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Moulana Ashraf Ali Thaanwi Rahmatullahi Alaihi mentions:
If a person says.” When Allah Ta’laa is not in need of our spending then what is the objective? Why the need to spend so much? What is the objective?
If one says that distributing the meat is our reason for slaughtering then in Mina and Makkah Mu’athamah thousands of sacrificial animals are slaughtered and nobody eats from it, most occasions it goes to waste, so this really seems to go against logic!
The answer to this is:
This talk, inappropriate in nature, nevertheless to satisfy the need of understanding, if due to the reason of your lack of intelligence in a particular aspect is the reason for you judging an aspect as illogical then how were we created? Does this not go against the grain as well?
To give it a test, suggest to a youngster that he was nurtured in a basement and never was it mentioned as to how a human develops. He reaches the age of twenty and upon occasion it is said to him that a person is nurtured in this way (developed in a basement). Never will his intelligence comprehend such and because we see and hear day in and day out that a human is developed in the manner we understand it, we do not perceive it to go against logic. However the reality is our entire existence goes against the logic!
Our intelligence is mere eating and earning. Similarly a hungry person was asked, “how much is two plus two?” The hungry person replied, “Four rotis (bread)”. Like this our intelligence is restricted to eating, drinking and making conversation. When this is our condition then how can we ever gain the understanding of the hidden gems of the Shari’ah (Laws of Islam).
Like this, even in the case, if per chance the sacrificial animals meat is not distributed, then too there is wisdom. If our intellect cannot fathom this then what drives us to reject it? That is why our responsibility does not demand us to explain the wisdom and delve into the hidden but however per chance it will be said, the reality is that, it is to emulate the sunnah of Nabi Ebrahim Alaihis-Salaam and it is to spend that which is beloved which is the real objective and this is only attainable (on this occasion ) through the honourable action of slaughtering (permissible) animals.
The original command was to sacrifice sons but firstly not all parents have sons and secondly if this was the command then very few would carry it out. This is really the benevolence of Allah Ta’laa that He has provided us with an alternative.
Thus one added feature of this should be that when an animal is the alternative for a son then the animal to be slaughtered should also have such features that would deem it fit to be an alternative of a son. That is, a nice healthy animal that when you look at it, the heart will be injected with pain that is felt as when the son is to be slaughtered!
