37 Preface لَن يَنالَ اللَّهَ لُحومُها وَلا دِماؤُها وَلٰكِن يَنالُهُ التَّقوىٰ مِنكُم ۚ كَذٰلِكَ سَخَّرَها لَكُم لِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلىٰ ما هَداكُم ۗ وَبَشِّرِ المُحسِنينَYusuf AliIt is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches God. it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify God for His guidance to you:1 and proclaim the good news to all who do right. The essence of sacrifice has been explained in n. 2810. No one should suppose that meat or blood is acceptable to the One True God. It was a Pagan fancy that God could be appeased by blood sacrifice. But God does accept the offering of our hearts, and as a symbol of such offer, some visible institution is necessary. He has given us power over the brute creation, and permitted us to eat meat, but only if we pronounce His name at the solemn act of taking life, for without this solemn invocation, we are apt to forget the sacredness of life. By the invocation we are reminded that wanton cruelty is not in our thoughts, but only the need of food. Now if we further deny ourselves the greater part of the food (some theologians fix the proportion at three-quarters or two-thirds) for the sake of our poorer brethren in solemn assembly in the precincts of the Haram (sacred territory), our symbolic act finds practical expression in benevolence, and that is the virtue sought to be taught. We should be grateful to God for His guidance in this matter, in which many Peoples have gone wrong, and we should proclaim the true doctrine, so that virtue and charity may increase among men.