Eid Al-Adha Card

Dearest friends,

Have a blessed eid full of peaceful surrender like Abraham and Ishmael!

As an eid gift we want to share this poem with you:

A Poem from Rumi

A chickpea in a pot leaps from the flame,

out from the boiling water,

Crying, “Why do you set fire to me?

You chose me, bought me, brought me home for this?”

The cook pushes the chickpea with her spoon back into the pot.

“No! Boil nicely, don’t jump away from the one who makes the fire.

I don’t boil you out of hatred,

Through boiling you may grow flavorful, nourishing,

and united with vital human spirit.

….

Just as Abraham commanded his son:

“Lay your head before my knife, I see in a dream that I must sacrifice you”

Lay your head before God’s knife,

that He may cut your throat like that of Ishmael.

He may cut off your head,

but only your head is actually immune to death.

Submission to God is what God asks from you, not the head

–seek this submission.

In this Eid, may each of us embrace God’s mercy and surrender our ego.

Let us let go of thinking that we are independent,

that things happen in our lives randomly or

that We are ‘boiled’ in life ‘pot’ out of spite.

Let us lay down our ego and our forgetfulness before the knife of Mercy!

Dr. Isra Yazicioglu