At midnight, here in Tunisia, it suddenly
struck me how alienated people are from the truth, the real , normally crystal-clear
meanings of things ..
Tomorrow is Eid AL Adh’ha in the Muslim
Ummah. It is a yearly celebration in
which people sacrifice to get closer to Allah sub’anahu wa taala.
Yes,
they are meant to sacrifice ! Not only the perishable meat of the lamb .. They
should sacrifice their inner evils, their hidden mischievous intentions, their unnecessary
arrogances, their selfish desires, their greed, their indifference, their
heartlessness ..
In these blessed ten days of Thu-AlHajja,
the Month of Al Hajj, I see people bying startingly expensive sheeps, leaving
themselves in debt for the rest of the year, if not the year after.
I see people walking their sheeps boastingly
across the neighborhood just to show to the public eye their ability to buy a
sheep in these miserable days. They spend their afternoons bragging about how fat
their sheeps are, entirely indifferent to the fact that poor people are deprived to
indulge in this holy celebration.
I see women chattering in street corners,
in markets, in hair-dressing saloons about poor women with empty bags in the
souks, bying insignificant amounts of meat to feed the children on the Idh’ha
day. They relish in their misery, they mock their sheep-less houses and their
meat-less stomacks instead of extending a helping hand. This is what this holy
ceremony is about.
Yes, it is holy. People are supposed to
show humility, kindness and piety in these blessed days. They should linger on prayer
carpets extending their hands in Du’aa to Allah. They should read and meditate on
the Quran and design a life in harmony to its teachings.
I pray to Allah to humble their souls and
endow their hearts with generosity and kindness.
Eid Idh’ha Mubarak to our dear Muslim
Ummah. J
