Sacrifice? Or Is Islam A Backwards religion?

The Israeli security establishment announced Sunday it would lighten the burden of Judea and Samaria Arabs because of the Muslim Festival of the Sacrifice. The changes will include more work permits, less road blocks, and permissions for family visits.

The Muslim festival of the sacrifice begins on the tenth day of the lunar month and continues for four days.

Oh, that sacrifice.

Whew.

But on second thought, who was to be sacrificed?

This is the auspicious day of sacrifice. The day on which Hazrat Ibraheem (Alayhis-Salaam) was tested to sacrifice his beloved son, Hazrat Ismaeel (Alayhis-Salaam). To commemorate this event, Muslims have been directed to sacrifice animals on this day so that all Muslims can remember this incident and learn a lesson from it. Hence, this day, the 10th of Dhul Hijjah, is known as Eid-ul-Adha.

More here.

Hey, but isn't that a twist on The Binding of Isaac which is recorded in the Bible, in Genesis 22:1-24, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah?

Islam is a backwards religion, it would seem.

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UPDATE

Abdulkarim Soroush has been Iran’s leading public intellectual...Shuttling from university to university in Europe and the U.S., Soroush is sending shock waves through Iran’s clerical establishment.

The recent controversy began about eight months ago, after Soroush spoke with a Dutch reporter about one of Islam’s most sensitive issues: the divine origin of the Koran. Muslims have long believed that their holy book was transmitted word for word by God through the Prophet Muhammad. In the interview, however, Soroush made explicit his alternative belief that the Koran was a “prophetic experience.” He told me that the prophet “was at the same time the receiver and the producer of the Koran or, if you will, the subject and the object of the revelation.” Soroush said that “when you read the Koran, you have to feel that a human being is speaking to you, i.e. the words, images, rules and regulations and the like all are coming from a human mind.” He added, “This mind, of course, is special in the sense that it is imbued with divinity and inspired by God.”

Hope he doesn't get sacrificed.