Skip to main content

Sacrifice: A Means of Becoming Closer to God

Lead Article
When the truth of our seemingly small actions is revealed to us in the Hereafter, they will make us say in astonishment, “O God, how bountiful You are! You have taken these little things, made them bloom, flourish, transform, become eternal, and now You are offering them to us!”
| Fethullah Gulen | Issue 159 (May - Jun 2024)
This article has been viewed 5799 times
Sacrifice: A Means of Becoming Closer to God

In This Article

  • A person supporting others with their personal wealth—be it in the form of alms or sacrificial meat—is the minimal degree of generosity for one who considers himself or herself a believer.
  • “They (believers) prefer [others] over themselves, even though poverty be their own lot.” (al-Hashr 59:9)

At the beginning of the second chapter of the Qur’an, God Almighty declares that He is the actual owner of things and we are temporary keepers: “Out of what We have provided for them they spend...” Namely, what we donate is actually nothing but blessings He has granted us. By pointing out that “He” is the actual Provider of sustenance, He reminds us that there is no need for us to worry about depletion. This point is more directly expressed in another verse, that God Almighty, the Omnipotent One, is the Provider of sustenance of all creatures (al-Dhariyat 51:58).

Subscribe

More Coverage

Guidance and the Guide  (Irshad And Murshid)

Guidance and the Guide  (Irshad And Murshid)

Do not offer your hand to whoever claims guidance, for he may lead you to a slope which is impossible to climb; whereas the path of a perfect guide is easy enough to follow. Niyazi-i Mısri Guidance is defined in different ways, among which are di...
Burning Books or Preserving Them? Exploring the Power of Memory

Burning Books or Preserving Them?

Memorization is an important tool in human development. We memorize for school, learning languages, or for stage performances. Despite criticisms that memorization often comes without understanding and lacks proper contextualization, there is a co...
Alcohol and Birth Defects: What Is the Father's Responsibility?

Alcohol and Birth Defects: What Is the Father's Responsibility?

I remember my father once warning a distant cousin who used to drink a lot. “Son,” my father said, “you will soon get married; you will have children. You should stop drinking.” The cousin replied: “Uncle, it is not me who will be pregnant. It is ...
The Wing of a Fly

The Wing of a Fly

"O humankind! A parable is struck, so pay heed to it: Those whom, apart from God, you deify and invoke will never be able to create even a fly, even if all of them were to come together to do so..." (all-Hajj 22:73). When we look at the livin...