The Pilgrimage (Al-Hajj)
Verses 36-37 GROUP_839 22.36-37
36
وَالْبُدْنَ جَعَلْنَاهَا لَكُم مِّن شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ لَكُمْ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ فَاذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا صَوَافَّ فَإِذَا وَجَبَتْ جُنُوبُهَا فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْقَانِعَ وَالْمُعْتَرَّ كَذَلِكَ سَخَّرْنَاهَا لَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
We have appointed for you the sacrificial camels as one of the symbols set up by God, in which there is much good for you. So invoke God’s name over them as you line them up for slaughter, and when they have fallen down dead, feed yourselves and feed the needy—those who do not ask as well as those who do. We have thus subjected them to you so that you may be grateful.
37
لَن يَنَالَ اللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا وَلَا دِمَاؤُهَا وَلَكِن يَنَالُهُ التَّقْوَى مِنكُمْ كَذَلِكَ سَخَّرَهَا لَكُمْ لِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
Their flesh and blood do not reach God: it is your piety that reaches Him. Thus God has subjected them to you, so that you may glorify Him for the guidance He has given you. Give glad tidings to those who do good.
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Commentary
(a) Had there been no animals like camels or cattle in this world and had there been only wild beasts like tigers, bears and wolves, man would have found it very difficult to put them to use, and it would have been absolutely impossible to offer them up for ritual sacrifice on a general scale. It is a great blessing of Almighty God that He created not only wild beasts but also some animals who, by their very nature, have the tendency to surrender themselves to human beings, this surrender takes its ultimate form when man can slaughter them for food and sacrifice. The rites of sacrifice have been prescribed, not because God needs meat and blood, but purely as symbolic actions. The sacrifice of an animal is symbolic of the man who has sacrificed himself for the sake of God. This is, in fact, the sacrifice of one’s own self which-h takes the shape of the sacrifice of an animal. Such people are fortunate for whom the sacrifice of animals becomes synonymous with the sacrifice of their own selves.