The Background of Sacrifice
In the last lesson we saw how Allah worked in the life of (pbuh). We saw Allah's promise to and how that promise was to be fulfilled by one of the descendants of , 's son by his wife Sarah. In this present lesson we shall continue our study of and see how Allah worked in another area of his life. We shall examine the practice of the annual Sacrifice or Qurban (sometimes known as Kurban, Korban, or Korbani) and how it was initiated through Allah's command to . We shall also see how fits into Allah's promise to .
was begun at the time of Prophet
According to the and the , the practice of began with . Allah commanded to take his son and sacrifice him before Allah. began to carry out Allah's command. We find in the that even believed Allah was able to raise his son from the dead and give him back alive (Injil, Hebrews 11:17-19). Just as he was about to sacrifice his son however, Allah told to stop and gave him a ram to sacrifice in place of his son. Allah saw was obedient. Allah was not primarily interested in sacrifice but in faith and obedience. Rather than accepting 's sacrifice Allah provided his own sacrifice. With , then, the practice of was begun.
Detailed rules for were given to Prophet
The practice of was given more definite form and came into wide practice through the rules Allah gave to (pbuh). Allah had from the very beginning commanded that disobedience or sin result in death. Yet, we have seen that Allah loves his creation and desires that none of them should be destroyed. As a result of his love we saw how at different times and for different people Allah made special grace arrangements. Through those arrangements and by faith in Allah and his promise people were saved from the just punishment their sins deserved. Such arrangements, however, were only temporary. We find in a more universal arrangement for obtaining forgiveness from sin. It was available to all men. We saw a similar thing in the last lesson, how Allah made a universal promise to . Thus, we find two possibilities through which all men have the possibility of obtaining Allah's grace. First was the promise to and second was . We shall see, in fact, that these two things, according to Allah's perfect plan, worked together so that men might receive grace. For the present, however, let us examine more closely.
Through man saw how terrible his sin was, and the ugly results it brought. He saw that the result of sin was death and that as the says,
...man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment... (Injil, Hebrews 9:27)
Allah commanded that when any person sinned they were to give . Instead of the sinner himself dying, his innocent sacrifice would be killed, it's blood spilled out on the altar and the animal's death accepted by Allah as payment for the sin. The regulations for such were as follows.
1. To recognize and admit one's sin and the need to obtain Allah's forgiveness.
2. To find an animal perfect and without blemish for sacrifice.
3. To believe Allah that through this arrangement sin would be forgiven.
4. To offer the sacrifice at the temple or Allah's "holy house" and sprinkle the blood on the altar.
The priests at the Temple were given responsibility for testing of the animals to make sure there were perfect. After offering the the meat was burned, except for small portion given to the priest. Through this procedure it was believed that a person's sins were forgiven.
In the there are two main types of recorded
Allah commanded to institute two types of . The first was given at the birth of a child. On the 40th day for a boy or the 80th day for a girl the family was to offer a lamb and a turtledove for sin. After that initial , whenever a person broke one of the laws given by he was obligated to present a or endure the consequences of the sin himself. As Allah accepted a substitute for 's son, so also in 's time he allowed men to substitute an animal in place of their own death. In fact, we see a similar thing way back during the time of Adam and when Allah sacrificed an innocent animal to save man from the results of his own sin. Allah used the skin of the animal to clothe Adam and in order to cover their shame. As the says about ,
According to the Taurat, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission. (Injil, Hebrews 9:22)
In the animal's throat is cut and the blood spilled out and sprinkled on the altar. For the one who admitted his sin and repented, Allah accepted the life of that innocent animal instead of the sinner's own life.
The commanded by was not complete
What is the significance of all this? We must note primarily two things. First, as given to was not meant to be perfect and complete, but rather was a symbol of a perfect arrangement to come. The of was never complete for several reasons. For the majority of people who were poor, giving was very difficult or impossible. They simply could not afford the animal to be sacrificed. On the other hand, those who were rich and could afford the were often prevented from buying an animal because their income was not halal. This arrangement of was never complete or finished. After giving a the worshipper was always faced with the fact that he would again sin thereby always necessitating a future . There would be an unending cycle of sin and sacrifice as long as the person lived. Finally, many people who lived far away from the Temple found it impossible to go and offer sacrifice in accordance with the Taurat. Thus, the of was not the final answer for man's sin.
The commanded by had an important purpose
Yet, the incompleteness of 's was not as bad as might at first seem. The real purpose of 's was to show people that sin result sin death and that a righteous God must demand the penalty of sin. It also shows that Allah the merciful and loving allows a substitution for the payment of the penalty. Also, the of served as a sign or symbol to point people to a perfect final . A Allah himself would provide. The of was insufficient to free its followers of their sins but it served to point them to a future that Allah, through the prophets, was predicting would come.
Allah's promise of grace to was closely related to Allah's command to give
We find here that the concepts of and Allah's grace to unite. Allah promised that through one of the descendants of and all of mankind would be blessed. This was to be Allah's final grace arrangement available to all of mankind. He also promised that Allah, the almighty merciful Allah, would himself provide a final perfect . As he provided an animal for to offer instead of his son so he would provide a sacrifice for all mankind so we, through Allah's grace, would not have to suffer the consequences of our sin. As we examine Allah's word we find that these two great promises are in actuality not two but one and the same. Allah's grace was to be available to all men through one of the descendants of and and also through Allah's perfect he would provide. These two, according to the perfect plan all of Allah, are actually one and the same. It was that very descendant of and who was to be the perfect . We find the "who" was specified when Allah promised that through a descendant of all men would be blessed. We see a the "how" of the same promise given when Allah commanded to offer his son as the sacrifice and then provided a sacrifice himself. Allah specified to the "who" and the "how" of his plan to provide grace for all mankind. Let us look now at what Scripture has to say about this final perfect that Allah was to provide.
Allah's final was to be perfect
We find that the predictions of this final perfect of Allah is one of the major themes of the , and other scriptures. We have seen how the animals used in were to be perfect. In the same way, the perfect Allah was to send also had to be perfect and without sin. In the book of the prophet it is written,
They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Yet it pleased Allah to bruise him; he has put him to grief. When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Allah shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the suffering of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities. (Taurat, 53:9-11)
All men, being sinners, are responsible for their own sin and hence cannot bear the punishment for anyone else's sins. Allah's perfect , however, being without sin, was able to take on himself the penalty of others sins. It is written,
Surely he took up our infirmities, and bore our sorrows, yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; everyone has turned to his own way; and Allah has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Taurat, 53:4-6)
The birth of Allah's final was to fulfill prophecy
Besides being without sin, it was also revealed through the prophets where the birthplace of Allah's was to be,
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are small among the rulers of Judah,
Out of you will come forth to me one who is to be ruler over Israel;
Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
(Taurat, Micah 5:2)
Thus, the one who was to be Allah's perfect was to be born in the little town of Bethlehem.
We have seen that, as the one who was to fulfill the promise given to , the coming was to be from the family of through . In later prophecies this was even more closely specified. According to the ,
Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to Dawud.
His seed will endure forever, His throne like the sun before me.
It will be established forever like the moon, The faithful witness in the sky.“
( 89:35-37)
We see that the of Allah who was to make Allah's grace available to all men was to be from the line of Prophet .
The prophet (Isaiah) also prophesied concerning the one to come that he was to be born of a virgin,
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin will be with child, and will give birth to a son, and will call his name Immanuel. (Taurat, 7:14)
He was to be born without human father through the power of Allah. This was necessary to allow him to be sinless. As descendants of Adam all other men are sinners inheriting their sinful nature from Adam. As the says,
Sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. (Injil, Romans 5:12)
As sons of Adam we have already seen how we're all infected by the same disease -- sin. Only the one who was to be Allah's would be without that disease, because only he would be born without human father.
The life and works of Allah's final was to fulfill prophecy
We looked at prophecies concerning the birth of Allah's final . Let us look briefly at one dealing with his life. In the book of the prophet it is recorded of him,
The Spirit of the Lord Allah is on me; because Allah has anointed me to preach the Injil to the humble; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of Allah’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn (Taurat, 61:1-2)
The coming promised would do many signs and wonders during his life. He would heal, work miracles, and help the poor and oppressed. These miraculous signs would be one more way by which people would know he was Allah's promised one.
The above are but a few of the made prophecies concerning Allah's coming . We shall examine more these later. At the present that us merely note in closing that this final , his coming into the world, his life and death for the sins of others, was all according to the perfect plan and will of Allah. It is written,
Yet it pleased Allah to bruise him; he has put him to grief. When you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Allah shall prosper in his hand. (Taurat, 53:10)
It was Allah's perfect plan that through this sinful men might be saved and the promise given to might be fulfilled. We shall be looking in the next lesson at how and by whom all these prophecies were fulfilled.
