“For every people We have laid down a ritual of sacrifice (although the purpose of the ritual is the same) that they pronounce the name of Allah over the cattle He has provided them. Your Lord is One God; so submit yourselves to Him alone. And give (O Prophet!) glad tidings to those that humble themselves (before Allah)….”
(Al-Qur’ān – 22:34
This verse brings out two fundamental truths. One, that sacrifice has always been an integral part of the system of worship in all versions of Divine Law. The essential requirements for consecrating worship for the One True God is that all forms in which men have ever worshipped other deities be consecrated exclusively for God. For instance, men have bowed down and prostrated themselves before false gods; God’s Law, as revealed to the Prophets, however, consecrated these rites exclusively to God. In the past, men made pecuniary offerings to others than the One True God. The Law of God forbade the making of offerings to others than God, and laid down Zakah and Sadaqah as the acceptable, indeed obligatory forms of pecuniary offerings to God. Men had fasted for the sake of others than God; the Law of God laid down that men shall fast, but only for the sake of the One True God. Likewise, men had offered sacrificial animals at the altars of deities; the Law prohibited all sacrificial offerings to anyone other than the One True God, and made it obligatory that such sacrifices be offered to Him.
The other point is that what really matters is that sacrifice be truly made for the sake of God rather than for the legal minutiae of the act. Whilst details of sacrifice have varied in different times, lands and communities, the common denominator, however, has always been the spirit and purpose of sacrifice.