Hajj is for the Most Merciful, not for His Messenger*** And so is prayer and the slaughter of this sacrificial animal (Clarifying the rights of Allah and the difference between slaughtering for Allah and slaughtering for a guest, and that it is not shirk, unlike slaughtering to honor Him)
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The Shaykh :
"Do not make the two rights one right*** Without distinction or difference
"Hajj is for the Most Merciful, not for His Messenger" Hajj is for Allah; we do not perform Hajj except for the House of Allah. The polytheists perform Hajj for graves; they pack their saddles and circumambulate the graves more intensely than they circumambulate the Ka'bah. This polytheist finds his connection to the occupant of the grave during his circumambulation of it stronger than his connection to Allah during his circumambulation of the House. This is observed; it is observed. Are these people who perform Hajj at the graves sincere worshippers of Allah? No, on the contrary. Hajj is for the Most Merciful, not for His Messenger, and a fortiori not for anyone other than the Messenger.
"And so is prayer and the slaughter of this sacrificial animal" Prayer is for Allah. If anyone prostrated to other than Allah, even once, he would be a disbeliever and a polytheist. Likewise, the slaughter of this sacrificial animal as an act of drawing near and honoring is not done for anyone but Allah. As for slaughtering for a guest as a mark of respect, this is not shirk, because the one who slaughters for the guest slaughters for him on the basis that he is in need of this sacrificial animal to eat from it, not merely for the sake of honoring him. As for the one who slaughters for Allah, he slaughters it to honor Him, believing that Allah is in need of it. Therefore, if a great guest came and we slaughtered sheep for him as a mark of respect and presented them for him to eat, this is not shirk. It is not shirk, is it?
Al-Asib ibn Jathamah went and hunted a wild donkey for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and brought it to him to honor him with it. The Messenger did not say, "This is shirk," but he returned it because he was in a state of ihram. Good.
If this great guest had come and we had slaughtered sheep in front of him to honor him and draw near to him, it would have been shirk. Hush, glory be to Allah. The action is the same, but what changed? The intention. Now we are not slaughtering on the basis that he is in need of it to eat, but to honor him. And for this reason, the author said: "the slaughter of this sacrificial animal" meaning that which is intended to draw near to the one for whom it is slaughtered, rather than to honor him.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, and "slaughter of this" means the slaughter of this sacrificial animal, not the slaughter of the owner of the sacrificial animal. The slaughter of this sacrificial animal.
"Do not make the two rights one right*** Without distinction or difference
"Hajj is for the Most Merciful, not for His Messenger" Hajj is for Allah; we do not perform Hajj except for the House of Allah. The polytheists perform Hajj for graves; they pack their saddles and circumambulate the graves more intensely than they circumambulate the Ka'bah. This polytheist finds his connection to the occupant of the grave during his circumambulation of it stronger than his connection to Allah during his circumambulation of the House. This is observed; it is observed. Are these people who perform Hajj at the graves sincere worshippers of Allah? No, on the contrary. Hajj is for the Most Merciful, not for His Messenger, and a fortiori not for anyone other than the Messenger.
"And so is prayer and the slaughter of this sacrificial animal" Prayer is for Allah. If anyone prostrated to other than Allah, even once, he would be a disbeliever and a polytheist. Likewise, the slaughter of this sacrificial animal as an act of drawing near and honoring is not done for anyone but Allah. As for slaughtering for a guest as a mark of respect, this is not shirk, because the one who slaughters for the guest slaughters for him on the basis that he is in need of this sacrificial animal to eat from it, not merely for the sake of honoring him. As for the one who slaughters for Allah, he slaughters it to honor Him, believing that Allah is in need of it. Therefore, if a great guest came and we slaughtered sheep for him as a mark of respect and presented them for him to eat, this is not shirk. It is not shirk, is it?
Al-Asib ibn Jathamah went and hunted a wild donkey for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and brought it to him to honor him with it. The Messenger did not say, "This is shirk," but he returned it because he was in a state of ihram. Good.
If this great guest had come and we had slaughtered sheep in front of him to honor him and draw near to him, it would have been shirk. Hush, glory be to Allah. The action is the same, but what changed? The intention. Now we are not slaughtering on the basis that he is in need of it to eat, but to honor him. And for this reason, the author said: "the slaughter of this sacrificial animal" meaning that which is intended to draw near to the one for whom it is slaughtered, rather than to honor him.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, and "slaughter of this" means the slaughter of this sacrificial animal, not the slaughter of the owner of the sacrificial animal. The slaughter of this sacrificial animal.