Qurbani Meat
It was the habit of Hazrath Sheikh Zakariyya (ra) to eat & relish the meat of qurbani for the 3 days of sacrifice. Hazrath used to eat the meat for breakfast, lunch and supper.
Despite the fact that Hazrath was a tea lover, he used to get soup made of qurbani meat cooked, and he used to have this for breakfast.
Method & Duas of Qurbani
- The animal that is going to be sacrificed should be fed and given water.
- The knife that is going to be used should be sharpened beforehand, and not in front of the animal.
- The animal should be laid down on its left side at the place of slaughter, face pointing towards the Qibla. دعاء should be read before slaughtering the animal.
- Animal should be slaughtered quickly with a sharp knife. When slaughtering, cut all 4 veins in the throat or atleast 3 veins should be cut with 3 strokes of the knife. Don't cut any more than 3 strokes which will cause unnecessary pain to the animal.
- As soon as the animal is cold, you should start skinning the animal. Do not skin the animal when it still has life, it should be completely dead before skining.
- NOTE: age of animal: camel should be 5 yrs old, ox, bull, buffalo should be 2 yrs old and sheep, lamb, goat should be 1 yr old. The animal should be a healthy animal with no defects.
Dua before and after slaughtering:
اِنِّى وَجَّهْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلَّذِيْ فَطَرَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ حَنِيْفًا وَّمَا اَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِيْنَ اِنَّ صَلاَتِيْ وَنُسُكِيْ وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِيْ للهِ رَبِّ الْعالَمِيْنَ لاَ شَرِيْكَ لَه وَبِذَلِكَ اُمِرْتَ وَاَنَا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِيْنَ اَللَّهُمَّ مِنْكَ وَلَكَ
Trans: “For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth. And never shall I give partners to Allah. Verily my worship and my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. O Allah! this sacrifice is from you and is for you”.
If You Really Want To Disobey Allah...
A man came to Hazrat Ibrahim ibn Adham, and said, "Abu Ishaq, I am unable to control myself and I continually wrong my own self, and I turn away from everything that invites me to improve my way of life. Please give me something to help me with it""If you accept five conditions," said Hazrat Ibrahim ibn Adham, "and are able to put them into practice, your disobedience will not cause you any problem and sinning will never harm you, and you can fulfil your desires as much as you want.""Just tell me what they are the man said. "The first is that when you want to disobey Allah you do not eat anything He provides." "Then how will I get anything to eat? Everything on the earth is from Him!" "So is it right to eat His provision and disobey Him at the same time?" replied Hazrat Ibrahim ibn Adham."No, it is not. What is the second condition?" "When you want to disobey Him, move off His land.""That is even more difficult! Exclaimed the man. "In that case where will I live?""Is it right to eat his provision and live on His land and then to disobey Him?" asked Hazrat Ibrahim ibn Adham. "No, it is not.""What is the third condition?" "When you want to disobey Him in spite of eating His provision and living on His land, find a place where He will not see you and disobey Him there.""What do you mean, Ibrahim? He knows everything that happens even in the most hidden places!" "So is it right to disobey Him when you eat His provision and live on His land and when you know that He can see everything you do?" "It certainly is not!" the man replied."Tell me the fourth condition." "That when the Angel of Death arrives to take your soul, you say to him, 'Give me chance so that I can repent and do good deeds.'""But he won't listen to me!" "Then if you cannot ward off death long enough to give yourself time to repent, and you know that when it comes there will be no chance, how can you hope to be saved?""What is the fifth?" "That when the angels of the Fire come to you to take you to the Fire, you do not go with them." "They will take me whether I like it or not!" exclaimed the man."So how can you hope to be saved?"The man replied, "Stop, stop! that is enough for me. I ask Allah to forgive me and I indeed repent to Him."The man then dedicated his life to the worship of Allah Ta’ala from that day.
Moral
This story presents us with conditions that if we fulfil them then we can be free to commit sin. However it soon becomes obvious that every condition is impossible to fulfil and therefore we should avoid sin to the best of our ability.
Man's Share in the Divine Attributes of Al - Rahmaan and Al - Rahim
Imam Al - Ghazali ( ra) states:
"The share of the servant in the name Al - Rahmaan lies in showing mercy to the negligent servants of Allah , by way of dissuading them from the path of disobedience towards Allah , through advice and counseling , by way of gentleness and not harshness , treating the sinners with the eye of mercy, and not with the eye of contempt ; letting every sin perpetrated in the world be as if his own sin , so sparing no effort to remove it to the best of his ability : all out of mercy to the that sinner , lest he be exposed to the wrath of Allah , and so deserve to be removed from closeness to Him."
"The servant's share in the name of Al- Rahim lies in ( not ) turning away any needy person , except by fulfilling his needs , to the extent of his ability, nor abandoning any poor in his neighborhood or city , except by undertaking to relieve their poverty - either from his own wealth or reputation or otherwise by interceding on his behalf with another . If he is unable to do all that , he should assist the poor person by prayer, and by showing grief on account of his need, in sympathy and compassion towards him, as though he was sharing in his misfortune and need. "
( translated from the Arabic text: المقصد الأسنى شرح اسماء الله الحسنى ، للأمام الغزالى )
