at each stage as well as the decision to pursue these stages. What do these three stages signify? Allah Himself has already given them their heavenly names: Arafat means: “Knowledge” and “science”. Mashar means: “Consciousness” and “understanding”. Mina means: “love” and “faith”.
