Abraham’s Attempted Sacrifice of His Son, a perspective from Sufi Qur’an commentary:
Concerning this sacrifice–which is commemorated at the Celebration of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adh’ha) to be celebrated by many Muslims on Monday–we find the following in Shaykh Ruzbihan al-Baqli’s (d. 606/1209) Qur’an commentary, ‘Ara’is al-bayan: “We ransomed him with an awesome sacrifice” (Qur’an, Surat al-Saffat 37:107). God (al-Haqq) called the sacrifice “awesome.” In this is a subtle allusion, which is that the sincere lover (ʿāshiq ṣādiq) at every moment desires to sacrifice his beloved ego-self (nafsahu al-maʿshūqa). Since [God], the Beloved (al-maʿshūq), is sincere in love of His lover, He prevents His lover from sacrificing his ego-self to Him because of the perfection of God’s affection (maḥabba) for His human lover. Hence, He called that sacrifice “awesome” because it emerged from the Awesome One (al-ʿAẓīm) on account of the awesomeness of His affection (maḥabba) and love (ʿishq) for His [human] lover (ʿāshiq), His intimate friends (akhilla), and His beloveds (aḥibba).
A certain Sufi [as reported by al-Sulamī] said, “Awesome is the place of that ransom from God’s perspective because He slayed it instead of a prophet who was the son of a prophet and He gave life [in the hereafter] to it instead of a prophet who was the son of a prophet. Thus, it was mentioned in the Qur’anic commentaries that the ransom was a sheep (al-shāt) that had been received from one of Adams two sons. Then (after being received by God), it had been pastured in Paradise until the time of Abraham. At that point, God ransomed Abraham’s son, Isma’il, with it.
(Translated by A. Godlas, September 11, 2016)
قوله تعالى { وَفَدَيْنَاهُ بِذِبْحٍ عَظِيمٍ } سمى الحق الذبح عظيما وفى ذلك اشارة لطيفة وهو ان العاشق الصادق اراد كل وقت ان يذبح نفسه المعشوقة واذا كان المعشوق صادقا فى عشق عاشقه يمنعه عن ذبح نفسه عنده بل يذبح نفسه لعاشقه فلما قدس ساحة جلال الكبرياء عن علة الحدثان فداه له مكان نفسه الذبح اعلاما لكمال محبته له ولذلك سماه عظيما لانه صدر من العظيم لعظيم محبته وعشقه لعاشقه واخلائه واحبائه قال بعضهم عظيم محلها عند الله لانه قتل عليها نبياً ابن نبى وأحيا عليها نبياً ابن نبى كذلك ذكر فى التفسير انها كانت الشاة التى تقبل من أحد ابني آدم ترتع فى الجنة الى زمان ابراهيم ففدى به ابنه اسماعيل.
I’ve gotten permission from Dr. Alan Godlas (Abdul Haqq), who is a professor at the University of Georgia for Islamic and Sufi studies, to repost his Facebook postings on Islam and Sufism. All translations are done by Abdul Haqq Godlas unless otherwise noted.