Ritual of Slaughter

Ritual of Slaughter

Naeem Ashraf

Slaughtering of humans and animals to please God can be traced back in ancient history of mankind. In Egypt,  infants and virgin girls were slaughtered and thrown into River Nile to please 'God  of Floods' so that The Nile did not flood out to destroy the crop. To get rid of untimely and heavy rains and other natural calamities, ancient people sacrificed human, animal and in-kind sacrifices. In ancient India, during the course of famine, young girls were thrown into the dried River Nermada; this tradition was called Balidaan. Robrt Smith is of the view that, tradition of sacrificing was the base of all past religions. The sacrifice in his view was such a gesture or gift which those people performed for Gods and Goddesses which they believed ruled their destiny. They used this ritual to get blessings and evade the wrath of their gods. The "Blood" in old times used to be considered a source of life and youth. Hungarian Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory have been reported   take shower with the blood of young maids to maintain her youth and agility. Similarly, in ancient Greek, a young girl or a horse was slaughtered before starting a military campaign to gain victory over enemy.

Prophet   Ibrahim (AS) on becoming    prophet changed the ritual of slaughtering children and girls and instead preached that even animals could be slaughtered to manifest the act of sacrifice. Among the Muslims, the tradition of sacrifice is connected to the Hajj as obligatory part  in the memory of Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) who, in accordance with  one narration, on  God's orders  had laid his son Ishmael (AS) to slaughter but God immediately sent a lamb instead that  changed the tradition of slaughtering children, as the   story goes. Just before the advent   of Islam, the pilgrims used to bring animals along with their luggage primarily to eat during   the course of their stay at Mecca. It was also considered a feast as well as to recall the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim. Hajj in those   times used to be a festival, where in young people used to eat, drink and dance. It was also an economic forum for trade activities and traders 'meetings to exchange goods of interest in coming year. For owners of the Tomb, the festival of Hajj   was a great source of revenue that was generated through   providing   food, boarding, lodging and access to Holy Tomb of Mecca. In addition to this, pilgrims also donated handsome amounts of money to owners of the tomb to get their prayers answered. On advent of Islam, the tradition of Hajj was re-shaped and was declared as obligatory worship for those Muslims who could afford the travel expenses, once in life time. Early Muslims did cleansing of Kaa'ba by removing all idols placed there. They also changed the various customs performed in the past restricting it worships only. Nevertheless Hajj remained a great day for Muslims and was also celebrated all over the Muslim world as a festivity called Eid ul Azza. Similarly, slaughter tradition also took new Islamic shape.  Muslims believe that God likes the sacrifice and it is obligatory to slaughter animals in the name of God. From the point of view of an Islamic scholar, Allama Ghulam Ahmed Pervez (1909-1985):  Islam does not preach slaughtering of animals to please Allah.  Islam has rather related slaughtering of animals only on the occasion and place of Hajj. Holy Quran does not make obligatory   any slaughtering anywhere other than Hajj.  Holy Quran in verses 27-28, of Surah e Hajj (22) speaks of Hajj and slaughtering of animals in this manner:  "And announce Hajj among people, they will then come to you afoot and riding on slim camels covering large distances. So that they can see the benefit kept for them in Hajj and praise Allah for that specified duration. From those animals which have been bestowed upon you by Allah, then feed yourself and the needy among you."   From Quranic injunctions translated above, it can be safely concluded that:

 ONE: Slaughtering of animals is mandatory only on the occasion of Hajj.

 TWO: The place of slaughtering is restricted to place of Hajj.

 THREE: The purpose of such slaughtering is to provide food to pilgrimage for that duration.

 FOUR: The notion of slaughtering the animals to please Allah was incorrect. To support his interpretation, Allama G A Pervez quotes this verse of Holy Quran: "No meat (from slaughtered animals) reaches Allah, rather your steadfastness (Taqwa) does reach to Him".

FIVE: There is no mention of slaughtering of animals except on the Hajj.

Now what happens on the eve of Hajj these days is again a controversial fact. The meat of the slaughtered animals on the occasion of Hajj is not used for eating by pilgrimage in contrast to injunctions of Holy Quran. The slaughtered animals are either buried or burnt to ashes in Saudi Arabia. Some decades ago, this meat was sent to countries like Afghanistan but off late, this practice has also been stopped. Almost all Arab countries import meat from Australia, Denmark, Norway and Argentina. Why can't they preserve this meat for themselves, supposedly, they do not consider it fit for human consumption. This practice of Saudi Government is sufficient to conclude that the times have changed and some other way to compensate for this slaughtering needs to be devised. Islamic scholars of today need to review this tradition under the provision of Ijtehad. Certain question needs to be answered:

ONE:  Why slaughter animals at other places than Mecca once Holy Quran does not talk of it?

TWO:  Has this tradition invoked the sense of sacrifice among Muslims?

THREE: Has this tradition not become a status symbol for rich and source of psychological deprivation for poor?

FOUR: How the poor people who cannot afford to buy such animals feel when the rich perform this act of worship?

FIVE: What happens to the spirit of sacrificing when you purchase an animal a night prior to Eid ul Azza to get it on a reasonable rate?

Six:  Why to waste so much of live stock and money on a un-Quranic ritual?

From the environment point of view the entire Pakistan gives the look of a 'slaughter house'. Animal wastes are not disposed of properly as   we do not have such tradition or culture of keeping our surroundings clean, making streets filthy and stinky. As per one survey on an average, Pakistanis spent Rs 10 billion   on this tradition every year. Can there be any better use of this money, like helping poor children to pay for their education expenses, making schools for handicapped children. Or help rehabilitate 5 million flood affected brethren in Sind and keep a reasonable amount with National Disaster Management Authority in coming years. The religious leader after consultations should think of issuing a Fatwa to this effect like; an amount equal to the price of animal can be given to Zakat Fund or Baitul Mall or another mechanism where in the money   reaches to the poor and down trodden people of Pakistan.

 

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Shahzad Shameem

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