spare the poor goat or lamb or cows life. The purpose of sacrifice is to understand the spirit of parting with what you hold dear (your wealth), it is not some muqabla against four-legged animals.
Please pause and think … That, after all, is what religion should make us do rather than blindly following ritual.
According to the many organizations that will perform the sacrifice for you if you live abroad, the cost of one goat/sheep is US$ 160 in the US (that is more than one month’s salary for a college educated Pakistani professional). The price in Pakistan is cheaper, but not by much. Only the well wheeled can afford it. The Poor cannot even budget for a kilo of meat a month.
Is there a better way to ‘sacrifice’ the 150-200 dollars or the Rs. 10,000 or more in the name of Allah that is useful to His bandas? A way that captures the spirit of sacrifice that qurbani entails and helps us meet our religious obligation as well as the social welfare and redistribution that is its deeper purpose?
The Qur’an reminds us that Allah looks at intent not the blood. Maybe we too should pay heed to the intent of qurbani? For those who want to sacrifice this writer instead, please read Chapter 22, Verse 37 from the Holy Qur’an (I have looked at translations by Marmaduke, Yusufali, Asad and Usmani) and they all talk about your own devotion, piety, God-consciousness and taqwa that reaches Him.
The meat from the sacrificial animal is intended to be divided into three parts: 1/3rd each for your self, family and friends, and for the needy and the poor. I would suggest we fore go our share, and give the whole amount to the poor including poor relations. Charity and alms should be given throughout the year, and many people do. But with this added emphasis around Eid ul Adha I would suggest we consider giving more to the poor including poor relations.
Allah looks at intent not the blood. What better way to celebrate this Eid?
On my last visit I saw a lot of people drive up to a certain “hotel” (Pinglish for restaurant) and pay the owner X rupees to feed X number of hungry folks lined up outside. That is a noble idea. But would it not be better better to teach them to fish?
A manual sewing machine for a widow or unemployed poor woman? Tuition Fees or books for a poor student? Some money to ease the days for the unemployed people? A small monthly stipend to the poor that may bring a ray of hope in their lives and may perhaps deter them from abandoning their children to the fogs of terrorist factories?
We can think of many ways to make Him happy and spare the lamb. May Allah bless you and your family.
Note: This is based on an earlier post published on temporal’s blog Baithak.
@AHsn
>>Is it necessary to seek a Divine guidance for Why?, What?, >>When? and How??
Absolutly. Why is stealing wrong? Why is it wrong to lie ? Why is having sex with neighbour’s/friend’s wife is wrong?
If you scratch the surface a little, you will find that all these prohibitions have thier roots in religion, be it Judaism, christianity or Islam. If we sideline religion there is nothing on the planet which is wrong.
>> Religious dogma [Divine guidance] is doing what we are >> told, no matter what is right.”
I have no idea which dogma you talking about in the context of Eid-ul-Adha.
Any liberal will never limit the religious liberty of an individual unless it goes out of the religion.
Dear AHsn:
This has nothing to do with my sympathies, since I am not demanding anything of either the “liberal” or the “Islamic” muslims. As long as the latter don’t go knocking on every door demanding that people sacrifice a goat, and the former don’t bring down a law banning animal sacrifice on Eid, I don’t have a problem.
But do please tell us who will get to decide when it goes of the religion?
Dear Viqar Minai,
In my opinion your following statement:
“Must the so-called liberated ones who are opposed to animal sacrifice be at other Muslim’s throats insisting that their way of looking at things is the right one and must be accepted and practiced by all?”
is unjust towards Libral Muslims (LM) and your sympathies are tilting towards the Islamic Muslims (IM). No LM is at the throat of any IM if he slaughters (sacrifies!) an animal. Any liberal will never limit the religious liberty of an individual unless it goes out of the religion. On the otherhand all the IMs are united in their orthodoxy to claim that their’s is the unique and only way to celeberate their obligations and all the Muslims (LM included) should do the same
On the top of it they pretend to do it to help the poor. The two third of ceremonial meat goes to the family and friends to their feasting and only one third goes to the fasting poor. Also, the IL obtains a bonus from God for his after-life.
This religious obligation is more selfish than generous. You may call it a religious morality but certainly not the human morality where all (generousity) goes to the poor.
AHsn
Please take note that sacrificing an animal on eid-al-adha is not a “ritual”. It is the order of Allah. I am not making this up. Its in the Quran (22:36).
Eid-ul-Azha is not only related to the sacrifice of animals like goats and cows. It is a festival which celebrates the spirit of sacrifice. We should take some positivity and show the world that we will as a country not stand terrorism and how effectively we are fighting it. The media is a good medium to start getting this message across.