The result in Christian theology is to make a human sacrifice the core of belief.

The result in Christian theology is to make a human sacrifice the core of belief. The fact that Abraham lived in a society which according to archaeologists actually committed human sacrifice sheds light on the meaning of the text. Although such sacrifice was expected in the time and place, still Abraham did not engage in it. He engaged in a substitution ritual which in itself indicates more clearly than anything could that the Bible tradition does not accept human sacrifice under any condition.

Sacrifice in Islam occurs during the pilgrimage and at other important occasions such as the birth of a child. The sacrificial animal must be of a clean sort. It is placed facing Mecca, the name of God must be pronounced, and it is cut so that the arteries of the throat and windpipe are severed and the blood drained. Sacrifice in Islam can generally be replaced with fasting. On sacrifice, note Ali (1988:120a).

The first examples of sacrifice in the Bible are narrated without a command in Genesis 4:3-7 and 8:20-21. The first command to sacrifice in the Bible was given to Abraham (Genesis 15:9). It is significant that the faith which claims to represent the faith of Abraham, Islam, is the one in which sacrifice is retained to this day.

The rather fluid system of family sacrifice of the patriar­chal period, which is very much like that of Islam today, gave way to a complex temple system of sacrifice as de­scribed in the Torah and the prophetic writings.

This sacrificial legislation appears to have had the function of systematizing and limiting sacrifice among a people whose generosity was likely to cause at times the problem of over­sacrifice, if the sacrifices every six steps at the removal of the ark at the time of David is any indication. The sacrificial legislation of some parts of the Torah conflicts with the practice in others and with the sacrificial system described in the final chapters of Ezekiel.

This indicates the possibil­ity of some variation. There is apparently an early trend against blood sacrifice in the Bible as well. We see this especially in the Psalms and the prophets. Psalm 51:16. `For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.' Isaiah 1:11 `To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?