Eid Al-Adha

[Mehreen1221]

I wonder how come the followers of other Abrahamic religions like Jews and Christians have no celebration or commemoration to this recognized story of Sacrifice by their holy scriptures and theology….can somebody shed some light on it...Thank you!

[Saima]

My guess would be because Jews and Christians don't regard Prophet Ismail of any significance. They turn to Prophet Ibrahim and Isaac. Since this story is about Prophet Ismail and not Isaac, the other people of the books don't really pay any attention to it. But again, I don't know much about the details. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

[TheMaw]

My guess would be because Jews and Christians don't regard Prophet Ismail of any significance. They turn to Prophet Ibrahim and Isaac. Since this story is about Prophet Ismail and not Isaac, the other people of the books don't really pay any attention to it. But again, I don't know much about the details. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

In fact, they believe that it was Isaac (not Ishmael) who was to be sacrificed on Mount Moriah, so they have a different tradition about it. They agree on the other details (that Ishmael was born of Hagar and later Isaac of Sarah) but disagree on which son was to be "bound" (Hebrew aqedah).

The Rabbinical tradition of Judaism abolished animal sacrifice with the loss of the Temple, and Christians come from the Rabbinical tradition, so there is no celebratory sacrifice as there is in Islam. Sacrifice is banned by Jewish law outside of the proper setting, i.e. the one Temple of God in al-Quds, so they cannot celebrate it as Muslims do.

Nonetheless, the sacrifice of Moriah is a crucial event in both Judaism and Christianity. Christ is called "Lamb of God" in reference to this event and to the sacrificial lamb from the event of Moses and the Plagues of Egypt and Jews focus on the centrality of obeying God's will as demonstrated in this crucial event.

Both faiths frequently depict the ram trapped in a thicket and Abraham with his son and a blade. While they do not have Eid al-Adha, they still read the scriptures yearly in service and spend a lot of theological energy on this event.

[Mehreen1221]

Thank you Saima and TheMaw for your feedbacks…TheMaw, you mentioned couple of points that led me do some research and that sort of open new doors of understanding and confusion of different dynamics between these trickled down faiths, their people and their practices of the traditions depending upon time and places and such…it’s very complex and hard to discern the truths with the information available to an ordinary man…as men have been weak against greed and ignorance throughout the history. I feel, though, that Islamic faith, its principles and teachings (not necessarily Muslims) sound more inclusive, plural, and based on modern human rights and duties and seem much natural than its predecessor Judaism and different Christian dominions. Islam itself is very dynamic and multi-flavored. And more or less of some Islamic principles in practice are adopted by these non-Muslims directly or indirectly and that’s really amazing to me. I might be a little biased though I try not to...