This sermon recollects the extraordinary occasion which the Eid commemorates, when Ibrahim (peace be upon him) obeyed the command of God to sacrifice his son Ismail (peace be upon him); when father and son, united in love and respect for each other, were bound even more deeply in obedience to their Lord. The sheikh relates this powerful symbol of sacrifice to the daily struggle that we all undergo to cut out of our lives what may seem most dear to us, but which actually blocks our path back to God. In His Mercy, God did not bring about Ismail’s sacrifice because He has ordained that Mercy for Himself first and foremost. Similarly He has given us a defence against the distractions of the human ego, greed and ugly desires, the sword of the sharia by which we ward off the attacks of Shaytan and our hawa (baseless whims). Ultimately what we sacrifice for Him with that sword is no sacrifice at all, but a victory which brings us closer to Him. From http://cambridgekhutbasetc.blogspot.com/2008/12/sacrifice-submission.html
Possibly related…
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Understanding Jihad in Islam
Understanding Jihad in Islam | By: Hamza Yusuf
From http://www.zaytuna.org/multimedia.asp?speaker=&category=&type=&NumPerPage=12&page=9
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islam and the environment
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CMC Lectures - 1: Tariq Ramadan, ‘European Muslims and Identity’
Prof. Tariq Ramadan, Visiting Fellow at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford, delivered the first CMC Lecture on 7th October 2009. The title of his lecture was ‘European Muslims and Identity’.