Sacrificial Animals: A religious ritual or a status show

With Bakra Eid in the offing, every poor Muslim of Pakistan is vying for sacrificial animals with his/her limited budget that, in fact, hardly fulfills daily necessities. After all, we are bound to have an animal at Eid day to save our egos and perk up status
quos—-the factors that have nothing to with religion which never puts any burden on its followers.

Apart from lower-middle class and middle-class families which arrange animals by hook or crook, there are some affluent people with high social standing who use this occasion to strengthen their prestige and domination on their fellow beings. They purchases
expensive animals with the cost that a middle class family lives on throughout the year, and then boost of their achievements among their poor relatives and neighbours. Not fair at all.

There is a famous story in the Islamic history. Once there was a poor farmer who used to save some pennies from his regular income so that he could be able to perform pilgrimage. When his saving became enough for his cause, he made necessary preparations
to set out for Makka. He was about to leave when he came to know that there was a bachelor girl in his neighbourhood waiting for money to get dowry. He went to her and gave away all his money. As a result, Allah not only purged him from all sins but also accepted
his pilgrimage without doing actually.

I think, after this story, it is not hard to determine that what is more important than what. In the eye of Islam, human welfare takes precedence over rituals and practices. If a person in your neighbourhood or relatives is starving and you go for pilgrimage,
establish a mosque or purchase a high-cost sacrificial animal, it is absolutely inhuman, unfair and irreligious as well.

Moreover, as per religious concept, the virtues, prayers and good deeds should not be pretended before others, rather they should be hidden.  We do the opposite.

Another gruesome practice in our society is storage of Eid meet much more than the specified quantity. According to the religion, a family is entitled to divide 2/3 of meet among the poor and relatives and reserve 1/3 for itself. It has also been observed
that some families use the hugely stored Eid meet by the next Eid. However, they have a number of excuses to justify this act.

God has clearly stated in Holy Quran that He does not need our animals, meet and all this stuff, but only the purity of intention which we are supposed to show while doing this ritual.

On the other hand, if you find a deserving person, who is in dire need of money to buy food, wed his daughter or get a shelter, in the society, it will be better to give him cash rather than purchasing animals. It is the passion Islam has stressed on and
encouraged. May God bless us with insight to interpret the religious teaching in their due context.

In the end, I would like to request all to share their Eid pleasures with the disgruntled and marginalised people, because they have the same right to smile as we claim to have. Sharing is caring. Let us share, care and love all. Stay blessed. Eid Mubarik.

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Posted by Sharjeel Ahmad on Nov 5 2011. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry