"Truly We have bestowed abundant good upon thee. So pray to thy Lord and sacrifice. Truly thine enemy shall be the one with prosperity."
Quran 108:1-3
As we know the surahs in the Quran get shorter and shorter as it progresses, remembering that their is no chronological order to the work. With that in mind, his is the entirety of the 108th surah, al-Kawthar, here rendered as "Abundant Good." In this case I'm mainly interested in the second verse: "So pray to thy Lord and sacrifice." Nasr tell us:
"Most interpret so pray as a command to perform the obligatory prayers. As it is connected to the command to sacrifice, others say it indicates the prayer of the Feats of Sacrifice (id al-adha), which is part of the rites of the hajj and comes at its end. In accordance with this verse and a well-known hadith, most maintain that the payer must precede the sacrifice in order for the sacrifice to be accepted. And sacrifice translates wa'nhar, which could also mean, 'and raise your hands.' In this interpretation it is taken as a reference to the practice of raising the hands to the ears during prayer. All schools of law agree that this should be done at the opening of the canonical prayer while saying, 'God is greatest' (Alahu akbar), marking the entry into the sacred rite." (p. 1569)
I've included links to videos showing Muslims praying before, and the raising of the hands repeatedly is what Nasr is referencing here. In a broader sense, he's talking about the importance of praying before any act. When we take students to Zanzibar we participate in a cooking class, and one of the most interesting moments (and for some students, alarming) moments is when our friend Omar puts in his traditional Zanzibari/Omari hat, say a prayer, and sacrifices a chicken. It would be haram otherwise. Taking a step back, it could be argued that the point is that we should approach all actions with a seriousness and an intentionality.
Quran 108:1-3
As we know the surahs in the Quran get shorter and shorter as it progresses, remembering that their is no chronological order to the work. With that in mind, his is the entirety of the 108th surah, al-Kawthar, here rendered as "Abundant Good." In this case I'm mainly interested in the second verse: "So pray to thy Lord and sacrifice." Nasr tell us:
"Most interpret so pray as a command to perform the obligatory prayers. As it is connected to the command to sacrifice, others say it indicates the prayer of the Feats of Sacrifice (id al-adha), which is part of the rites of the hajj and comes at its end. In accordance with this verse and a well-known hadith, most maintain that the payer must precede the sacrifice in order for the sacrifice to be accepted. And sacrifice translates wa'nhar, which could also mean, 'and raise your hands.' In this interpretation it is taken as a reference to the practice of raising the hands to the ears during prayer. All schools of law agree that this should be done at the opening of the canonical prayer while saying, 'God is greatest' (Alahu akbar), marking the entry into the sacred rite." (p. 1569)
I've included links to videos showing Muslims praying before, and the raising of the hands repeatedly is what Nasr is referencing here. In a broader sense, he's talking about the importance of praying before any act. When we take students to Zanzibar we participate in a cooking class, and one of the most interesting moments (and for some students, alarming) moments is when our friend Omar puts in his traditional Zanzibari/Omari hat, say a prayer, and sacrifices a chicken. It would be haram otherwise. Taking a step back, it could be argued that the point is that we should approach all actions with a seriousness and an intentionality.
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