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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophy of Islamic Laws Question 103: Is Sacrifice And Offering Possible? Question: It is said that all the actions of man are to gain some material or spiritual benefit or to protect himself from some harm.

So much so that even those acts which are apparently benevolent like helping the widows or training of children etc., they are also not exempted from this rule because by helping others and expressing love for them, man obtains consolation for his own soul and comforts his heart which had become restless after seeing their deplorable condition.

Keeping this principle in view that all the actions of man are caused by the desire to obtain some material or spiritual benefit, why is it so that some actions are termed as sacrifice, offering and selflessness etc? The motherly love is the best example of sacrifice and a mother obtains peace by expressing her natural motherly feelings. If she does not rare and train her child she would be hurt.

In such a case how can we say that motherly love is pure of every selfish motive and how can we call this a selfless sacrifice? Answer: This question can be answered in two ways: 1. Sacrifice and offering means that a person does something for the benefit of an individual or the society without any motive of getting anything in return. The opposite of this is to do something with a motive of profit or recompense and a person does this to obtain material gains.

Just assume that there is a person who feels very sad on seeing the conditions of widows and orphans or by helping them he experiences happiness. When this person helps them without show off and that too with no more money than is needed by them this action of his is called sacrifice and selflessness. It is correct that this action frees him from the pangs of conscience and gives him pleasure and satisfaction.

But since the motive of this act is not any worldly benefit and the desire for recompense has not made him do this, therefore this action of his is very meritorious both from the point of view of intellect as well as the Shariah and it is counted as a type of sacrifice. In other words in order to find whether a particular act is an act of sacrifice or not we must see what are the motives behind it.

Those sentimental or human acts which are called sacrifice or offering are those in which there is calculation of profits.