Today is Eiduladha, a day marked by the sacrifice of lamb, goat or cow in remembrance of Prophet Abraham’s (pbuh) sacrifice and in honor of the poor.
We brought the kids to the nearby mosque to witness the slaughter. Initially I was worried they would freak out by all the blood. Omar was quite squeamish in the beginning but he was the one who wanted to stay longer. Hamzah was quiet but suddenly announced “I don’t want to see cows anymore.”
Happy to oblige I took him away to the pen where the group of goats marked with a purple dye on their backs quietly awaited their fate. Occasionally two men will come by to extract a goat and it would not put much of a fight except a long hauntingly human bleat of protest.
I tried to explain to the kids that the animals are being sacrificed and slaughtering at the neck was to reduce their pain. That they would go to heaven and their flesh would feed the poor & hungry. Indeed some people can only wait for Eiduladha for their yearly taste of meat.
But as I observed the slaughter or korban, it’s hard to reconcile the method of slaughter as being completely humane. In spirit of korban and Islamic slaughter in general, animals are not meant to know they would be slaughtered so they would not be scared,, and it was meant to be swift, to give them the mercy of sudden death. But the animals were clearly scared when they get pulled in to the slaughter area, splayed with blood of animals felled earlier. Sounds of the crowds of strange people with their cameras, watching and commenting, and the atmosphere of being spectated. There is no way they were not scared. Most of the goats would go limp at one move of the sharp blade, but the cows seem to take longer. Ikram says it’s probably muscle spasms. But it was unsettling to observe.
Needless to say it was a sobering experience and not a pleasant one.
But this is where I reflect that Allah’s wisdom is infinite. One could argue that this practice seems barbaric and outdated. And sometimes the blood and gore is revelled more than the solemn act of sacrifice, because humans can be very blood thirsty (Though Omar says “Blood is not my favorite” despite wanting to watch).
Fact is too many of us have grown comfortable with our food and meat appearing in packages at the supermarket, we forget that each animal and grain took so much time to grow and mature, and that their lives were sacrificed to ensure we can continue ours. The living eat the dead. If we can remember that and consume with conscience, perhaps we wouldn’t be so callous with the amounts we consume and amounts we waste.
Meat is a luxury not a necessity. It takes real sacrifice. And it should never be in vain.
May we all have a blessed Eiduladha.
We brought the kids to the nearby mosque to witness the slaughter. Initially I was worried they would freak out by all the blood. Omar was quite squeamish in the beginning but he was the one who wanted to stay longer. Hamzah was quiet but suddenly announced “I don’t want to see cows anymore.”
Happy to oblige I took him away to the pen where the group of goats marked with a purple dye on their backs quietly awaited their fate. Occasionally two men will come by to extract a goat and it would not put much of a fight except a long hauntingly human bleat of protest.
I tried to explain to the kids that the animals are being sacrificed and slaughtering at the neck was to reduce their pain. That they would go to heaven and their flesh would feed the poor & hungry. Indeed some people can only wait for Eiduladha for their yearly taste of meat.
But as I observed the slaughter or korban, it’s hard to reconcile the method of slaughter as being completely humane. In spirit of korban and Islamic slaughter in general, animals are not meant to know they would be slaughtered so they would not be scared,, and it was meant to be swift, to give them the mercy of sudden death. But the animals were clearly scared when they get pulled in to the slaughter area, splayed with blood of animals felled earlier. Sounds of the crowds of strange people with their cameras, watching and commenting, and the atmosphere of being spectated. There is no way they were not scared. Most of the goats would go limp at one move of the sharp blade, but the cows seem to take longer. Ikram says it’s probably muscle spasms. But it was unsettling to observe.
Needless to say it was a sobering experience and not a pleasant one.
But this is where I reflect that Allah’s wisdom is infinite. One could argue that this practice seems barbaric and outdated. And sometimes the blood and gore is revelled more than the solemn act of sacrifice, because humans can be very blood thirsty (Though Omar says “Blood is not my favorite” despite wanting to watch).
Fact is too many of us have grown comfortable with our food and meat appearing in packages at the supermarket, we forget that each animal and grain took so much time to grow and mature, and that their lives were sacrificed to ensure we can continue ours. The living eat the dead. If we can remember that and consume with conscience, perhaps we wouldn’t be so callous with the amounts we consume and amounts we waste.
Meat is a luxury not a necessity. It takes real sacrifice. And it should never be in vain.
May we all have a blessed Eiduladha.
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