Eid al-Adha Meditation

The historical importance of the Muslim celebration of the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) lies in the fact that it commemorates the abandonment of the notion that human sacrifice has Divine sanction.

That notion has been abandoned by those who claim to follow in the footsteps of Father Abraham (though it lives on in the Christian doctrine of substitutionary atonement); the practice, however, continues on to this day in a variety of forms, both religious and secular.

Whenever, wherever, and however youth is sacrificed to age, the grim scene on Mount Moriah is reenacted.

Rembrandt's iconic depiction of angelic intervention deserves to be embedded in the conscience and consciousness of every human being however theistically or a-theistically oriented.

This year Eid al-Adha coincides most fortuitously with the Jewish observance of Yom Kippur.

Let these days be Days of Awe for each of us; let us learn to feel the angel's grip upon our wrists and let its strength stay our hands.

To that end, the Mazeppist has begun to wear, as a constant reminder, a leather band upon his right arm. He calls it his "Moriah" bracelet, a token of his heartfelt hanifism.