Oriented on making people closer

The three–day celebration of Eid al-Adha, one of the most important holidays in the Muslim calendar, has ended in Turkmenistan. June 28, 29 and 30 in the country, according to the decree of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, were declared non-working so that people could devote this time to performing rituals and customs, communicating with relatives and friends, joint meals and charity.

During this period, as reported, the leader of the nation Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, during a visit to Saudi Arabia, made a pilgrimage to the main shrines of Islam, and also gave sadaqa at the Al-Haram mosque, in the courtyard of which there is a sacred Kaaba.

Eid al–Adha is the holiday of the end of the pilgrimage to places sacred to all Muslims of the world. And he is associated with the name of Ibrahim, one of the saints who completely devoted himself to the service of God.

What kind of person is this who is recognized as a prophet by followers of different faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam?

And why is this man's life described in the scriptures of three world religions at once – the Old Testament, the Gospel and the Koran?

The genealogy of the biblical Abraham (in the Qur'an – Ibrahim) goes back to the prophet Noah (in the Qur'an – Nuh), who had three sons. Abraham was a descendant of the eldest of them – Shem – the ancestor of the Arabs, Jews, Phoenicians, Assyrians and other peoples. But for all their similarity, the versions of the biblical and Quranic tales about this righteous man still have their own characteristics.

So, if, according to the Old Testament, the religious teaching of God-Yahweh, sent down through Abraham, was intended exclusively for Jews, then in the Gospel (New Testament) – the teaching of Jesus Christ – the same prophet was already the spiritual father of all believers, regardless of nation. And in the doctrine of Islam, this religious view is supplemented by the fact that Ibrahim was one of the many messengers of Allah, starting from the first man Adam and up to the last prophet Muhammad.

An interesting fact is that the Prophet Muhammad called Ibrahim the first Muslim, although he lived almost 2.5 millennia before the birth of Islam as a religious teaching. And the fact is that in Arabia and in the pre-Islamic period there were pious people who professed monotheism. They rejected idolatry, but at the same time they did not join the followers of other monotheistic confessions – neither Jews nor Christians. /these people were called hanifs.

The views of such preachers served as one of the sources of the Islamic religion. It is not surprising that in the Koran Ibrahim is called hanif, whose religion, centuries later, was revived by the prophet Muhammad. And this gave him a reason to call the righteous Ibrahim "the first Muslim" .

The image of Ibrahim, recreated in the Koran and Muslim legends, is very multifaceted and complex. He absorbed both biblical and Arabian roots. It is believed that the idea of Ibrahim's monotheism – monotheism in its purest form, as already mentioned, was revived by the prophet Muhammad. Therefore, theologians quite justifiably called both the Hanif views of Ibrahim and the Islam of the Prophet Muhammad "correct religions" .

In the Qur'an, the mention of Ibrahim is very common, many verses are put into his mouth for the glory of the Almighty. These are prayers with a request to bless the native land and people, to grant them offspring, to guide sinners on a righteous path, etc.

Let us recall the legend of the pious Ibrahim, who is referred to in the Koran as "the friend of Allah" :

"Who better professes religion than the one
Who gave his face to God,
He does good piously,
And follows the path of Hanif Ibrahim!
Truly, the Lord has taken Ibrahim as a friend!"

"... It's time to tell about how mysterious people came to Ibrahim's house. The God–loving Ibrahim was hospitable - he gladly accepted them and regaled them with roasted lamb.

However, when he saw how the strangers' fingers did not touch the food, he was very scared. But the guests explained to Ibrahim that they were angels, sent here by Allah to bring good news that he would soon have a son. Although Sarah, who was Ibrahim's wife, had a considerable age:

"She said: "Woe is me!
Should I give birth when I am old myself,
And this husband of mine is just as old?
This is truly such an unusual phenomenon!"

Yes, and Hanif was surprised by their speeches – after all, indeed, he was weak and old. But the angels said that the whole world was subdued to the will of the Lord: everything is in His power and is subject to His desire.

And the angels continued their speech that soon the old people will give birth to a little boy, who will continue the crowded family after many years, whose names will be glorified forever.

The summers passed and Ibrahim, as the angels once predicted, had a son. But not from his wife –from Sarah, but from a servant name

But still, Sarah was jealous, she did not give rest to Hanif, nor to the slave who gave birth to Ibrahim's son.

And at the behest of the quarrelsome Sarah, the unfortunate Ibrahim took Hajjar and his son to the wasteland, presenting them to the will of God.

There, the tiny son was exhausted by the desire to drink, and his mother ran around the neighborhood in an attempt to find an oasis with fresh water…

But in time, the archangel Gabriel came to their aid.

And so, by the will of Almighty Allah, where the boy stamped his foot, he clogged a spring with pure water, known to everyone today as the holy Land…

...But one day the Almighty decided to put the strength of Ibrahim's faith to the test. And he sees his son as a victim in a heavy dream. And Ibrahim realized with regret that the terrible dream was the order of the Almighty about the sacrifice. And he told this to his son, beloved and meek:

"My son, I had a dream,
That with a sacrificial slaughter
I offer you to God.
Look at what you think about it."
And the son said, "Oh, my father!
You do what you're told,
And you will find that I am – if it pleases God –
I will find humility and firmness in myself."

But just as Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son, he suddenly heard the voice of Allah himself:

"..."Oh, Ibrahim! You have already justified your vision!"
This is how We reward do-gooders."

... And so the ordeal of the worthy Hanif took place – the Almighty, seeing the firmness of Ibrahim's faith, sent him a lamb to perform the sacrifice:

"This is truly the Lord's test,
And We redeemed his son
A great sacrifice!"

* * *

... Since then, all the faithful on days starting from 10 zu-l-hijjah, in memory of distant events, sacrifice a pet, whose meat is generously treated to friends, acquaintances and those in need. And in prayers, everyone remembers the "friend of Allah" – the faithful Ibrahim.

So, those events described in the Koran and which have come down to us in the legends about the righteous Ibrahim, formed the basis of the feast of sacrifice, called Kurban Bayram by the Turkmens…

...And as for the source of fresh water that saved the life of Ibrahim's son from the slave Hajar (Hagar in the Bible), we recall that the sacred well Zemzem, mentioned in the legend, is still located on the territory of the main mosque of Mecca – al–Masjid al-Haram.

Many useful properties are attributed to the water from this well, up to the healing of diseases. Muslims believe that the source of Zemzem is connected through underground channels to the wells of the most famous mosques in the world.

In times far from us, the Zemzem well was abandoned, but, according to preserved information, it was restored by Abd al-Mutallib, the grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, who received the right to dispose of water for his kind from the Quraysh tribe.

According to one version, the ritual running between the hills of as-Safa and al-Marwa dates back to the legend of how Ibrahim was forced to run away from Shaytan Iblis when he began to tempt Hanif during his prayer.

Another legend says that the hills of as-Safa and al-Marwa were the resting place of Adam and Hava (in the Bible, Eve), in memory of which the "sai" rite is performed.

However, the most common explanation of the origin of the "ritual run" is the version of the search for Hajar water for tiny Ismail.

Hajjar and her son Ismail, left in the desert by Ibrahim, suffered greatly from thirst. Trying to save her dying son, Hajjar ran seven times between the mentioned hills in search of water. But when she returned to her son, she found that a spring had clogged near him.

This, as it is said in the Koranic legends, the angel Jibrayil, at the behest of Allah, came to the aid of the unfortunate by opening the well of Zemzem to them, which served as the prototype of one of the rituals of the Meccan pilgrimage, called "sai".

...At present, a large group of our compatriots have already completed the Hajj, together with Muslims from many countries of the world, having performed the rites, including the aforementioned "sai", when a pilgrim, having made a seven-fold walk around the Kaaba, leaves the main mosque of Mecca and ascends the as-Safa hill.

Then he turns his face to the main sanctuary of Islam and turns to the Lord God with a plea for mercy and fulfillment of his innermost desires.

After that, he descends to the foot of as-Safa hill and runs to another hill al-Marwa. At its top, he turns towards the Kaaba, reads a prayer and returns to the first hill. This rite is performed seven times…

In general, Eid al-Adha with all its rituals and rituals serves as a reminder of the values of faith, obedience, sacrifice and compassion, promoting unity and solidarity in the Muslim community and fostering a sense of gratitude and generosity of mercy.

Bekdurdy AMANSARYYEV

Photo: orient.tm/gettyimages.com