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.
One more brutal slaughter season is upon us and one more year I have failed trying to stop my family in Karachi to slaughter goats. I will not give up. At least I have refused to contribute a single penny into that business. I have offered to contribute if they give money to a charity or even buy meat from a slaughter house and distribute to the poor. But they–like most others–are going to still do the old way: Kill the goats in/around the house and chop it up there. Kids will probably watch.
Why can’t people get that into there heads that there are other ways to distribute the ‘meat’ to the poor if meat is a must? Also, the poor who are selling the goats can still sell to designated slaughter houses and hence the economy will still get the ‘boost’ as some imply.
But…as @Animal Lover rightly says, this is mostly about feasting, isn’t it?
Finally, we are not trying to stop people from animal sacrifice. We are asking for proper hygiene, proper care of animals, and proper measures to reduce the brutality witnessed by young ones.
PS. Looks like in Turkey too there is a debate about sacrificing animals.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?msg=comment saved&n=to-slaughter-or-not-to-slaughter-2010-11-1 5
Dear N.H.,
With someone suggesting you to (run away from discussion, and) get ready to enjoy Bhuni Huwi Kaleji,Tikka and Biryani (made out of remains of sacrificed animals), at least now I can get some clues as to where all the religiously over-hyped sacrifices claimed to be in the name of Allah, do actually go.
Better to admit, that the main intent of the ritual at the expense of lives of innocent animals, is to get you some Bhuni Huwi Kaleji,Tikka and Biryani, in the guise of some sacred ritual act pretending as if it would go to Allah or as if it were for Allah.
YES, NOTHING HERE IS FOR ALLAH, EVERYTHING IS FOR YOUR OWN ENJOYMENT. ALLAH GAVE BIRTH TO A LAMB (i.e., ALLAH WANTED ITS CREATION TO LIVE ON ITS OWN), BUT AGAINST THE WISH OF ALLAH,THE MERCIFUL, YOU ACTED ON YOUR OWN ACCORD TO TAKE ITS LIFE. AND STILL YOU CLAIM IT HAS SANCTION OF ALLAH.
This is most ridiculous.
Dear Naam Haleem, this so called “Animal Lover” just popes out every year around Eidul Adha. Infact he is around whole year but he turned to “Animal Lover” during Eid and always run away if someone tries to refute his shallow reasons. So please “Spare Him” and get ready to enjoy Bhuni Huwi Kaleji,Tikka and Biryani.
@ Naan Haleem:
I value your thoughts just as I value animal lives. However the dilemma still remains. I am talking in terms of your previous post (prior to this one) in which you justified this practice on the ground that it generates meat for distribution to the poor ones.
If getting meat is equivalent to sacrifice, then a butcher should be a bigger and a daily sacrificer IMHO.
So, either we justify the practice on the basis of meat it generates for the poor (your previous plea), or on the basis of your religious interpretation (of ‘nahr’).
Now comes the ‘show-off’ part:
We offer and ‘sacrifice’ a LIFE to Allah. After sacrificing, we should have no right on that life. But after the ‘show’ is over, that ‘sacrificed’ life is cut into countless pieces to go to awaiting mouths. What a hypocrisy. Aren’t we deceiving Allah by this show-off?
@ Animal Lover
If you are a Muslim, then you must be knowing the meaning of Arabic word ‘Nahr’. It means slaughter and is taught in Islam as the best way to present a sacrifice.
Economic reasons apart (some of which already discussed), its the spirit of sacrificing a life which must be the core of the ritual. Only if we value LIFE as the most precious thing, an animal or a human is almost the same. And slaughtering a halal animal would mean that we are sacrificing the most valuable thing to please Allah.
No offence, but the thought you represent is of money craving greedy elite, for which, most valuable thing is money and sacrificing it through charity other than ‘Nahr’ meens the most to you, because helping the poor through charity matters more for the show-off elite than to please the Almighty. And I have no doubt in my mind the later of the two MUST be prime objective of every human being (except for atheists).
You value animal lives because loving animals is the most important thing for you in life. Others value various alternates of charity because they love money the most and spending it in any form will be the greatest sacrifice. The sense of loss of money heavily dominates their other motives when ‘sacrificing’ money even if it is for charity. Little do they value that Allah be pleased with them.
But for a true believer, pleasing Allah is the ultimate objective and for that purpose one should sacrifice the most valuable thing(s) to achieve this goal.
I would not be surprised if you are one of the proponents of another bizarre drive to ban Hajj for Pakistanis till we repay all our external debt.
I would not be surprised (again) if I am dubbed as MULLAH in response to what i have tried to explain.