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.

yes, spare the animals and help the poor

i share your thoughts

kinkminos:

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

qurbani
qurbani
qurbani

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—–

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.