A few days ago, one of my non-Muslim friends, Letchu, asked me about the history of AIDILADHA? Although unexpected, I was happy that he asked me that question. As a Muslim, I may have taken it for granted and assumed that everybody KNOWS the history of Aidiladha. That question from Lechu made me realize that it was wrong for me to assume.
If you have some time, let me share with you now the answer I gave him.
If you have some time, let me share with you now the answer I gave him.
Letchu asked me that question because his son recently asked him that same question and he was not very sure of the answer.
"What is Aidiladha, appa?" ask his 7 years old son.
He told his son that Muslims are required to perform religious ritual and pilgrimage known as Haji in Mecca at least once in their entire life. That is why Muslims every year celebrates Aidiladha, which is also known as Hari Raya Haji - which is to celebrate those who have completed their Hajj Pilgrimage.
"What is Aidiladha, appa?" ask his 7 years old son.
He told his son that Muslims are required to perform religious ritual and pilgrimage known as Haji in Mecca at least once in their entire life. That is why Muslims every year celebrates Aidiladha, which is also known as Hari Raya Haji - which is to celebrate those who have completed their Hajj Pilgrimage.
I was impressed and told him that that answer he gave his son is correct. So, I just elaborated a little bit more.
THE DATE
AIDILADHA falls on the 10th of Zuhijjah every year. Zulhijjah being the final month in the Islamic calender. If we are following the Western calender (also known as the Gregorian calender), we may feel like the date of Aidiladha changes every year. But in the Islamic calender, Aidiladha is always on the 10th of Zulhijjah.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
In Islam, the date of 10th Zulhijjah has two major significance - Date for union and date for sacrifice.
First significant - 10th zulhijjah is the date in which Adam and his wife Hawa (Eve) were reunited on earth. Regardless of what religion you may be, I believe that everyone knows the story of Adam and Hawa - how they were banished from heaven after falling for Iblis's trickery to get them to eat the forbidden apple. For that one moment of weakness, they were both banished from heaven.
Before I continue, allow me point out that Adam and Hawa regretted that they had foolishly fallen for the trickery of Iblis. They repented their whole life and Allah have accepted their repentance.
When they were sent down from heaven, they were placed at two different locations on earth. They were separated for many years. Some say 40 years, while some say a few hundred years - wallahualam (Allah knows best). After many years of searching, they finally found each other again at Mount Rahmah in Arafah. That reunion is indeed a cause to celebrate as it marks the beginning of human race.
Now, a day before the anniversary of the reunion of Adam and Hawa, Arafah became the place of union again for all hajj pilgrims to perform their first hajj ritual, Wukuf . Hence, Aidiladha is also known as Hari Raya Haji.
Second significant - Aidiladha is also known as Hari Raya Qurban.
Qurban is an arabic word meaning 'sacrifice'.
During the time of Adam and Hawa, there is a story about qurban. A story told in the Quran in Surah Al-Maidah about Adam's two sons, Habil and Qabil. These two brothers worked in different areas. Habil works in the cattle farm, while Qabil works in the field. Came a command from Allah for both of them to perform qurban, which is to sacrifice their harvest. That is the first qurban in human history. Habil chooses the healthiest among his breed of cattles to be sacrificed, while Qabil chooses the worse from his crops. Habil's sacrifice were accepted, while Qabil's were not. Out of anger and jealousy, Qabil later killed his brother, Habil. That marks the first murder in human history.
But the history of why Aidiladha is also known as Hari Raya Qurban is more closely related to the history of Porphet Ibrahim and his son, Prophet Ismail. And this relates to another significant history of the 10th of Zulhijjah.
The second significance of the 10th of Zulhijjah is that this is the date when Prophet Ibrahim were to carry out his duty to slaughter his son, Prophet Ismail. This is told in the Quran in Surah As-Shafaat, where Prophet Ibrahim received a command from Allah through a dream to slaughter is son, Ismail. He then told about his dream to Ismail, who was only 7 years old at that time and Ismail replied :
So, Prophet Ibrahim took his son to a slaughtering place in Mina. Here, both father and son have truly shown absolute faith in Allah. Ismail willingly lay there to be slaughtered, while his father begin to cut his throat. They both had their eye closed during the slaughtering - and a miracle happened. As they open their eyes, they realize that Ismail is still alive and what Ibrahim had actually slaughtered was a kibas (species of a camel). Allah replaces Ismail's place with the kibas because the dream was really a test as Allah confirmed in the Quran.
That is the history of Aidiladha and why it is also known as Hari Raya Haji and Hari Raya Qurban.
Letchu then asked me another question :
"What about the history of Kaabah and the Black Stone?"
Here's what I told him.
Before earth was even created, angels used to make Tawaf around the Arsy of Allah. Both the words 'Tawaf' and 'Arsy' actually carries its own elaboration, but to translate that into easily understood words - the angels used to circle around the throne of Allah, just like how we see Muslims circling around Kaabah today. But the Arsy of Allah is too big, even for the angels. It took them a very long time to complete a single circle. So, Allah created a mosque under His Arsy as a place in heaven for the angels to perform Tawaf. The place is call Darul Makmur.
When Adam was sent down to earth, Allah commanded him to build Kaabah on Earth. The angel Jibrail helped marked the place where Kaabah should be and Adam started digging the spot. And that is all Kaabah was back then. The spot where Jibrail had marked is directly below Darul Makmur. It is said that if Darul Makmur were to fall down to earth, it would crush the Kaabah.
As for the black stone, Hajar Aswad, it is a stone from heaven and was sent down to earth with Adam. But angels kept this stone in one of the hills in Mecca called Qubais Hill. This stone was originally white in color and it has the ability to absorb all of human sins, should we be able to kiss it. But after many-many-many years of absorbing human sins, it is now black in color and took the name of Aswad, which is an arabic word for 'black'.
After Adam passed away, his son, Syith build some sort of a structure on the spot where Adam had initially dug. However, during the time of Prophet Nuh (Noah) and the history of the big flood, that structure was completely destroyed.
It is not until Prophet Ibrahim's time, that Allah has commanded him to rebuild the Kaabah. This is when the history of Kaabah and the Black Stone came together.
Prophet Ibrahim and his son, Prophet Ismail took stones from seven hills around Mecca to build the Kaabah. While they were building, the angel Jibrail took out the Black Stone from Qubais Hill and gave it to Ibrahim to be made part of the Kaabah. The structure still stand until today, with several preservative measures taken from time to time.
That is the history of the Kaabah and the black stone, Hajar Aswad.
Wallahualam.
THE DATE
AIDILADHA falls on the 10th of Zuhijjah every year. Zulhijjah being the final month in the Islamic calender. If we are following the Western calender (also known as the Gregorian calender), we may feel like the date of Aidiladha changes every year. But in the Islamic calender, Aidiladha is always on the 10th of Zulhijjah.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
In Islam, the date of 10th Zulhijjah has two major significance - Date for union and date for sacrifice.
First significant - 10th zulhijjah is the date in which Adam and his wife Hawa (Eve) were reunited on earth. Regardless of what religion you may be, I believe that everyone knows the story of Adam and Hawa - how they were banished from heaven after falling for Iblis's trickery to get them to eat the forbidden apple. For that one moment of weakness, they were both banished from heaven.
Before I continue, allow me point out that Adam and Hawa regretted that they had foolishly fallen for the trickery of Iblis. They repented their whole life and Allah have accepted their repentance.
When they were sent down from heaven, they were placed at two different locations on earth. They were separated for many years. Some say 40 years, while some say a few hundred years - wallahualam (Allah knows best). After many years of searching, they finally found each other again at Mount Rahmah in Arafah. That reunion is indeed a cause to celebrate as it marks the beginning of human race.
Now, a day before the anniversary of the reunion of Adam and Hawa, Arafah became the place of union again for all hajj pilgrims to perform their first hajj ritual, Wukuf . Hence, Aidiladha is also known as Hari Raya Haji.
 |
| Mount Rahmah in Arafah |
Second significant - Aidiladha is also known as Hari Raya Qurban.
Qurban is an arabic word meaning 'sacrifice'.
During the time of Adam and Hawa, there is a story about qurban. A story told in the Quran in Surah Al-Maidah about Adam's two sons, Habil and Qabil. These two brothers worked in different areas. Habil works in the cattle farm, while Qabil works in the field. Came a command from Allah for both of them to perform qurban, which is to sacrifice their harvest. That is the first qurban in human history. Habil chooses the healthiest among his breed of cattles to be sacrificed, while Qabil chooses the worse from his crops. Habil's sacrifice were accepted, while Qabil's were not. Out of anger and jealousy, Qabil later killed his brother, Habil. That marks the first murder in human history.
But the history of why Aidiladha is also known as Hari Raya Qurban is more closely related to the history of Porphet Ibrahim and his son, Prophet Ismail. And this relates to another significant history of the 10th of Zulhijjah.
 |
| Qurban (sacrifice) |
The second significance of the 10th of Zulhijjah is that this is the date when Prophet Ibrahim were to carry out his duty to slaughter his son, Prophet Ismail. This is told in the Quran in Surah As-Shafaat, where Prophet Ibrahim received a command from Allah through a dream to slaughter is son, Ismail. He then told about his dream to Ismail, who was only 7 years old at that time and Ismail replied :
"Oh father, go ahead and carry out the duty as you have been commanded. You will see that I am one of those who are patient"
So, Prophet Ibrahim took his son to a slaughtering place in Mina. Here, both father and son have truly shown absolute faith in Allah. Ismail willingly lay there to be slaughtered, while his father begin to cut his throat. They both had their eye closed during the slaughtering - and a miracle happened. As they open their eyes, they realize that Ismail is still alive and what Ibrahim had actually slaughtered was a kibas (species of a camel). Allah replaces Ismail's place with the kibas because the dream was really a test as Allah confirmed in the Quran.
That is the history of Aidiladha and why it is also known as Hari Raya Haji and Hari Raya Qurban.
Letchu then asked me another question :
"What about the history of Kaabah and the Black Stone?"
 |
| Kaabah and Hajar Aswad |
Here's what I told him.
Before earth was even created, angels used to make Tawaf around the Arsy of Allah. Both the words 'Tawaf' and 'Arsy' actually carries its own elaboration, but to translate that into easily understood words - the angels used to circle around the throne of Allah, just like how we see Muslims circling around Kaabah today. But the Arsy of Allah is too big, even for the angels. It took them a very long time to complete a single circle. So, Allah created a mosque under His Arsy as a place in heaven for the angels to perform Tawaf. The place is call Darul Makmur.
When Adam was sent down to earth, Allah commanded him to build Kaabah on Earth. The angel Jibrail helped marked the place where Kaabah should be and Adam started digging the spot. And that is all Kaabah was back then. The spot where Jibrail had marked is directly below Darul Makmur. It is said that if Darul Makmur were to fall down to earth, it would crush the Kaabah.
As for the black stone, Hajar Aswad, it is a stone from heaven and was sent down to earth with Adam. But angels kept this stone in one of the hills in Mecca called Qubais Hill. This stone was originally white in color and it has the ability to absorb all of human sins, should we be able to kiss it. But after many-many-many years of absorbing human sins, it is now black in color and took the name of Aswad, which is an arabic word for 'black'.
After Adam passed away, his son, Syith build some sort of a structure on the spot where Adam had initially dug. However, during the time of Prophet Nuh (Noah) and the history of the big flood, that structure was completely destroyed.
It is not until Prophet Ibrahim's time, that Allah has commanded him to rebuild the Kaabah. This is when the history of Kaabah and the Black Stone came together.
Prophet Ibrahim and his son, Prophet Ismail took stones from seven hills around Mecca to build the Kaabah. While they were building, the angel Jibrail took out the Black Stone from Qubais Hill and gave it to Ibrahim to be made part of the Kaabah. The structure still stand until today, with several preservative measures taken from time to time.
That is the history of the Kaabah and the black stone, Hajar Aswad.
Wallahualam.
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