Spare the Animal and Show Your Piety: Eid ul Adha, 2008
Eid ul Adha is on or around December 08,2008. 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 $ 240 in the US. Here in Canada the price varies between $ 240 - 28- (international $120). 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 the 240 dollars or the equivalent in your currency?
On my last visit I saw a lot of people drive up to a certain "hotel" and pay the owner X rupees to feed X number of hungry folks lined up outside. That act is a noble one. But it is better to teach them to fish?
A manual 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? A small monthly stipend to the poor that may bring a ray of hope in their lives and may perhaps deter them from abandoning their children to the fogs of terrorist factories?
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
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 $ 240 in the US. Here in Canada the price varies between $ 240 - 28- (international $120). 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 the 240 dollars or the equivalent in your currency?
On my last visit I saw a lot of people drive up to a certain "hotel" and pay the owner X rupees to feed X number of hungry folks lined up outside. That act is a noble one. But it is better to teach them to fish?
A manual 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? A small monthly stipend to the poor that may bring a ray of hope in their lives and may perhaps deter them from abandoning their children to the fogs of terrorist factories?
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
posted by temporal at 12/09/2008
8 Comments:
The sacrifice itself is what is said to be Sunnah Muakadah (which means it is less than obligatory and of course is only done by those who are able to). But if what you say was enacted then there would never have been a sacrifice nor will there ever be one. There will always be a need to educate and teach the poor.
The sacrifice is expensive and that is why only the rich have to indulge in it. The sacrifice is being done for the poor to begin with. If the meat is wasted it's the fault of the people involved not the practice itself.
The concept of Sadaqah Jariyah and charity in general needs to be revived in Muslim societies so that people do the exact things you mentioned in addition to, rather than in lieu of, the sacrifice which is an ancient Abrahamic tradition and enjoined by our Propget (Peace be upon him). In fact Zakah and Udhiyah are just the obligatory faces of a very highly encouraged practice in the faith as any cursory examination of the lives of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and his Companions (May God Be Pleased With Them) will indicate.
Thanks for this post though.
Why is like that you people remember charity stuff for the things which are compulsory in a religion? Why don't you preach similar when people waste lots of money in partying,dating and what not? where do you hibernate at that time?
Qurbani is an order and order given by the Allah who is the provider for every one. Orders are just fulfilled. You will not say a word if your Boss ask you to do something. Can you feel entire poor population? you can't! Prophet Solomon Wished once similarly and surrendered within few mins then who are you and other so called intellectuals.
Those who feel pain for others can distribute all meat to poors. Food is the biggest necessity of mankind than anything else.
I am sure you would be enjoying BBQ in coming days.
and yeah, quit hypocrisy.
All the references quoted in the post from the Quran show that while we sacrifice for the pleasure of Allah SWT, we ourselves get to eat from the sacrifice - a benefit in this world. This includes people who would otherwise not be able to afford meat.
Good comment from Uzer.
Uzer:
thanks for your thoughtful comments...yes it is sunnat e muakaddah...
as you probably noted my intention was to do more ... take the intent and do more...
Allah knows best and has asked us to ponder and reflect also....
adnan sahib:
please read uzer's comment carefully
I like the idea of making good for people rather than sacrificing animals. It's a very thought-provoking idea, specially for developing countries. I hope someone takes notice.
My neighbor in Houston cannot sacrifice a goat because "It's the U.S.". I asked him how he's celebrating Eid. He replied "i've sent some money back home, and they will do the qurbani for me".
While religion is one thing, "culture" or "prevalent beliefs" is another. As religions become older, some beliefs creep in to become a part of them, and may even slowly get well-established. I think this is one such "exception" that has made its place into Islam.
I apologize if I said something wrong or hurt anybody's feelings.
I agree with Adnan about hybernating while overspending on things we feel are not religious rituals and make hype of moderation when it comes to DEEN. where sacrifice is only a sunnah and not the obligatory one, alot of fuss is made over it. We all know that Allah does not want the meat or blood! and ofcourse its the peity and devotion that reaches Him. Quran has urged feeding of the poor everwhere in almost all the Surahs, so we can Share the bounties realising that all we have is His and not to devour all ourselves. However I'd like to chip in a bit for Adnan that what makes Islam different from all the other religions is that while the other religions preach to follow without asking questions, islam encourages reasoning as it is based on logic and whatever actions we do we are not to be blindly followed, but to find out why Allah(SWT) has commanded as such.
My Allah is NOT the unreasonable boss you give example of. He is the LORD OF THE WORLDS. MOST MERCIFUL ALL KNOWER AND ALL WISE. THE BEST OF BESTOWERS The mere purpose of Sacrifice on this day is to remmember the greatest sacrifice ever made and ofcource share bounties of Allah.
Let me quote the ayat before ayat 37 of Surah Al-Hajj, which says:
"The sacrificial camels we have made for you as among the symbols from Alla, in them is (much) good for you then pronounce the name of Allah on them as they line up when they are down on their sides eat ye thereof and feed such as (beg not but) live in contentment and such as beg with due humility; thus have We made animals subject to you, that you may be greatful"
The sacrifice IS to be performed by the Well off among the community and share the meat with those who can not afford. the misconception is in our knowledge and understanding of cammandments.
The idea of giving someone a sewing machine is very pleasing, but eventually everyone has to eat, dont they!
Sadqah-e-Jariah is a way to have maghfirat in hereafter and wash one's sins even after one's death...what would be better than to educate scores of people, but why compare it with sacrifice. both can workout well together.
Thats my humble opinion, I appologise if u disagree.
thanks anil and mahjabeen:
The idea of giving someone a sewing machine is very pleasing, but eventually everyone has to eat, dont they!
:)
yes, but feeding the poor sacrificial meat is at best once a year deal
while "sewing machine" is providing them a source of income for years
thanks Mahjabeen sahiba,
I am not against logic and I truly believe that Islam is more logical than any other religion.
What I said was on basis of dialogue between Ibrahim(AS) and Ismail(AS) when Allah ordered to sacrifice. At that time Ibrahim(AS) didn't seek any logic because He know it was an order by Allah(SWT).
Same Quran also talks about critical thinking by young Ibrahim(AS) when He tried to find out Allah via stars,moons etc and later found out that God is above than all and much stronger.
Both incidents are mentioned in Quran.
Hope I have clarified now.
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