Ritual of Slaughter – Part 2

Ritual of Slaughter – Part 1

According to Muslims belief, it is obligatory to slaughter animals in the name of God. It is considered part of Islamic law that it is obligatory for a Muslim to perform the practice if his financial condition allows him to do so.

However, the religious scholars need to review this tradition under the provision of Ijtehad for certain logical reasoning like; Are there any better sacrifices than slaughtering of animals ?, Has this tradition invoked the sense of sacrifice among Muslims? Has this tradition not become a status symbol for rich and source of psychological deprivation for poor?

How the poor people who cannot afford to buy such animals feel when the rich perform this act of worship?

What happens to the spirit of sacrificing when you purchase an animal a night prior to Eid ul Azha to get it on a reasonable rate?

From the environment point of view the entire Pakistan gives the look of a ‘slaughter house’.  Animal wastes are not disposed of properly as we do not have tradition or culture of keeping our surroundings clean. Unfortunately this problem not only prevails in Pakistan but in other Muslim countries as well.

As per one survey on an average, Pakistanis spent Rs 10 billion   on this tradition every year. Can there be any better use of this money, like helping poor children to pay for their education expenses, making schools for handicapped children.

Or help rehabilitate 5 million flood affected brethren in Sindh and keep a reasonable amount with National Disaster Management Authority in coming years.

The religious leader after consultations should think of issuing a Fatwa to this effect like; an amount equal to the price of animal can be given to Zakat Fund or Bait-ul-Mall or another mechanism where in it reaches to the poor and down trodden people of Pakistan. There cannot be any better sacrifice then helping poor and needy.

The idea may be taken as revolting at first, but currently the only spirit left in the sacrifice offered on Eid-ul-Azha is mere festivity. Although it is considered very pleasing to fully celebrate Eid in regard with religion.

Although, if the point is just slightly pondered upon, won’t it be better if we made someone else’s Eid a glad tiding. If the money used to buy the sacrificial animals was used to help the less fortunate, won’t it please Allah more?

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=2392

Posted by Fouad Ashraf on Nov 1 2011. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry