Eid al-Adha Mubarak

The festival of Muslims, Eid al-Adha, is marked by slaughtering an animal, following the footsteps of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) peace-be-upon-him.

The words we commonly use for this slaughtering of animals are Qurbani and Sacrifice. Lets take a deeper look at these words and see if we can get some lessons from this ritual.

The word Qurbani is from the root Q-R-B in Arabic meaning 'to come near'. Hence 'qurb' means nearness, and word 'qurban' following the the same pattern as in Rahman, means 'to come very close'. Qurbani, therefore, is a way to come very close to someone.

The word Sacrifice is from the word sacré in French meaning 'sacred'. Hence to 'sacrify', following the same pattern as of verb solidify, means 'to make sacred'. Sacrifice, therefore, is a way to make something sacred.

Both words in non-literal sense mean to give up something to attain something of a higher value. The two words of two very different laguages point to the same direction: you have to be ready to give up things you are attached to (material, ideas) in order to attain closeness to someone dearer and to make your bond sacred. This idea is amplified (and ritualized) in Creator-creation relationship, but holds equally true in every person-person and person-ideal relationship.