This could be your last Ramadaan

REMEMBER the beginning of Ramadan last year: the festive supermarkets with their jampacked aisles, the makeshift roadside stalls outside restaurants selling crisp sambusas and subiya, the sounds of Adhan emanating from Masajid...

My house overlooked a Maghsalat-Al-Amwaat Al-Khairiyyah (a charitable organization which prepares bodies for burial in the Islamic manner), and as I walked home from the neighborhood supermarket laden with packages of food and other essentials in preparation of the next day’s fast, I caught sight of a family accompanying a bier in a hearse. The women huddled together, sobbing quietly, while the men stood at a distance in somber silence.

By E-Islam Team

What is Udhiya? 

‘Udhiya’ is an Arabic word meaning "blood sacrifice", and ‘Qurbani’ is an Urdu and Persian word derived from the Arabic word "Qurban" which literally means an act performed to seek Allah Ta’ala’s pleasure. It is technically used for the sacrifice of an animal slaughtered for the sake of Allah Ta’ala.

The sacrifice of an animal has always been a recognised form of worship in many religions, but in the ‘Shariah’ (Islamic sacred law) of The Last and Final Messenger of Allah Ta’ala (Peace be upon him), the sacrifice of an animal has been recognised as a form of ibadah (worship) during the three days of the month Zul Hijjah, namely the 10th, 11th, and 12th .