Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "So pray to your Lord and sacrifice."

Question:
The questioner says: Shaykh, what is the exegesis of the verse: "So pray to your Lord and sacrifice"?

Answer:
Prayer is known to be the performance of the obligatory and voluntary prayers purely for the face of Allah, because it is worship, and worship must be pure for the face of Allah. Likewise, al-nahr, which is slaughtering. So al-nahr is for the purpose of drawing near and worship, and it is not for anyone but Allah. It is not permissible to slaughter for a grave, or for a shrine, or for a wali (close friend of Allah) among the awliya (close friends of Allah). This is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), because Allah linked it with prayer. Just as one does not pray to anyone other than Allah, so one does not slaughter for anyone other than Allah the Exalted, and one does not slaughter for anyone other than Allah the Exalted. Slaughtering is worship and drawing near to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. Yes.