Eid-ul-Adha
commemorates Prophet Ibrahim’s [pbuh] unconditional submission to the Allah. He
[pbuh] was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail [pbuh] after God commanded him [pbuh]
to do so in a dream. Moments before Ibrahim [pbuh] could sacrifice Ismail
[pbuh], Allah sent down a lamb in his place. The act of Qurbani symbolizes one’s
willingness to submit to Allah’s will, to make self-sacrifice, even if it
doesn’t correspond to our personal rulebook.
But
animal rights activists are unable to understand this. They’re campaigning for
ritual sacrifices to be banned and point to animal rights abuses that occur
under the disguise of religion. While Muslim scholars dismiss this as
anti-Islamic propaganda some site it as a legitimate concern. At some point Australia
stopped exporting cattle to Egypt ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha, citing video
footage of animal cruelty. This included sheep being strapped to the roofs of
cars, dumped into trunks for transporting and mass slaughtered on the streets
in plain sight of other animals queuing to be killed. Such practices are
violation of the Islamic laws of sacrificing—quickly, with minimum pain and out
of sight of other animals.
In
many Muslim countries, ritual animal sacrifices are permitted as a hands-on
experience of Eid. But for Muslims who are vegetarian, the sacrifice is hardly
acceptable. For some people it’s challenging having to reconcile religious duty
with personal choice. Thus as an alternative they give money to a charitable organization
which performs the sacrifice on their behalf. Similar concerns about the
inhumane treatment of animals and belief in the sanctity of all life have
prompted some Muslims to adopt a vegetarian diet. They don’t view slaughtering
as obligatory and prefer to demonstrate their faith in other ways like distribute
money or food packages to the poor on their behalf. Others who have become
vegetarian for health and moral reasons voice that even though they do not
practice this ritual there are lots of things they do practice in Islam.
Irrespective
what rights activists or vegetarians say, Qurbani is obligatory for Muslims
adults if they meet the conditions laid down by Allah.
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