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.
The quoted verse says that Allah has made animals subservient to man for their needs like food and transportation.
I had asked why mullahs follow a verse selectively.
Why do they use modern means of transportation today, instead of the subservient animals? If they can do so, why can not they accede that ‘non-mullah’ kind of muslims can use other means of food too, if ugly killing is distracting for them?
As I said earlier, and then Alam also said similiar,but was never replied to.
Alam,you can easily see that Adnan is happy communicating through a camel instead of phone/e-mail, and that probably he won’t use his car/aeroplane again for a subservient camel’s back.
May Allah Bless such learned muslims.
Thanks Alam for your very good posts.
Dear Alam, they seem not to have read all posts in the discussion, at least not the
original post by temporal.Or they may not be repeating those questions that have already
been elaborately answered before. Many ‘better ways’ to help people were suggested
throughout this discussion starting from the initial post itself.
To me, sacrificing logically means parting with what is most privileged to you,and that
can be anything, not just animals alone. If your wealth is denoted by the strength of your
herd which you yourself gaze and bring up, and of course, you barter animals for other
things, yes it can mean animal, as was the practice 1000 years ago. But today,most muslims
do not gaze cattle. For the sake of formality, they go to nearby bakra-mandi a day ahead
of Eid and buy one . This process is essentially sacrifice of money, not animal as
“Commanded” or as at least claimed. Our contention is that instead of a bakra, your money
could have bought anything else also like books, sewing-machines, medicines, fruits, wheat
or just anything that can be useful for the poor. Your apprehension that poor would misuse
your money is unfounded. If you think that the poor have bad habits like liqour, it
becomes your duty, and a way to sacrifice too, that is to educate them, and mend them to
follow the path Commanded by the Holy Quran.Allah would love such a sacrifice, not
shedding of blood!
Today, the unit to measure your privilege is your wealth which is counted by money you
have. There is no barter exchange, and the basis for trade and merchandise is money, not
animals.And that money can buy you anything, not just animals. So why just single out
animals falsely claiming that the Command is for animals only.So when you sacrifice an
animal which you bought a day ahead of Eid from a nearby bakra-mandi, in essence you have
shed your money, you can not see it as a fulfillment of the so-interepreted sacrifice of
animal. Since animal came to belong to you just a few hours before the deadly act, and
that too was bought for money, if there is any sacrifice at all here, that is of money
only.
I challenged the pro-qurbani mullahs to produce a single quote that authorises yearly killings on a fixed day, but they could not produce a single verse which Commands annual killings.The fact is that nowhere in Quran, or Hadith, it has been Commanded to a muslim to kill animals throughtout his life, on a fixed day every year, such as Eid day.This more than enough proves that yearly killing is a man-made ritual and not at all a Command.Concocted claims,howsoever lust-satisfying, can not take the place of intent of actual religious Orders or Commands.The verses speak of a ‘One-time’ sacrifice by Hajjis. And also this is not for non-hajjis.
But isn’t it sheer bad-luck of innocent animals that these have to bear the brunt of ignorance of mis-interpreting muslims through generations.
Please explain how sacrifice does not mean the sacrifice of animals when in Quran and Hadith the sacrifice of animals is clearly mentioned. Also, until now you haven’t told us the better methods of helping people.
No, the abuse of religion is becoming ritualistic and missing on the very essence of the message of the Quran (in this case sacrifice and helping others in need) by getting fixated on the mechanics of the words which may have been more appropriate in a different tiem and context (in this case animal killing).
>Its just that some supposed Muslims seem to defend their bad behavior in the name of religion far more often these days!
The some happen to be those who do not sacrifice animals on Eid. As for the term supposed Muslims, I think that looking at those who reject the verses of the Holy Quran, it’s not too difficult to see who the supposed Muslims are.
>but that to me is an ABUSE of religion…
Apparently following the Holy Quran is an abuse of religion.
> There are far better ways to show your generosity by helping other people
Please let me know what the far better ways are.