Spare the Animal and Show Your Piety: Eid ul Adha, 2007
December 17, 2007
by temporal
Eid ul Adha is on or around December 19-22, 2007 depending on where you are. Have a safe and happy holiday with your family.
Spare the poor goat or lamb’s life. For those who want to sacrifice the writer please scroll down and read Chapter 22, Verse 37 as translated by Marmaduke, Yusufali, Asad and Usmani: or pick your own copy of the holy Qur’an.
They all talk about your devotion, piety, God-consciousness and taqwa that reaches Him.
Please pause and think.
According to the Hidaya Foundation the cost of one goat/sheep is $100 in the US. Here in Canada the price varies between $90-100. I am not sure about the price in Pakistan or India.
What I am sure about is only the well wheeled can afford it. The Poor cannot even budget for a kilo of meat a month.
We are carnivorous people. In Karachi and Lahore there is not one decent vegetarian restaurant worth talking about. But I digress.
Is there a better way to spend 50 dollars per eligible person (half of 90 or 100 dollars) or the equivalent in your currency?
A manual or electronic sewing machine for a widow or unemployed poor woman? Tuition Fees or books for a poor student? Some money to ease the days for unemployed people? Medicine or partial hospital bill for a deserving patient?
A friend from Egypt wrote this:
This is what we do most of the time, the price of a sheep here ranges between 1 - 1.5 K Egyptian Pounds…we distribute the equivalent of half of that, after all you’re allowed to keep a third of the meet and gift a third to family, so we figured half is good, there is a decent NGO that runs a few homes, one for orphans, one for battered women, one for elderly homeless people, they also help the poor in getting married, by providing some cash and furniture…and they do really good stuff in the poor areas,
We can think of many ways to make Him happy and spare the lamb.
_______________________________________________________
The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 22, Verse 37.
[22:37] Their flesh and their food reach not Allah, but the devotion from you reacheth Him. Thus have We made them subject unto you that ye may magnify Allah that He hath guided you. And give good tidings (O Muhammad) to the good.Marmaduke
[22:37] It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches God: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify God for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right. Abdullah Yusufali
[22:37] [But bear in mind:] never does their flesh reach God, and neither their blood: it is only your God-consciousness that reaches Him. It is to this end that We have made them subservient to your needs, so that you might glorify God for all the guidance with which He has graced you.
And give thou this glad tiding unto the doers of good Muhammad Asad
[22:37] It is neither their flesh nor their blood that reaches Allah, but what does reach Him is the taqwā (the sense of obedience) on your part. Thus He has made them (the animals) subjugated to you, so that you proclaim Allah’s glory for the guidance He gave you. And give good news to those who are good in their deeds. Mufti Muhammed Taqi Usmani
Entry Filed under: Blogging, Environment, Islam, Love, World, poverty. .
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Raza Rumi
iFaqeer
Aasem Bakhshi
yasserlatifhamdani
Lal Salam
cubano1
kinkminos
soniahkamal
temporal3
Fiza Ishaq
saadsultan
capedavenger
wateringhole
kashkin
1.
PTH | December 18, 2007 at 2:37 am
T, thanks for this thoughtful post - the verse here clearly spells out what is more important to God Almighty - there needs to be more than the mere ritual!!
2.
PostMan | December 18, 2007 at 4:56 am
The ritual of sacrifice is for Hajjis only. It is not obligatory on muslims not doing the hajj. We create problems for ourselves. God did not say so.
3.
kinkminos | December 18, 2007 at 1:30 pm
it’s just another excuse for people to over-indulge while continuing to feel pious. one more ritualistic process of quasi-religiosity.
4.
GreenSufi | December 18, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Granted, that it is often ostentatious and wasteful. Granted that there is overindulgence, and the real thing is Taqwa, piety, which is best achieved by sacrificing what one LOVES MOST, in the words of the Holy Qur’an.
But….
1. There is consensus that the animal sacrifice for those who can afford it wajib, tho’ not farz. In any case it is a Sunna.
2. Muslim cultures almost always incorporate nomadic & semi-nomadic people, for whom the goats & sheep bring wealth in fleece, milk, cheese, and meat. Eid e Qurban fits into their lifestyle.
3. Further, this is the only week or so in our country that everyone gets to eat meat… including the poorest 10-15 percent who would not otherwise. What with the current inflation, meat is going of the menu for a larger percentage.
4. Finally, despite the vast numbers of animals sacrificed, we still consume ONLY A FRACTION of western societies: people in the US consume far more meat, and may be killing as many as 15 times more animals than the average Pakistani, and upto 40 times more animals than the average Bangladeshi. See for details, Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, and the various Ecological Footprint websites.
It is far better that people appreciate the blood and pain and reality of it, unlike the west where food is an industry, the animals are kept in cruel conditions, pumped with hormones, and slaughter is mechanized and much more cruel.
However, I admit by this token, boiler birds would be makruh [disliked] to eat, as they are kept trapped in miserable conditions. I try avoid eating chicken myself.
5.
temporal | December 18, 2007 at 5:02 pm
PTH, PM, K:
thanks for your comments
GS:
thanks….to reiterate…cash should be directed at more pressing social needs to alleviate imbalance in society rather than gastronomical indulgences while ostensibly pleasing the Almighty.
6.
GreenSufi | December 19, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Oh yes, and the time spent praying can be better utilized in teaching school children instead, and the more pressing need is to turn head-scarves into quilts for the freezing earthquake victims.
In short, if we follow this line of argument, we can achieve God-consciousness which is really important without doing any of the things that God & His Prophet PBUH ask us to do.
7.
temporal | December 20, 2007 at 1:58 am
GS:
before i venture to reply you can i ask you this?
what do you know about Haqooq Allah and Haqooq ul Ibad: and which is MORE important in Allah’s eyes?
8.
GreenSufi | December 20, 2007 at 10:49 am
Lets try and do both bhai; and also not sacrifice the spirit of our religion for the form or vice versa.
9.
alibhae | December 20, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I agree with the greensufi. The ritual is not farz. And yes, many people seem to be in it more for a display of wealth than for a declaration of sacrifice. Still the solution is not in the abandonment of the ritual, rather it is in the education of the masses. Like Javed Ghamdi says, hamari tarbiat, minhaisal qaum, ghalt hoi hai, sahi tarbiat ki zaroorat hai.
A hundred dollars is a pittance in America. It’s a days’ income for the average wage earner. Therein lies an opportunity. Programs like oxfam are able to provide livestock for as little as $45 to families in poor countries. Goats and cows can go a long way towards aleviating the poverty of such people. Now if only we could fund a program like that that is maintained by us for our people.
10.
Nasir Khan | December 20, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Forms, rituals, labels and other such symbols of association are very important to different groups trying to sell their ideologies in the ‘Spiritual’ market. These groups go to great lengths in trying to prove their arguments by quoting from the scripture and other religious books. They want people to blindly and mindlessly follow these traditions in the name of religion and not think for themselves. Because, if God forbid, people start thinking for themselves then who is going to go to these Maulanas and Sufis for advice, prayers and intercession. Let’s not be fooled by their ‘Cut-Paste’ verbosity.
11.
temporal | December 21, 2007 at 2:44 am
thank you for your comments GS, alibhae and NK
if a person can do both — fine
but if their is a choice then instead of the ritual try and extend a helping hand to someone deserving
12.
Aasem Bakhshi | December 21, 2007 at 1:33 pm
That was a nice post, temporal.
What are your views on the preceding ayah i.e. 22:36 and another ayah in the same Surah 22:67.
While your argument is certainly plausible, I think its fallacious to invoke scripture here.
13.
sherryx | December 22, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Blood Blood they need Blood—-
A “qurbani” occurred in Charsadda
Gone are the days when lambs use to come from heavens to spare human life—
No lamb came down to save the children of God this time
they were neither prophets, nor sons of prophet
they were neither infidels of USA, they were not in Iraq or Afghanistan , occupying the moslem lands
On Eid 45 or more men were slaughtered in Name of God, those who killed them, did so in name of God
Those who died, died in his name, praying to him
what dilemma is this?
its “show your piety and spare Humans” time—–
14.
kinkminos | December 23, 2007 at 1:04 pm
well, you know, it is… ‘the legacy of ibrahim’
qurbani
qurbani
qurbani
15.
animallover | December 23, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Very good and thoughful writing.
Killing animals is condemnable. If man is killing them and calling it a sacrifice, its stupidity. Allah is not bloodthirsty. HE is not so poor that HE would require anything from man. Sacrifice is a symbolic act which should mean offering something from one’s own possession. Naturally, animal is a creation of Allah. How can it be called a muslim’s possession? Killing an allah’s creation is the worst thing and never the intention of Holy Q’uran. Its high time that such terrorism on poor animals by Muslims be stopped. This is an evil and crafted interpretation of sacrifice, and perhaps the only aim behind this ritual is to obtain meat. Clearly this is the case of lust and hunger and greed for eating more and more meat, at the cost of lives of poor animals. Hope Allah, the merciful, can have some mercy on His own creations - the animals, by inflicting sense and thoughtfulness in muslims.
16.
temporal | December 23, 2007 at 9:44 pm
aasem:
thanks for the ayah references
my argument is not to deny the sacrifice ritual but to dwell on the spirit of the message in qur’an - which is the final arbiter and foundation of our faith
17.
temporal | December 23, 2007 at 9:45 pm
sherryx:
i share your thoughts
kinkminos:
18.
temporal | December 23, 2007 at 9:47 pm
animallover:
yes, spare the animals and help the poor
19.
MysticSaint | December 27, 2007 at 8:18 pm
thanks so much!
often time muslims have lost their common sense when it comes to practice of this great faith. keeping the neighbors and ppl hungry, poor and going about religious festival is such a big hypocrisy. when will we have a bit more common sense and not just blind faith!
lovely article.
20.
animallover | January 20, 2008 at 1:07 pm
What happens to the sacrificed animal? The poor creation of Allah, which was a lively creature moments ago turns into a stinky mass of flesh and bones and blood. The next morning it can be seen flushed into toilets. What a transformation? It was supposed to go to Allah, but where does it land up? Do they mean to say that Allah lives in ………..?
Allah imparted life to the animal. He never wished anyone other than Himself to take the life out of His creations. Its a real pity and probably the worst form of misinterpreting religion.
For Allah’s sake, STOP this nonsense.
21.
rehmatullah | February 9, 2008 at 1:29 pm
very nice post animallover. yes you are right . Killing animals on such a mass scale can never be justified in religion.
Islam does not represent cruelty to animals.
I must say that i never slaughter any animals, but spend money to buy sweets and clothes and other utilities for poor ones.
I totally agree that killing animals is not more than stupidity.
Thanks animallover.