As a remembrance of Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son on the orders of Allah, the Almighty. All Muslims celebrate Eidul Azha and the celebration mainly involves sacrifice of animals and distribution of its meat among the neighbours, relatives, and the poor and needy ones.

The sacrificial animals depend on one’s affordability, but sadly, nowadays people sacrifice animals not to please Allah, but to freeze as much meat as possible to consume for themselves and distribute very little among the deserving. Likewise, the poor wait for meat whereas the rich fill their refrigerators and still seek for Allah’s mercy.

This is the tale of Hamza and Arif, two neighbours. Hamza earned well and was living a luxurious life. On the contrary, Arif was poor, could hardly manage to make ends meet. Though being poor, they were very grateful to Allah for all the blessings they had. Despite being poor, Arif was always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it.

“Arif, can we afford an animal for Eid this time?” his wife asked in a serious tone.

“I don’t think we can,” he answered while absorbed in deep thoughts.

“I have saved some money, you can add them to your earnings and see if we can come up with the required amount to buy an animal,” she added.

“Look dear, I have already visited cattle markets where the lowest price for an animal was between 20 to 30 thousand, if I put all the month’s salary in it, how will we take care of the bills, the rent and other essential things?” Arif said.

“But I am hopeful that we will be doing it next year,” he said.

In Hamza’s house at that very moment, his wife was also talking to him, but she was complaining, “Hamza, Eid is around, yet you haven’t decided on any animal.”

“I’ll think about that later, you can see I’m busy with some important office work,” he replied angrily.

“Fine! I am sending a driver right away to buy one,” his wife added. “Sure, go ahead,” said Hamza.

Soon his driver was back with a healthy big cow.

“Isn’t it small?” asked Hamza who was shocked to see a cow.

“Of course, it’s more than small, if you really wanted a bull you should have gone yourself, Hamza,” said his wife angrily.

“Well, whatever it is, as for now, we have to make do with it,” Hamza said and sighed.

Soon the day of Eid arrived, bringing lots of joy, fun and memories to everyone.

After the Eid prayers, everyone embraced each other and greeted Eid Mubarak, then all went their ways to their homes to do the deed.

Arif’s wife made a tasty dessert and other scrumptious food. Then she arranged dishes to distribute to her neighbours.

“The meat is here, cook some right now, and freeze the remaining,” said Hamza to his wife.

Just then Arif’s wife came with a dish in her hands. After greeting each other, Hamza’s wife asked while taking the cover off from the dish, “What did you sacrifice? Ohh … dessert! I thought you brought meat.”

“Next time, Insha Allah, it doesn’t matter if we can’t distribute meat. To please Allah, whatever we share with all our hearts is indeed accepted to the Almighty,” Arif’s wife explained.

Hamza heard what she said and so did his wife. They were both speechless. As if this was the moment of realisation for both of them, realisation that they did nothing to please Allah, rather they saved all the meat for themselves, to eat for weeks.

“No matter what we have and what we don’t, still we should be thankful for everything, since that’s how we will get more. And whatever we are capable of, we should share and make others’ Eid more enjoyable,” Arif’s wife added.

Eid is the most awaited day of the year for children and elders alike. On this day, families get together, share gifts and have fun. But people like Hamza and his wife, do not realise that Eidul Azha can only be celebrated when we share what we have with others. This fosters a sense of community, and no one is left out of the celebration this way. Let us pledge to follow the spirit of Eidul Azha in the true sense and helping all the helpless people in our surroundings. Our small aid can make a big difference in others’ lives.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 29th, 2023