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.
@Watan Aziz….
First, when did I say I quoted a specific text about two witnesses. The number of witnesses varies. The point was that, yes, the moon is to be witnessed.
Second, it should be shahida (verb) and not shaha’dhin (that’s not even a verb and not sure what noun you’re referring to). And, yes it specifically says “Shahida” in the Qur’an and the synonym of it is used in a shaih hadith which is ra’ya, the corrupt form of which exist in Urdu as “rouyat”, as in rouyat-e-Hilal committee.
Now what??! I only reply to you so that others won’t think I’m just blabbing like temporal.
Ibrahim, Ali Khan, and other pro-Qurbani lot:
Let me re-phrase the issue a little.
Are you demanding that people should be forced to do qurbani on Eid-ul-Azha (even if they do not want to)?
temporal:
I am reading comments about your article with some amusement.
It took Christian world 1500 years (after death of Jesus) to enter age of renaissance the enlightenment
Faraz, I did read Ali Khan’s post. And he has a whole list of his own pir faqirs in that comment; Maudodi and his tolli. The Quran is clear on this, the Quran talks about the traitional say of sacrificing animals (which is Ok if hat is what you want), and then IMMEDIATELY the Quran points out that what is really important is not the animal but your piety and the thought behind the sacrifice. Because, as the Quran says, Allah is not interested in either the flesh or the blood.
(Guess who IS interested in collecting and making money off the flesh, blood and skin!)
Dilawaar, we are not talking about “our own” pirs and faqirs here. Please read Ali Khan’s post before you. It rarely happens that we encounter situations where there’s no obvious guidance from Islam. But when it does there are rulings/fatwas from religious scholars (and no I don’t mean your average maulvees or pirs or faqeers or whatever derogatory term you can find). For the rest of us, it is a big NO NO to try to reinterpret Quran and Hadees. Can you imagine what that can lead to? Please use discretion when it comes to these matters.