The Verdict
Please don’t kill my goat

Please don’t kill my goat

I have always loved this Eid for the chance to make new goat friends. What I don't like is blood in my streets.

Nadya V November 03, 2010

My neighbours just bought these three cute little goats home, one each for their three little kids. They probably did that so the kids wouldn’t fight with each other while taking their new pets for evening walks, daily feeding, petting and other such childhood goodness which occurs at this time of the year.

I have always loved this Eid for the chance to make new goat friends. What I don’t like about this Eid is when we proceed to manhandle those gentle creatures, force them to the ground, watch our elders slit the throats of our new companions, string them up, skin them, bleed them dry, cook them and serve their innards fresh for dinner all on the same day.

When will we move beyond this barbaric, arcane ritual?

There is a reason why the act of butchery has been increasingly mechanized and hidden from society. Necessary evil though it is, there is absolutely no need for huge swathes of society to learn to murder a living creature, much less an intelligent creature, and worse, one you have kept and raised in your own home.

There is no need to take a symbolic gesture to such extremes in a world that is much changed from the times when this form of sacrifice was the norm. It is unhealthy for young children, and adults to experience (and perpetuate) violence on an animal.

I’m not even going to get into the nitty gritty of the roots of this ritual and why or why not it can or cannot, evolve into something less brutal. Google knows more than I do on that subject. I’m not going to stamp on it by citing the occasional case of men and women suffering from psychosis who proceed to slaughter their children in the name of God.

I am also not going to talk about how the psychological impact of seeing and inflicting this form of violence on a living creature may or may not be a causal factor behind a society’s desensitization to violence; an individual’s openness to committing further acts of violence; the confusion in a young, developing brain about what is morally right and wrong when it comes to killing; how there is a link between serial killers and a tendency towards torturing and murdering animals at a young age.

No the issue is much, much simpler than all the above if we just wake up from our collective slumber and thinly veiled justifications (of which I expect many in the comments) for an act of terror. Yes I said terror, yes I do eat meat, and yes I think there is little justification for hypocrisy, but must we celebrate it? Venerate it? Call it a wondrous thing?

I’m sorry. I just don’t want my streets running red anymore.

WRITTEN BY:
Nadya V Social critic and part-time gossip monger

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (194)

Nana | 12 years ago | Reply This is a wonder dialogue.Sacrificing is barbaric and plain EVIL. This practice was done in the medieval days, the Jews and Christians practiced it as well but as man grew so did his God ,wisdom and knowledge. Some Muslims are tangled with myths,culture and are shackling themselves with lack of there own spirituality and growth. Inbreeding has stunted spirituality and knowledge. People have become like mice following Pied Piper of Hamelin to there demise yet not question and take there own path. This is ignorance at its worse. I have seen nothing in Pakistan but dirt, filth, corruption and then the right wing fanatics. Why are people not questioning? By the way the meat most eat is Halal? Non of you question yet go on consuming it. Was the animal killed in a human way?Was it pregnant? Does it have a young one? Is it healthy? not killed in front of the other animal ? No trauma before being killed. Killing in a clean and sanitized way. All the above keeps me wondering you all are eating some thing that is haram, not questioning or you all are like mice? What is the difference between slaughter, killing or sacrificing?

??? | 12 years ago | Reply I wonder the writer is a non-muslim

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Zia | 12 years ago | Reply HAHAHHAHA! Though article is quite old, i cannot resist responding to it. So what come next? Women have desires too, why she cannot marry his brother? I have to give credit to the author, you need to have courage to post an article with no insight on subject what so ever.

Jackass | 13 years ago | Reply Well the list o comments is too long for me to read but I must say that you have hit a soar spot here. We also do this every year...but I could never convince myself to use the knife on the throat of whatever we slaughter. I would agree that this should be done in a specific place, okay machines don't do it the right way, the way we are supposed to do it, so a person from the house can take care of getting it done. I read in a comment about a theory that those animals don't feel any pain????? Everybody has seen these when they are slaughtered. Are you trying to give it a reason? Sometime back I read a chain email, where the whole world was bashing those who killed Dolphins on their annual festival, at that time, the pictures of dead dolphins reminded me of thousands of animals slaughtered on the roads of Muslim countries.

Anwar Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply Please end this door-to-door barbaric ritual of animal slaughter.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @SaraJ: With agriculture the issue is " fertilizers". We at Art of living are promoting organic farming, vegetarianism, less use of plastic, Ayurveda, meditation and sudarshan kriya for a healthy mind and body and people have experience a very positive change. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: "We have to create awareness, we are everyday going and planting more trees, creating awareness about plastics, creating awareness in people. To check global warming, more and more people need to turn vegetarian. You know, what they say is even if 10 percent of the population turns vegetarian, 10 percent more; the issue of global warming will be completely gone. The methane that is produced in the slaughter houses is so much responsible for global warming. With the price and the energy spent to produce one pound of meat, you can feed four hundred people. So more and more people should turn vegetarians, and that will bring change in the environment. " Appreciate that you do not consume too much of meat but why not turn completely vegetarian and stop promoting animal slaughter practice on the auspicious occasion of Eid. Many of my Quran follower friends are veggies. Educated people like you with so much of knowledge have a much greater responsibility to save the earth than poor ignorant ones.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply Hey Wahija, all this is not a very direct relation, its a very subtle negative impact, Its not a direct relation where u slaughter someone today and you become a monstrous personality tomorrow. This has to be deeply understood. Of course, when u talk of our ancestors being good people, that's true but this one aspect which involves animal killing is definitely not healthy. Think of it, its very logical. if u sow a mango seed, u will get a mango tree, u will not get some other fruit. what u sow, u reap.. "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" . When u slaughter , u r inflicting pain on the animal and the animal goes through intense fear when its taken to be slaughtered. the vibrations generated are of fear and pain and this hits back in the form of illness in the family, lack of harmony in relationships etc. that's one of the reasons for terrorism in the world. if an animal's throat can be slit without hesitation, its really not very difficult to do the same to humans. Its just going one step ahead. The negative impact will be different on different people as per their positive strenght, but this one act of slaughtering definitely does not support kind and compassionate thoughts and has a deep negative impact.

wajiha | 13 years ago | Reply Well somehow this article seems to be written by a sensitive and soft hearted person who is against this public display of butchery and is concerned about its effects on human mind.but i just wanna ask one question to the person...if u say that this whole public display would leave our children,our new generation to be cruel and heartless, then do u believe the children who have seen all this 30 or say 40 years back are all animals.do we call our parents heartless,insensitive,cruel people?? i think our parents are the most understanding,loving and sensitive people among all other parents around the world for they dont torture our little minds by dragging each other to courts, giving public display of affection( affairs)...and how can one even bring up the issue of psychosis here??? do we have any idea how much these psychiatry problems prevail in west where this ritual does not exist???I wanna know how much psychosis our children develop by watching all those action packed hollywood flicks whom we actually allow them to watch. In the end its important for us to tell our children the real meaning of sacrifice and gratitude.....believe me if they would be well learned they would be the most humble,kindhearted and decent human beings.

Saad Durrani | 13 years ago | Reply The author needs to use Google both sides of the story and should remind herself that if plants live too.

Yo | 13 years ago | Reply booooooooooooo!!

Ali Iqbal | 13 years ago | Reply @ Nikita i disagree with the 5 points from Sai baba. however i respect your belief. please see this link.. Is this the Sri Sai baba youre adhering to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SathyaSaiBaba .. i just need to clear some ambiguity.

Ali Iqbal | 13 years ago | Reply @ Nikita i know youre being respectful.. here is where our difference lies. You are asserting that "his teachings may have a far more deeper essence and people may interpret it according to their pre concieved notions." while i am of the view that his teachings are straight forward and if its a riddle which can have many possible (sometimes contradicting) answers, then i atleast, would have to find something else to follow, or go become an atheist altogether. If its because of drought that he ate meat, he would have conveyed that CLEARLY. my apologies if i said something bad but i think a simple straight forward way of life is being complicated by a higher deeper meaning for which we need another prophet to interpret. @humanity i regret that i chose the wordings 'religion in disguise' . i didnt mean to offend, all i wanted to say was ideas from somewhere else are being mixed up in Islam, which originally originated from hejaz, and creating something belonging to 'made in India/pakistan'. Now to your other replies: Religions are one? you said something correct. many prophets, same message and then we get the last messenger. but dont argue for the sake of argument. this is not what i meant. there is a religion believing in a god which is three forms but is one, one which believes in many gods, then there are those having one god and in buddhism there it doesnt mention god. So if all are the same as of this moment, why is hard for people to convert. why cant we discard our differences. and the reason is that the differences are pretty much fundamental and man made. is it practical to ask answer from within?? Please! i didnt discard critical thinking. instead i propagate it. you tell me, is it logical that if prophet explicitly states something and you say its actually otherwise because your inner self-conscious being tells you otherwise. except from your point about my offending remark (for which i duly apologize ), all other arguments you raised are against something which you PERCEIVE to be my point of view. re read your replies and be sure that all of them(except one) are a shot in the dark. you just missed what i tried to say and steered it towards something else. My final remark: you said "Islam is the complete and final message.". this is my belief too. so if its being diluted with foreign ideologies, then i think someone should speak out. read all the comments of Nikita, if you agree with her then all my replies to you stay void and our difference will remain.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @Ali Iqbal " wandering here and there" this in true sense refers to wandering of the monkey mind .The mind has to be steady in Divinity and realize Unity (divinity) in Diversity. The same divine principle encompasses the entire creation. I am sure you agree here. This is broad vision. "There is only one religion, the religion of Love; There is only one language, the language of the Heart; There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity; There is only one law, the law of Karma; There is only one God, He is Omnipresent." Sri Sathya Sai Baba I think I will put a full stop here as words lack the capacity to express the divine and his teachings, they have to be experienced. It was wonderful getting connected with you spiritually :-)

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @Ali Iqbal: First of all , you have misunderstood, or not have clearly not read what I wrote about the great Prophet Mohhamed. My humble pranams at the prophet's lotus feet. I said that his teachings may have a far more deeper essence and people may interpret it according to their pre concieved notions. The essence of all scriptures is LOVE. Does anybody express love to their children by injuring them. Love is the same everywhere , God cannot desire his creation being cut to pieces except in the period of famine and drought. Flesh eating started from those times.

Milestogo | 13 years ago | Reply One can not argue that one's religion is the true one and rest are false based only on faith. The moment you try to use logical reasoning to support it, Islam without reformation will always fail in the modern world.

Humanity | 13 years ago | Reply @Ali Akram "Question: are All religions one? ans: with all due respect, let me clarify that in the holy book there many times a distinction is made between Islam, people of the book (jew and christians) and non muslims. It is not islam to consider every religion as one and the same. Those who choose to be on islam would like to keep it that way, while still coexisting happily. :) God sent over 124,000 prophets to guide mankind. Now God would not be send his messengers with different and contradictory messages, would He? All religions have a common theme of what to do and what not to do. The mission of the message is to tell right from wrong. Islam is the complete and final message. Those to whom the message did not reach can not be held accountable. The Quran tells us that Allah is the master of the day of judgment. He alone will decide who followed his guidance and who did not. @Ali Akram Question: is it practical to ask answer from within?? In Islam people look towards either the holy book or the prophet’s conduct for guidence or consult learned men who know about the former two. we dont dive into our souls and ask for what should we do with regards to religion, It is highly discouraged in Islam, maybe because everybody will end up on a different conclusion!. what you talk about is your religion, in a disguise ofcourse." God has given us a conscience which is programmed to distinguish between right and wrong. The Quran and the sunnah encourage a human to use the faculties given by Allah to explore and contemplate. When people stop critical thinking, the result is decay and stagnation, as evidenced in the current Muslim population who are in the strangle hold of orthodoxy because they refuse to think for themselves. One should not pass judgment such as "your religion, in a disguise ofcourse". The Quran warns to not offend some one else's faith and belief, because it then gives the other person justification to disparage your religion. So try to think what your own knowledge and belief is .. That is use your mind and do some soul searching!

Ali Iqbal | 13 years ago | Reply @Nikita. thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll definitely look into Sathya Sai. I now understand, almost completely, the idea behind your stance on these issues. But i will tell you again, your knowledge of Islam has been obtained through your superiors, colleagues or second hand sources which is one side of the story, an incomplete story or a lil bit misunderstood story. Anything a muslim considers islam, should be related to in the holy book of ours or it should relate to the Prophet. as an example: that is why while person of any religion can become a buddist while retaining to his faith. but if a muslim becomes buddhist, he no longer remains muslim because of the clear violation of its basic principles, i.e it doesnt come from Qur'an or Prophet. You know, its highly offending when someone say things in Islam can be superficial. well! if they appear to be, Muhammad was there to explain it, and put it into practice. Muhammad's life has been clearly documented. Quran tells us to follow Muhammad, Muhammad tells us to follow his example, we dont see any superficiality there. what you speak of is to circumvent Muhammad which is in itself a violation of quranic orders upon muslims. if you take out Muhammad and you dont obey Quran...... a person can be a hindu or anyone else, but he is not a muslim for sure. I am not advocating what is right or wrong. I am asserting what is Islam and what is not. If you think my case is weak, and the things i have stated are not islam, you can tell me and i'll return with some crystal clear unambiguous non-superficial sayings of the prophet and verses from quran. The concept of God is well defined on our side. we're strictly forbidden not to wander here and there in search of him. It amounts to and leads to something called Shirk(to assoiciate partners), and is deemed the biggest Sin. I am nobody to question anyone's faith but one wonders about the state of muslims in your org. Tell our muslim companions in your org. "If eating meat is cruelty and bad, then this is something your prophet did. Is your prophet cruel". i would love to implore them on this statement. I am sorry but the idea of muslims being vegetarian just because its cruel to eat meat is beyond my comprehension. These things are in contrast HEAVILY.

sara | 13 years ago | Reply Animal slaughter is a cruel ritual, which is rightly acknowledged by the writer in this article. Clearly, anything that involves murdering a living being to satisfy your taste buds is by definition a cruel act. Where the author fails (rather miserably) in this article is in identifying a suitable alternative that would satisfy both the issue of animal cruelty and negative impact on children. The author’s primary concern is animal cruelty, but she fails to offer the logical option of NOT killing animals and of becoming vegetarian. Instead she goes on to say that it is a "Necessary evil…”. In terms of nutritional value, there is nothing unique that animal meat offers. There are hundreds of other food groups that can easily substitute animal meat, which make it a rather unnecessary evil. But I suppose the author, like a lot of other omnivores, can neither give up her meat nor advocate others to do so. The author also discusses the impact on children of witnessing animal slaughter, arguing that the act de sensitizes children to violence. Again, she fails to identify vegetarianism as a suitable and humane alternative to solving this issue. Her solution is to shield the slaughter from society and she leans towards mechanized and sealed slaughter houses (much like in the “developed world). These have a whole range of other ethical and health issues that the author is clearly unaware of. Several books (notably by the brilliant Michael Pollan) have been written on this topic and I would urge the author to read them before writing any more ill informed articles on this subject. Even if we disregard mechanized slaughter houses, I find the concept of shielding interesting because I am not sure if the bigger evil is to desensitize (by slaughtering in the open) or dehumanize (by shielding it). Who is worse off? A child who knows EXACTLY where and how his “boti” is brought to the table or a child who can’t differentiate it from a pack of beans and treats it no differently from one.

MilesToGo | 13 years ago | Reply 1) Kids should not be exposed to the "slaughter" for the same reason one does not expose them to sex. 2) If eating animal meat can be compared with, eating vegetables then it can be compared with eating human meat as well.

SaraJ | 13 years ago | Reply @Nitika I read many of your comments and it seems you are taking up a cause, in your own right. I appreciate that you maintain courtesy in your replies and refrain from expressing yourself in ways that may offend. That said, you may believe "all is one" but I do not. Human sacrifice is altogether another matter (in regards to your comment about Sati). In general, the majority of Muslims do not really eat meat on such a regular basis. Even when consumed, it is in smaller amounts, except on special occasions when special dishes are prepared. Daily diets consist of mostly vegetables rice and bread. As for the adrenaline in the animals system, there is a reason why the blood of the animals is drained from the animal’s body. Adrenaline, along with any other hormones that were released in to the animals system are within the animals’ blood. The act of sacrifice is not prolonged, it is done quickly. We don't chase animals around to incite fear in them before their slaughter. Scientifically extensive agriculture is also a cause for global warming. Scientifically overpopulation is also a huge cause for global warming. Scientifically the burning of fossil fuels is a major cause for global warming. I think there are bigger matters to focus on with regards to global warming and how to slow its effects. Cancer is an overgrowth of cells that can be triggered by anything from genetics to the type of lotion you apply to your skin and how it affects you personally. There are many studies that link cancer to excessive fruit and vegetable intake. This just goes to show that BALANCE is key for a healthy diet. I'm not telling you that sticking to a vegetarian diet is wrong, I'm just saying who really says that a vegetarian diet is the only way? I don't keep my thoughts silent if I think that they need to be heard. My answers do not come from myself, but from Allah and my Prophet (pbuh). So, please give my answer a thought in silence and maybe you can see where I and the millions of Muslims in the world are coming from.

Guest | 13 years ago | Reply Brave Girl, Nadya. Okay so the writer is not a vegeterian, but that does not mean that she cannot write what she perceives objectionable only because she is not (apparently) squeaky clean like all the others who heartily participate in all religious activities not limited to the current one with the most pious, kindest, cleanest and brightest of hearts that only the supreme being can approve of. She has her opinion and has stated it. Live with it as you do with the blood drain.

Sim | 13 years ago | Reply Speaking for myself, It really hurts me to see animals beings slaughtered in public in such barbaric way while hoards of people including kids are around. And just a moment ago, I witnessed a camel being slaughtered live on Madni Channel (You can clearly see lots of kids around them as well). I think such Islamic TV channels must show a constraint while showing voilent scenes like these onces. I will drop keyboard here without going into details what these things imprints on young minds when they see their scholars commenting live on these things.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply And we are all brothers and sisters born from the first parents " Adam and Eve"

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @Ali Iqbal: I am involved with the Art of Living , Sathya Sai organization, Ananda Sangha of Swami Paramhansa Yogananda , these organizations consist of people from all over the world including many Islamic nations and my muslim friends here who are regular namaz readers have turned vegetarians. Ali, if you look at the Hindu religion, its said that Sri Krishna had 5000 wives and there are episodes about his Ras leela with Gopis. There are people who take this as a justification for polygamy and disloyalty towards one's spouse .The Ras leela and marriage with numerous wives as told by enlightened masters is the union of Jeev Atma (man) with the Param Atma (god). I am sure there is something far beyond the superficial meaning of what was told by Allah to Mohhammed. I don't think any one of us was there to hear the communication between them , therefore we should directly link with the divine who is within us. Sitting in silence and reflecting on god will lead us to the right thinking. Iam not misguiding anybody but I strongly propogate that there is only one GOD and all religions lead us to the same Divinity.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @Fahad: I have written enough in my other comments, would request you to go through them. Also on your issue about eating plants- most plants that are consumed, are not killed, its just the fruit of vegetable or leaves that is plucked. it is like cutting hair or nails. few may be uprooted but response to stimuli in plants is very low. Physical pain in plants is not there ,even if its there it is at a very minute level.They do not have a developed heart , mind and brain. These features are most developed in human beings and considerably developed in animals. If you have a pet and observe its behaviour , you will tend to understand. there is a deep science if u start researching unbiased. When you slaughter an animal , whether its for ssacrifice or for eating meat, the animal goes through intense fear (same kind of fear which you and me may go through even if our little finger was to be cut) which causes adranalin secretion, when you consume this meat, it has a very unhealthy effect on the physical body and the mind. This is a major reason why human beings are suffering from so many diseases, like cancer. The intention of serving the poor is definately beautiful, but they poor can be served better by providing rich vegetarian food, lot of milk, ghee , clothing, rather than meat which is not even a healthy intake. Allah professes mercy and compassion and not killing. Turn vegetarian for a month and experience the change, your capacity to think , reasoning power, capacity to be joyful, everything will increase. You will experience a very positive change. Give it a thought with a mind free from egoism and controversies, you will experience that deep inside your and my thoughts are the same :-) Allah Malik.

Ali Iqbal | 13 years ago | Reply @nikita sorry to bother. i have some more points up my head. Question: youre proposing is that we think for ourselves whether God allows such an act upon animals? ans: we consider Quran to be the word of God and its clearly stated in there many times and is exemplified by Muhammad that certain animals can be killed for food and stuff. So the God muslims call upon surely allows such an act upon animals. believing it otherwise is equal to defying the holy book which is not a Muslim kinda act. Question: are All religions one? ans: with all due respect, let me clarify that in the holy book there many times a distinction is made between Islam, people of the book (jew and christians) and non muslims. It is not islam to consider every religion as one and the same. Those who choose to be on islam would like to keep it that way, while still coexisting happily. :) Question: is it practical to ask answer from within?? In Islam people look towards either the holy book or the prophet's conduct for guidence or consult learned men who know about the former two. we dont dive into our souls and ask for what should we do with regards to religion, It is highly discouraged in Islam, maybe because everybody will end up on a different conclusion!. what you talk about is your religion, in a disguise ofcourse. you talk of islam as you know of it quite well.. actually you dont. and if you wanna find out, i implore you to go and correct your sources of info. If anybody find any factual errors above, i'd appreciate a correction.

Ali Iqbal | 13 years ago | Reply Hey Mr. Ganga das, cow is mother, in Hinduism. Bull is father, in Hinduism. with respect but those things dont apply in Islam. we are permitted to eat the meat which has been deemed lawful. we can use the milk, meat skin etc. end of story. @ Nikita. i dont know what faith you belong to but i seriously suggest you correct your sources. besides Quraan we also take into account the sayings and practices of Muhammad into account. And if he permitted it, we consider it as permissible. he slaughtered animals, he sacrificed them on EID and he ate their meat. now you be careful of further slandering. claiming no religion allows meat. guess what, if Muhammad does it, then its Islam and thus we're doing it. you can argue its cruel or not, i'll leave that to you. but stop spreading lies that it aint allowed in islam. moral: dont give false info. slaughtering is allowed in Islam along with eating meat (animal rights however are clearly defined and rules of slaughtering are laid out to minimize the pain inflicted). if you talk about logic, if you want nature. lemme show you nature, look at your teeth. they are omnivorous. you were designed to eat meat and veggies both. if you gonna forbid a leopard eat its rabbit :|. now thats cruel.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @SaraJ Hey, I read your comment to Gangadas, I respect your devotion to Islam and I greatly appreciate that you are kind to animals in general .I am not concerned about this article , its author, their motives etc etc. and there is nothng as my religion or yours.. All is one. Certain Hindus even practice sacrifice of humans as a religious practice, and they have their own logic , can it ever be correct? Can god ever desire such a practice?? The practice of Sati was also a part of Hindu religious practice but does it make any sense if we practice it today?? Moreover , every creature from an ant to a human being have the fear of death, when an animal is taken to be slaughtered, whether it is sacrifice or butchering, the intense fear causes secretion of adrenalin and the intake of that meat causes various diseases and that is why human beings are so prone to diseases especially cancer. Scietifically, non-veg food is a major cause of Global warming.. If we have to save this planet, we must take steps to stop consumption of meat in all possible ways. Please give it a thought in silence and seek the answer from within yourself :-) . Allah is within you as he is within all beings.

SaraJ | 13 years ago | Reply @Ganga das Just as every religion does not permit eating meat, every religion does not restrict the diet to only non-meat products/foods. We do not slaughter lions or tigers etc. because they are not animals that Muslims are permitted to eat. Animals that have died of natural causes are also not permitted for consumption, because one does not know whether an animal may have died from disease. Islam permits consumption of some kinds of meat, but it also teaches about the respect and care for ALL animals. Mistreating (beating, starving, not keeping their stables clean) animals is a MAJOR sin, because they are innocent creatures. When we slaughter an animal, it is only for consumption and we do not kill them for pleasure (ex. people hunt different animals as a pass-time and do not intend the hunting to be for food), which is why we take the name of God before the sacrifice. I respect that you are against the slaughter of animals in general because you are a vegetarian as your religion dictates. Just as you do as your religion dictates, so do the followers of Islam. I do not pretend to understand every aspect of your belief system, so do not pretend to understand our religion when you clearly do not. We are not just "imitating" Abraham as you say. Nobody said they had the qualifications of one of God's prophets. It was commanded of Muslims to sacrifice an animal on this holiday in remembrance of Abraham. You may not approve of the practice of the slaughtering of animals, but seriously if you're going to comment on the holiday itself maybe you should educate yourself about it first before you go flapping your gums.

Mirza Abeer | 13 years ago | Reply Oh so the writer is an atheist as that is what I got from the article which was dumb and rude. If you feel that strongly on this issue than become a Vegetarian and/or write an article about the DAILY BUTCHERINGs which measure in the MILLIONS worldwide instead of pissing people off by attacking their Prophet and Religion and their Holidays. You madam make me both confused and sick. In fact if i dint know any better the article looks like it was written by a hormonal teenager. "When will we move beyond this barbaric, arcane ritual?" Really?????????????????????? Did you use your brain this time or you just wrote the first controversial thing that came to your mind. After all a writer needs hits on their article to earn more but if so then you disgust me as well!

Shaheryar ch | 13 years ago | Reply Have you ever ask at KFC … “hey you butcher, give me a slaughtered chicken whit less mirchi but brutally head cut off ”. .. im sure a very big NO. or Never. So if you kill “domesticated fowl” because you want to eat them, that’s fine. If you kill them because you want to offer them to a Deity (and then eat them), then that’s not fine. If you kill a deer outside of Euless and bring it into Euless to butcher it, that’s fine. If you kill and butcher the goat in Euless as part of a religious ceremony, that’s not fine. we can persuade many people to see the confusion in their own thinking about animal ethics. This, of course, is nonsense. @ Nadya V …..Educate yourself. Besides sacred texts, there are a myriad of books and movies available that delve into other religions. Learn about the major world religions, their belief systems and values, and also learn about lesser known religions. Notice the differences, but pay closer attention to the similarities, most religions will have similar common themes. @ Nadya V .. im not shy to say that again and again it’s just a HOT AIR ideology ARTICLE. You are a Social critic and part-time gossip monger. There are lots other social non religious issues in the society to be yellow lighted. You won’t get fame from these sorts of articles. Thank you @ Rabia Anjum and all of them who like my last comment regarding this HOT AIR ideology ARTICLE. Respect All Religions. ~Quran. Peace

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @Cookie: Hi Cookie, I agree, slaughter of any kind is Barbaric. but killing millions in the name of the lord who is full of compassion and mercy is disastrous. Celebrating someone's pain is tooo evil an act, that too in the name of GOD who is compassion himself. One will only invite suffering by doing so. Its a very simple law, you get what u give. You give pain and u will get pain, if not immidiately some time later in some other form, No religion professes killing. A few hindus also believe in animal sacrifice, these are very orthodox and ignorant people who lack the abiliy o think logically. I pitty them.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @Cookie: Its so strange, u r only worried about cleanliness when there is a much more grave issue " ANIMALS GOING THROUGH EXCRUCIAITNG PAIN" what about the poor creartures.. May god give you guidance and may you WAKE UP from deep slumber .

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @diya: Its no about "minding their own business" you are no minding your own business when you kill animals in the name of sacrifice. will u cut your own finger for a sacrifice, ans will be NO because it pains. u r ready to cut the throat of another living being and thats bcoz u don't feel the pain. rue meaning of Sacrifice is moving away from attachment, attachment to vices like greed and jealousy. killing a poor animal and feasting on it is in no way a sacrifice and such a wrong practice should be condemned , its not about the religion, its just the wrong practice which is condemned. Abrahim did an act of sacrifice bcoz it was important to honour the word of god to at that time. Quran does not mention that all people who are so far away from Abrahim's spritual level, engrossed in their own pleasure day and night are suppose to follow this as a practice. Irrespective of what one's religion is no one has a right to inflict pain on any other creature, they are a part of the environment and have a right to exist as much as u do. All scriptures (including Quran) advocate love and mercy. None support murder. PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP and its important we speak as we do not want our brothers and sisters hindus or muslims being misleaded into wrong practices and bearing the fruits of BAD KARMA later.

Nitika | 13 years ago | Reply @faraz: Yes, you contribute to animal murder when u eat chicken. It is definitely barbaric. But doing this in the name of sacrifice is worse. The lord wants you o sacrifice your vices, ego , jealousy , greed , the lord can NEVER be happy with inflicting pain on innocent animals by killing them in the name of sacrifice . I am sure Quran no where advocates killing animals and you kill millions in the name of the Allah who is ever merciful and then feast on it! Please think logically and decide if you are making Allah happy or the Devil. ALLAH MALIK

Pashmina | 13 years ago | Reply I read your article and at the end when you said about you eating meat suddenly the impact of your article just went cold.

Ganga das | 13 years ago | Reply @Marium Kaludi: Every religion does not permit eating meat.According to the Vedic literature slaughtering/eating cow leads to your own slaughter 'as many times as there are hair on the body of the cow'.The cow is like our mother since we grow big and strong drinking her milk.So it is not very gentlemanly act to slaughter her when she cannot provide any more milk.Similarly the bull is like our father since he works very hard to till the land for crops.However eating meat is allowed after the natural death of the animal.Eating vegetables is permitted since the level of consciousness is not the same as that in a goat or cow.Also we harvest the rice and wheat following the natural death of the rice and wheat plant.Plucking an apple or orange from a tree does not kill the tree.If there is no difference between plants and animal consciousness why not slaughter a child or mentally retarded person who cannot protest.If you are so eager to show your love for God why not slaughter a tiger,lion or a rhinoceros,why choose the poor goat or a cow who are entirely dependent on us for their protection? If God gave Abraham a ram for slaughter that is between God and Abraham.Why do you have to imitate Abraham?Do you have the qualification of Abraham?

Umer | 13 years ago | Reply @sarah Haider: Sanity prevails, Thank you Sarah.

Cookie | 13 years ago | Reply "I’m sorry. I just don’t want my streets running red anymore." They don't need to be. If we don't sacrifice our goats in a clean way, it ain't a fault of Bakra eid.

Cookie | 13 years ago | Reply There ought to be a "dislike" button alongside the "like" button. How can people even allow such articles to be published? It's not based on any kind of research or facts. Just a whimsical, shallow take on something that is so deep and carries such significance in Islam. Slaughter is not called "barbaric" when it occurs behind closed doors of slaughter houses and provides you meat throughout the year, and yet it is, when it happens right before your eyes. Hypocrisy and a completely topsy-turvy, senseless approach to something that is so serious. An article worth reading on Bakra eid is this one, right here: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/2989/bakra-eid-not-just-another-liberal-rant/

Sohaib | 13 years ago | Reply How it is barbaric ? Because it frightens u ? because u "feel" that way ? What moral grounds u have to call it barbaric. I hope nothing. What evidence u have that by seeing it we r being desensitized? I hope nothing. Evidence about how it helps in openness in committing further acts of violence, I hope nothing. U have nothing at all when comes to rationale. Such a dumb analysis, usually I have never seen. In fact I shouldn't call it analysis, its a gibberish lump together just to see if masses react in a positive way, if that happen "tau ho jaye gi ballay ballay". Try to get some depth in knowledge before writing something, hopefully that would help.

Manzoor Chandio | 13 years ago | Reply Eid won't be any fun with out animal slaughter on the streets.

diya | 13 years ago | Reply like ur answer fahad really all people should respect others religion n if they have no knowledge THEY SHOULD MIND THERE OMN BUSINESS

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply agree with Farhan 100%

Farhan | 13 years ago | Reply I am skeptical of the whole notion of Qurbani for non pilgrims. Pilgrisms only pay tribute to Hajra and Ibrahim by mimicking what they were doing some thousands years before. Allah wants people to remember the finest act of these individuals. No point in slaughtering animals the world over. When someone says, you are submitting in front of Allah by slitting open a poor animals neck, you are fooling yourself. Slaughtering the animal has no worship value of its own. All Allah wants is that story of Hajra and Ismail be remembered by asking his Muslims to repeat it once in their lifetimes at the very same place it happened. Period

ubaid | 13 years ago | Reply @Talha: keep ur mouth shut..........if u dont have any knowledge if u have guts then speak up ur mind in front of ur father or the 1 who have knowlegde personally not on blog who r less not knowledgable only............the 1 who is against the rituals of islam is like aginst islam.........

AKA | 13 years ago | Reply One should right about what one knows best. Clearly you don't know much about this. As for it being your point of you and how you feel, it's cool. I feel there are more important things you can right about other then offending one's who believe in this. There are rituals in the world you don't know about. I hope the next article is not about Marriage being brutal !!

waqas | 13 years ago | Reply Hey all Salam to Muslims please if u ve never been through, then pls. read teachings of islam. What is purpose of this sacrifice. what ALLAH has said is right and all against it is rubbish.

SaraJ | 13 years ago | Reply Wow. You say that you recognize the sacrificing of animals as a necessary evil, and then you describe it as, “inflicting [a] form of violence on a living creature...] You also describe the act as “brutal.” I don’t know where you’ve been getting you misinformation, but the Islamic way of slaughtering animals makes sure that the animal feels the least pain. You may be against a child viewing the act, but think about it. In the times before slaughter houses and meat markets when people had to raise and slaughter their own animals, the act of slaughtering was not traumatizing to anyone. You may say that times have changed, but in essence we are still the same species that lived in previous time. The human psyche does not change because of modern times. In these modern times, many children do not live on farms and do not have constant contact with animals. The act of bringing home an animal and caring for it before it is slaughtered teaches children many lessons that the writer of this article really has not considered. It teaches young children where our food comes from. It teaches children to respect and care for animals. The act of Qurbani will be carried out by the young boys when they are older, why hide the reality from them when they are young? As for your streets running red... really? The last time I checked, most people don’t own a slaughterhouse to sacrifice their animals in private. There’s no need to get overly sensitive about an event that takes place once a year. If you lived in a place where you had to raise your own animals for food, your streets would be running red every other day. Or maybe you would choose to keep your “goat friends” alive and just eat boiled vegetables for the rest of your existence? This article displays the views of a person that is quite mixed up. Slaughtering animals is barbaric and violent, yet you say yourself that you are not a vegetarian? If you are so against the slaughtering of animals (which happens every day in your local butcher shop) then support your views with some action. Become a vegetarian. Or just refrain from writing misinformed and completely amateur articles about subjects that you are not totally clear on.

Anonymous | 13 years ago | Reply @faraz: Ever heard of Halal or slaughtering in Islam?! It is that because of what they are not supposed to cut it in one go. Though throwing the chicken in drum is not related to this and is cruel thing.

Usman Ahmad | 13 years ago | Reply Please don't kill my goat...! alright Baji I won't kill your goat but I have to earn some income on that day...it's the only chance for me to earn thousands in a single day...Be a humanist and not a mean liberal!....Pappu Qasai

sameer zainab | 13 years ago | Reply i think all of us agree that qurbani should be better organised and not be done on streets and roads as it may cause cross contaminations. Besides this i am absolutly disgusted on your choice of words to discribe such a great abadah. If something doesnt seem logical to our tiny brains it does not rules out and become barbaric. Not even google knows better!

Ovais | 13 years ago | Reply if u would have only done some proper research (by research i do not mean googling!!)

N | 13 years ago | Reply To yq, I think all killings are brutal. Whatever way we choose the animal suffers.

yq | 13 years ago | Reply for confused writer of this article.... http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1323977359987 http://hubpages.com/hub/Worlds-biggest-animal-scarificy-cereomony

N | 13 years ago | Reply I like your comments.

Munis Quadri | 13 years ago | Reply What a nonsensical blog entry !

mawali | 13 years ago | Reply It’s a bizarre practice/ritual that has no place in any society even amongst the Muslims. The fact is that it is wasteful, unhygienic and frankly barbaric. Then it is amazing to read comments saying that slitting the throat is less painful form of killing. I suppose someone in Pakistan undertook a survey of all dead animals to see which suffered the most. From bizarre to even more ridiculous! Sacrifice is an old Jewish ritual long given up and taken up by Islam like most other Jewish practices. What kind of God asks anyone to sacrifice his son? Or for that matter any form of sacrifice. As if to say the sight of blood satisfies the angry God!

Awais Masood | 13 years ago | Reply I really appreciate what Nadya has written. It was courageous and daring. Stop terrorizing and desensitizing our children. And please would people ever pay heed to news that come around every year after eid in which some kids slit each other's throats after watching this ritual. You would find it if you try. It is usually down there at the last page or some less visited inner corners of your newspaper.

Nadia | 13 years ago | Reply Excellent work done, Nadya!!!!! We need to go beyond this barbaric practice and stop playing with blood.

Rabia Anjum | 13 years ago | Reply @ Shaheryar ch Strongly agreed!!!

Rabia Anjum | 13 years ago | Reply Well I think there is nothing wrong with slaughtering, as it is our religious ritual, but there should surely be separate places or slaughterhouses for this puopose, as there are in Western Countries and Saudi Arabia!!!

Niranjan Parikh | 13 years ago | Reply @Fahad: Very thought Provoking.!!!! If one does not apply Religiosity to this article it leads to lot of study why this tradition came into practice and that to in the name of religion. Even in Hindu religion and some other religios similar practice is there may be in different form. Research subject indeed!!!!

sarang latif | 13 years ago | Reply halal animal's are able for kurbani it's right to do a kurbani of halal animal's after death of halal animal what you do with death body will you eat. you don't eat. if you get halal it able for eat

Shaheryar ch | 13 years ago | Reply "Eid-u'z-Zuha" "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is an important religious day celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Hazrat Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Hazart Ishmael (Isma'il) as an act of obedience to Allah , but instead was able to sacrifice a ram (by Allah command). In traditional or agrarian settings, each family would sacrifice a domestic animal, such as a cow, sheep, goat, or camel. The meat would then be divided into three equal parts to be distributed to others. The family eats one third, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor & needy as a gift. Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from Sura 2 (Al-Baqara) ayah ‘196’ in the Qur'an. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a Wajib prayer of two Raka'ah followed by a khuṭbah. I personally feel that this article is base on a very hot air ideology followed by some Irreligious people . who don’t even know what this "Festival of Sacrifice" is all about. who love to eat Nando's , KFC , McDonald's and pizza hut. But they have problems with "Festival of Sacrifice".. This day is the real test when u Qurban your cow or goat or camel, weather you spend even a day with your animal.That feeling is the fundamental of "Eid-u'z-Zuha". Peace.

vikas ranjan | 13 years ago | Reply @Henna Khan Can you name every species that exist on the earth? No, I can not, but then that is ajob for a 'Taxonomist' and a good taxonomist or a good book on taxonomy will be able to list all species. Are there such scholars or books who have knowledge of all 124000 who have to be believed? And these 'scholars' / books do not mention Budha, Mahaveer and Zarathushtra amongst them. Yet you believe in them. Those which have been discovered and those which have yet to be discovered. If by this you imply that I 'believe' in a three legged, four headed, flying dog that can swallow a cow with a single bite 'which is yet to be discovered'. I am sorry to inform you, I DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANY SUCH BEAST. I do not know where did you get this idea from.Can we stick to 'facts' plese. Getting into a debate on 'beliefs' is not going to take us anywhere. The other was their teachings which were based on their followers’ submission of wills I must confess I am a little confused here. Did the 'teachings' come first or the 'followers'? If the teachings came first then they were not 'based' on what the followers did, in fact the follower's behaviour was 'based' on the teachings.

Raheel | 13 years ago | Reply @ writer…the content of the codification of Islam is explained by the ability of the Ulema (it’s not their divine right though) rather than a politician to capture and speak for the community....an effort to initiate debate or evaluate the public opinion on a given issue is good as long as its balanced and objective rather than I am sorry to suggest a peace of mockery such as this and superficial understanding of the issue which is bound to broaden the wedge without reaching to a healthy conclusion…where both parties can learn something from each other……never the less surely you gained some controversy out of it :P I wonder why our writers are so obsessed to establish their image as profane ? @ Henna, i must say it take some effort to draft a logical reply...the lack of contemplative attitude must have struck you. Peace

Henna Khan | 13 years ago | Reply @Vikas Ranjan I apologize for my initial paragraph, I was just trying to straighten your story. Should've thought about that. 1) As far as your question about slaughtering in the streets is concerned, I can answer it on personal basis and can say that we don't, but I don't wanna answer it on personal basis. How many people are there in Karachi, how many slaughter houses are there in Karachi? How many days will it take for all the people of Karachi to slaughter their animals at slaughter houses? You do the maths I, however, already know, more than three days, after which the spirit of Qurbani is lost as it is in this specific month for three specific days. 2) Those Muslims who're complaining about the unhygienic atmosphere afterwards, I wanna ask them a plain question, how many times have they paid cleaners to clean afterwards? Yes, they don't pay coz its not only their problem but of the whole street, but those people, let's say, who're not complaining coz they're ignorant, then why don't the much enlightened people take care of it. 3) Those people who're complaining about its bad effects on children, easy remedy for that, don't let your children get out of the houses. 4) As far as knowing the name of 124,000 prophets, I can only smile at that. Can you name every species that exist on the earth? Yet you believe in them. Those which have been discovered and those which have yet to be discovered. 5) As far as Zarathustra and Buddha are concerned. In Islam every prophets was professed with two main things. One was that they claimed to be prophets, they had to declare it. The other was their teachings which were based on their followers' submission of wills to Allah and to make them a better person. Zarathustra and Buddha both never claimed to be prophets and they never asked their followers to submit to any deity. Their teachings were based upon human philosophy, where both taught to make their followers better people. 6) We're not UAE or Saudi Arabia. We're Pakistan, where for us pressing matters aren't the flow of animal blood, but the human blood down the streets. @Zain Hasan Last time I checked this ritual is mentioned in Qur'an, which is the word of Allah, so according to that explanation, it makes this ritual a religion, or perhaps you have a better explanation for that. And you said earlier that don't see the logic in this ritual, then most people may not see logic in your existence, here yet you exist. After all you're no Einstein or Mother Teresa, heck you're not even Shahid Afridi............

Hamza | 13 years ago | Reply Sacrificing goats is a Muslim ritual so we should not doubt its credibility. Having said that its somewhat insane to celebrate this "spectacle" openly infront of children and be proud of.

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply @Ahmed, Henna Khan and Baber: Aqal kay andhay, blind followers of ritual without religion.

Babar | 13 years ago | Reply waaaooo...... calling Ibrahimic tradition barbaric..... if you eat meat u should be man (in your case women) enough to slaughter it.

vikas ranjan | 13 years ago | Reply @Henna Khan Sorry, your argument is completely lost on me.I care very little about who begat who and who hates who. My limited argument was that right from the beginning, according to available evidence, God has not asked any of his followers to carry out the sacrifice in public/in the streets. In fact, in the Quranic version of the story, there was no stated instruction by God. There was only a dream. And as you know dreams are private in the extreme, Only the dreamer is aware(?) of the contents of the dream. Further, I understand that in places like UAE and Saudi Arabia too there is a prohibition on slaugter on public roads. If you are refuting this please say so. And, in so far as believing in all 124000 'prophets' is concerned. Can you name all of them? Can you say for sure whether Budha was one of them or not, or for that matter Zarathustra.Do you know what they preached?

Henna Khan | 13 years ago | Reply @Vikas Ranjan............. Yes, you're right. You're no authority on Islam. The incident you stated is what Christians and Jews believe it to be like this. We, however, Muslims believe and as Al Qur'an tells us that the son was Hazrat Ismail (Ishmael AS) and not Hazrat Ishaaq (Isaac AS). This is the reason for which the Jews and Christains hold such a great grudge, bias and hatred towards Islam because they believed that newest and last prophet i.e Prophet Muhammad (SAW) would belong to the race of Hazrat Ibrahim's (Abraham AS), from his son Hazrat Ishaq (Isaac AS) as were Hazrat Moosa (Moses AS) and Hazrat Eesa (Jesus AS), but Prophet Muhammad was instead from Hazrat Ismail's (AS) race, he was also the only prophet from his race. And as for Hazrat Ibrahim not being a Muslim, well every prophet is a Muslim from Hazrat Adam (AS) to Prophet Muhammad (AS), and we Muslims can't be Muslims at all if we don't believe in one single prophet among 124,000 (approx)....................:-) @The Article So, what's wrong with the ritual. Allah has asked us to sacrifice and slaughter, does He also ask us to make our kids view it? I remember when I was a child, the children of whole family were strictly forbidden to come out of the houses once the sacrifice started until the meat reached the home. And honestly speaking even then when the girls would take the order to the heart, the boys would sneak out to see the sacrifice. So I should be really proud to say that none of them turned out to be psychopath serial killer?????????? If serial killers were made due to these views of slaughtering, then all the kids of common butchers must have been serial killers. And the Islamic way of slaughtering is the most painless way to slaughter an animal, the automated way is the most painful way to slaughter. For the proof you can read this and its not written by an Islamic scholar.......... http://factoidz.com/facts-about-halal-slaughter/

ahmad | 13 years ago | Reply she is totally insane, people love to slaughter animals in front of there children to revive the incident of Prophet Abraham n Prophet Ismail... You need to have a heart to give away the most favorite thing and ppl purchase animals so that they have some affiliation before slaughtering them in ALLAH's path... I love to do it in street... it is the most exciting moment to see blood + water in your streets turning all red for a day or so..

A | 13 years ago | Reply Zabiha? If that is sliting the throat to let the blood drain then that poster is wrong- the animals suffer horribly!

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply I appreciate all those who are defending the ritual of street slaughter, and trying to relate that with sacrifice. Its really a skill to defend something which is totally wrong from top to bottom but thanks to religion which we Pakistanis often use to make our ollo seedha.

Ahsan | 13 years ago | Reply @Misha: n from where does it come to the market? Just because u put ur head into the sand doesnt mean the reality will change somehow.

Ali Tabish | 13 years ago | Reply the writer is confused. first she says whatever childhood goodness comes at this time for the year then she says about torturing and serial killers? i mean really? she must really set her mind to one thing. then she eats meat and says this is animal torture? zabardast bhui. katal kerke sorry bol do :) you must first understand WHY IS IT DONE then start to bash the reality of HOW IS IT DONE! way to go for animal rights miss nadya! WOOO HOOoo!!

zzzz | 13 years ago | Reply @hammad:

the reason why no muslim country aint in a good shape is cuz of wat u urself said..in those >times they vr d most successful ppl around.

In times of hand to hand combat, maybe being violent (comfortable with killing animals) was useful. In modern world, it doesnt work so well coz of the military technology. The conflict these days is of ideas and culture. Its evolution.

Zain | 13 years ago | Reply Shame on you...this is a very ill-informed, badly written piece...a total waste of time.

hammad | 13 years ago | Reply @ThePatriot: so u think not slaughtering animals will help curb violence??? gime a break...and probably the reason why no muslim country aint in a good shape is cuz of wat u urself said..in those times they vr d most successful ppl around..they dint know where d sun came from but they knew how to manage an empire..nd today we aint successful cuz we dont know how to govern and wat to govern...i see a contradiction within your own statement.. finally,give me a solution...

zzzz | 13 years ago | Reply @Ahmed: Why not just stop the barbaric practice, since it is not mandatory according to many islamic scholars? For people who have gotten used to it , it might be really hard to feel and think otherwise. However please don't subject and raise the NEXT generation (read children) into it, hence continuing with the cycle of torture and hard-heartedness. This can be partly achieved by doing it some place else and not in front of the children. One step at a time. And, the reason some people (for eg the author) continue to eat meat while believing it can be unethical to eat it, is because they were conditioned into eating meat and believing to be very tasty as young children. Everything is conditioning and indoctrination at some level. So, use your reason and heart to pick and choose - what you want the next generation to believe and grow up into.

Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply @ Zain Hasan So Dear we have to rectify the way in which we do it.We have to take good care of hygiene and other stuff.If article would have been about rectifying ways of slaughter then people would have tried thinking about it.People in Mid-East don't do this on roads.The comments are not narrow minded. Articles itself is showing narrow-mindedness and immaturity.If somewhere you find wrong application of any practice then kindly don't blame the practice.Blame the wrong ways which people have adopted.

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply Narrow minded society, all I can say about comments. I think these people have started enjoying this barbaric norm. Note: Sacrifice itself is a noble emotion, Abraham is considered as father of prophets while he is hero in Christianity, Judaism and Islam and that historic sacrifice has no comparison but what we do over roads is not sacrifice at all but BARBARIC practice. I know it is offensive but it is a reality.

Gorgh | 13 years ago | Reply A very pertinent article to learn norms of sacrificing a sacrificial animal and its requirements. However the writter while highlighting the norms of conduct of Islamic ritual so openely in the streets and it effects on young growing child& relegating/causing inconvenience to the normal life of the ppl on the day and there after effecting the atmosphere/enviroment for the inhabitant of the area due to its waste /blood left on the street not taking care of sanitation,drafted away from the actual topic and got involved in denouncing Islamic injunctions for Eid-ul-Adha. It is very appealling that the sacrifice shall be conducted in the early hours of the morning just after the Eid prayer in their respective home/house inside instead of giving a show off that they are rendering a scarificial goat/cow etc on the streets. Causing inconvenience to the ppl and polluting the enviroment in the area for the ppl is forbidden as per Islam.

Salman Saif | 13 years ago | Reply Allah has given us power over animals and allowed us to eat meat, but only if we pronounce His name at the solemn act of taking life. Muslims slaughter animals in the same way throughout the year. By saying the name of Allah at the time of slaughter, we are reminded that life is sacred. there is nothing as such like it is a warfare against innocent animals or something like that, but in fact it is a deed of virtue.

Faraz Khanani | 13 years ago | Reply I so wish I could use some BARBARIC TERMS for the 'respected' gossip monger

Faraz | 13 years ago | Reply A very daring article. The writer has my respect. And the dozen narrow-minded comments 'You know nothing about Islam', well that's to be expected isn't it, with the kind of society we live in.

Fahad | 13 years ago | Reply @Salim Karim Bro, who will eat the broken pieces of your brand new 40inch LCD? Sacrifice does not mean you go ahead and 'kill' animals - Sacrifice is to spend your wealth to feed the hungry stomachs around you. And as you say no meat = no meal, then it is just that time of the year when even those who cannot afford meat, gets to eat meat. You can comment on the way it is being done - although I have no problem when people do it on the streets. I enjoy it man and you should also! :)

Ahmad Mirza | 13 years ago | Reply @The Only Normal Person Here.: WELL SAID .... LOL

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply From the post i get a perception that killing an animal is BAD, therefore we should do it in secrecy... hush! hush!. When you sensitize a kid, its surely bad for him to see a slaughter. In my personal experience, i haven't seen any little cousin of mine getting frightened or getting affected form the ritual because they've been seeing it since before they can remember. There are two sides of a coin. i remember, as a kid, enjoying the big Eid event, learning from it that its normal to kill an animal for food. Same goes now for my little siblings and cousins. They are perfectly normal kids, just living in a different part of the world having different norms. its all about perception in a sense that whose been exposed to which side of the world more. I am definitely not in favor of killing where ever one likes, but that's due to hygienic reasons only.

Rashid | 13 years ago | Reply Seems like Nadya is weak hearted lady :)

Obby | 13 years ago | Reply Aray yaar, jiss ne karni hai dukaano mein jaa k qurbani kero jaa k wahan, why do u call it an EVENT then ??? You just cannot feel the need of this event if FOR ME --> u dont do it by ur hands, try it, when u do it for da first time, ull feel it in ur heart... its sumtin u kept for a week or two, u have a kind of attachment with tht animal, and then u have to sacrifice it for Allah, its not easy atall.. AAnd do it infront of kids, they might find it strange for da first 2-3 times, but after tht they'll undrstand why it is done and most importantly HOW it is done,.. Let it be done in d shops and v'll have more and more people not knowing the concept of this whole event and eventually v'll have to see and comment on stupid articles like these.. !!! No offense.. Anyways "Churriyaan taiz karlo bhaiyoun".. ;)

Arif Kamal | 13 years ago | Reply When will the time come when people who wear pants will follow people who wear pants and people who wear kurta shalwar stop worshiping people who wear pants.

Salim Karim | 13 years ago | Reply Good article and a point that i have been arguing for some time. I dread this time of the year, Yes the only thing to look forward to is three straight days of extra paid leave time but that is all drowned by the smell of fresh blood and the sound of mourning animals that you are subjected to, and please not to mention the body parts lying on road sides. Its not right and I for one cannot believe it to be a sacrifice. How is buying a goat a week or two before, playing with it, feeding it and then butchering it a form of sacrifice in the name of Allah. On the other hand if you were to bring out your brand new 40inch LCD and smash it in the name of god i promise you you will feel the pain of sacrifice more than killing (or witnessing the killing of) an animal that you have no attachment to. The whole idea behind this festival is to prove your faith in god and to be willing to make a sacrifice for him as evidence of your faith, i'm no expert but somehow i fail to see the correlation of faith, sacrifice and (in most cases) a scrawny goat. I see others arguing that one shouldn't eat meat if they hold this view, and i admit I'm one of those for who no meat = no meal. I also hold no special place in my heart for goats but i do believe that butchering goats should be left at meat shops. There is no need to subject children and others alike to the gore.

Adil | 13 years ago | Reply This is a sacrifice for Allah and the sunnah of his prophet. Yes it shouldn't be done out on the streets because of the mess and hygiene issues it creates, but it is an order and MUST be followed. Liberalism has no bounds. We can tear apart all tenets and commandments of Islam. But what we forget is that we have to die one day, be buried in total darkness 6 feet beneath the surface and be answerable to Him for what we believed and did. The world would be a much better place if people kept this in mind.

Dia | 13 years ago | Reply @Marium Kaludi & Vikas, both of you have explained your points very nicely. Cant agree more..

punk-d | 13 years ago | Reply I see the Sialkot lynch mob is online too.

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply Its my third comment here, and I am defending Nadya since start of this post because she said something jisko kehtay hein kay dil kee baat kerdi. Anyways, I am amazed that more than half of the public is unable to understand the main idea of his post, if she had called that Barbaric (which is quiet right) it doesn't mean she had called that Nobel prophet and that historic event, offcource that event and those Prophets are incomparable and their bravery and salivation is unmatchable but try to understand the subject of this post, here she is not talking about the validation of that sacrificial event, here she is talking about the way we celebrate it today. I know namaz is so mandatory for us but what if we pray without clothes? will it be that significant? and if someone calls that nudity will it be the nudity (God forbid) of namaz? We Muslims have proved that we don't want to discuss or talk about our believes and religious conduct, that is another form of extremism, she gave her point of view and many of you called non-Muslim, rubbish and hypocirte. Pakistan isn't the only country which celebrates Eid ul Adha, UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Asia Pacific countries do slaughter their animals on eid every year but they have designated areas for this event where you can go and slaughter your animal instead of insulting it on roads. I don't know how you people can afford to see those ghatiya qasayis torturing innocent animals, tieing them again and again keep slitting their necks till the end point and they usually start skinning them before they die, its almost more than a torture for animal, you wouldn't see such things in slaughter house cause people working there are professionals and they never feel fear for their victims. SO THE BASIC POINT IS, BARBARIC IS OUR CONDUCT NOT THAT NOBEL HISTORY.

Gohar | 13 years ago | Reply Thats a shameful thinking!! if you don't have information, please don't write it Either!

ThePatriot | 13 years ago | Reply @Muhammad: I know you are a religious fellow and don't "believe" in science and "all them fancy book learnin'." but it would benefit you to read a book once in a while. No branch of science claims vegetables feel pain, or pain that can atleast be recorded. they don't have pain receptors to begin with. maybe you saw a tv show or something. The question isn't settled, but as of now, there is no evidence indicating your claim. Another point is sentience, look it up, it's an english word. Animals have it, including us. plants don't.

ThePatriot | 13 years ago | Reply @Hammad: Ofcourse this promotes violence. I don't see how you can possibly say it doesn't. There isn't a Muslim country on the planet that is any decent shape. It's barbaric (so is the entrie meat industry btw) and very outdated. People in those times didn't know where the sun came up from or what germs were, and that's not my opinion, that lies in historical data. To follow this then would atleast be forgiveable, to do the same rituals today is inexcusable and unforgiveable. You can have my tolerance (barely) but you can't have my respect. that needs to be earned.

Gulshad Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply What rubbish you wrote and I wasted my precious time in reading your meaningless write up. Sorry to say but I think you are mentally sick and lacks knowledge in this regard even being a secular.

ThePatriot | 13 years ago | Reply To those who say the Islamic way of slaughter, inlike the rest of the ways, causes 'no pain' to the animal, you know what, let me sit of your neck and run a blade through your throat and let you slowly bleed to death, which comes after hours of torture and humiliation to the animal. Give me a break and get some perspective, ignorance oozes out of your pores.

Ed | 13 years ago | Reply i) Eid ul Adha is NOT meant to be inhygienic because as muslims we know that "Safai nisf eeman hai" (cleanliness is half the faith). ii) Simply because muslims in Pakistan do not observe the heightest standards of hygiene does not equate Eid ul Adha with barbarianism. iii) It is a matter of Faith that the sacrificed animal does not feel the pain and is blessed. The sacrifice is carried out as a show of obedience. There are countless instances where Islam denounces terrorism and violence, and promotes peace, respect, human dignity, human rights, animal rights and even environmental conservation. Taking things out of context has long been the malicious device of the ignorants. iv) In today's play-stationised world eating a KFC Zinger or a Big Mac while blabbering about Animal Rights is easy. Almost as easy as protesting about China's human rights records while turning a blind eye to the human rights violantions in Kashmir or Occupied Palestenian territories, or even better, while watching human forms being blown to smithereens by UAVs thousands of miles away on an LCD screen.

Muhammad | 13 years ago | Reply Oh well next time why don't you write something about vegetables and fruits and how its even worse to rip out those deaf and dumb living things and devour them with or without the goat meat. Don't get me wrong, I see your point, and its pointless!

Danish | 13 years ago | Reply Never have I seen such a wonderful and secular writing in a Pakistani newspaper.......

Maryam | 13 years ago | Reply y in the first place we would hide our "Qurbani" , this Eid is all about Qurbani and understanding the scarifice and meaning of the great act of Hazrat Ibrahim alay salam . children should know and understand the real meaning of qurbani and why it is done, and that is only possible when they will see it happen.

ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply There is way of getting more civilized and stop this unnecessary infliction of blood letting, pain, and suffering of the animals. That is vegetarianism. It is not only healthier but also more ethical. Yes, plants have lives too. But, they don't have a nervous systems complex enough to suffer the way animals do. The idea is to minimize suffering in this word. Note that vegetarianism and nonviolence (ahimsa) is much older than Islam in subcontinental culture. Lets embrace it. best Ahmed

Syed Ali Raza | 13 years ago | Reply Tobah karo Nadya... Hawwww. You cannot blame this Islamic ritual for the Taliban / Alqaida. If that's the case then there were humans thousands of years ago too?? No, It teaches you tolerance and sharing. The meat is diStributed within the social circles God has created for us. Please it is no joke :) May Allah guide you and the rest who hold the religion responsible for the inefficiency of the municipal authorities.

Aliyah | 13 years ago | Reply I agree with Wasio Ali Khan. Since you declared you love chewing the carcasses of dead animals, you apparently aren't concerned for the animals themselves, you're concerned about the spectacle of the event. If you had written an article on that, and the cultural faults in our society, you would have had supporters. Since you decided to go off and base half your ranting against Islam and it's rituals- declaring this Eid barbaric and arcane, you got no support. If you had done some research on Islam, and put the blame on culture instead, you may have come across as a more insightful, professional journalist. But who am I kidding- you're a gossip monger who doesn't need to held responsible for anything because you don't have the guts to use your real name. Do you realize that you're the ONLY writer on here who doesn't use their real name? Since you like to say things you know are offensive just because you enjoy creating a stir, it's very convenient that you use an anonoymous alias. If you write articles for another reason, for making people think, for inspiring people, or just finding people who can relate to you, you failed miserably at that. But if you wanted attention, you got it, so congratulations. and for the record, I can never take you seriously after trashing Fatima Bhutto and lauding Sara Taseer, for actually COMPARING the two. You call yourself a writer? You probably cite Lindsay Lohan as an icon and Christiane Amanpour as a villian.

Mr. B | 13 years ago | Reply If the writer is not a vegetarian, she has absolutely no right in writing this post. Eid ul Azha provides millions of poor people around the world an opportunity to eat something they may only get to enjoy a few times a year. In Pakistan alone, there are millions who can't afford the luxury of eating meat on a daily basis like the writer, and to call this religious act barbaric and arcane is hypocritical and downright silly. And seriously, if the writer claims that Google knows more than her, that's pretty sad.

Ghausia | 13 years ago | Reply @vikas ranjan Ahmadis aren't non-Muslim, they fall into the umbrella term of Muslim, same as Shias do. Let the mullah brigade descend upon me with all its wrath now. :D

Talha | 13 years ago | Reply I would like to narrate an incident from my childhood, in the late 90's on a Eid day, the strongest bull was about to get his head chopped off. We the people gathered as spectators and were anxiously waiting to see the cow getting killed in front of us. The butcher died his legs, pushed him on the floor and started to cut his throat. In a flash the bull undid his rope and got up with his throat half cut. The bull started running with half his head cut off and we started to run after it trying to capture it again so we can taste its meat. Finally he fell and collapsed himself after all that blood loss and the holy ritual was performed. The moral of the story is that we are barbarians.

Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply @ The Only Normal Person Here Those who distorted the image of religion are given title of MULLAH BRIGADE ! Kindly assign a title for those who in the very same manner criticize religion on the basis of their lack of knowledge.People have the right to criticize and believe.But criticism must be there after complete knowledge of that which you want to criticize. I request people to tell me which BRIGADE is this ? Why our critical examination skills become void while identifying this BRIGADE ?

Wasio Ali Khan Abbasi | 13 years ago | Reply An Economist is an authority regarding Economical issues - Difference of opinion might occur. An Engineer is an authority regarding Engineering issues - Difference of opinion might occur A Linguist is an authority regarding word articulation - Difference of opinion might occur An Astronomer is an authority regarding study of stars - Difference of opinion might occur A Historian is an authority regarding Historical Significance - Difference of opinion might occur Therefor, an Islamic scholar is best to respond to your blog - Difference of opinion might occur. Unfortunately I am NOT an Islamic scholar, so one can consider my opinion as another crap thrown in with all the other craps by all those who have no authority on the subject. I, for one, do not have the ability to slaughter an animal. If you must know, I don't have the guts to watch even mild horror movies because the sight and gore of blood make me ill, just like in real life the sight and smell of blood and spilled guts of animals make me want to throw up. But reading your blog (a waste of cyber space and precious time) forced me to add a few bits to clear my opinion. Your thoughts are your own, cherish them until you come across a worthy person who can teach you better regarding Islam. You might change your thoughts then. Pakistan has been an agrarian country with joint-family social structure. Muslims of India, particularly those of Sindh and Punjab, have always slaughtered animals out in the open because few had the luxury of large, closed spaces. It's a tradition that we followed and still follow after independence. We never felt the need to form slaughter houses (except for those who butcher animals as profession on daily basis) and therefor we never did that in Pakistan. Moreover, the housing schemes in majority of the urban and rural centers do not provide sufficient space for slaughter within premises or even if they do, much of the work such as skinning, cutting pieces and, in case of multiple people "Hissaydaar" of the sacrifice, piling and distribution of meat. There is much that can be told to explain the need for slaughter, but it will not put any affect on you. As I said before, I am no Islamic scholar therefor my comment does not hold any value just like the rest of the commenters here of this blog, I do however question your intent of writing this blog. If it is genuine concern for the animals, then I am content with your views and leave you to your grief which you will soon encounter. But if it was for cheap publicity, then I am afraid I don't have any good words for you. I leave you to your "Aimaal" and hope you do better next time.

Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply @The Only Normal Person Here.: Very right Sir ! If those who used religion for their benefits are called Mullah Brigade,then I request people to please tell me which Brigade is this which does not know any thing about religious norms and then criticize the highly respected practices ? Kindly assign a name.If there exist people who represented wrong image of religion then there are also those who attack it daily because of their serious lack of knowledge. Why do we become blind in identifying this Brigade ?

Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply A very ill-informed article.Pardon me ! In the very first place that is not any BARBARIC or ARCANE ritual.Do read its ORIGIN and then have some respect for those who initiated this. There is a certain appropriate way to slaughter the animals.It is the responsibility of parents to keep children in their control and away from where they are sacrificing animal.There are certain manners which people have to adopt regarding sacrifice (Qurbani).You don't have to necessarily become a butcher on Eid Day.Instead you can have one and let him do his work while you keep yourself and your children away if you have problem seeing sacrifice. Blood on streets ? Again if one knows manners,he can slaughter animal and can keep good care of blood and other stuff. Instead of quoting irrelevant information about animal abuse,have you ever considered to know how this was done in the times of Holy Prophet (PBUH) ? Do you know what your Creator commands about sacrifice of animal on Eid day ? I request you to know things from every aspect rather than giving ill-informed articles.

aelia | 13 years ago | Reply badly written

Faraz Khanani | 13 years ago | Reply Ever imagined how many animals cows and goats the world would have if they weren't slaughtered every year? It's just a concept of natural selection with some human involvement. Haven't you ever noticed that when a cat gives birth to four kittens, usually one or two survive and the rest die. The cat becomes pregnant again. And what do u mean by barbaric? You have to zabiha the animals before you can eat it. Do you think you can eat it raw otherwise? Or do you think killing an animal with electric shocks or whatever means is the more 'civilized' way? God as created a balance in the universe. This is the reasons why millions of smaller fish are eaten by bigger ones and so on. The same happens with any other creature. I think people should thoroughly research a topic and compare its scientific, religious and social perspectives, then write about it. You bluntly reject a Divine concept because you are antagonistic might be fine for you, but you should have covered it in a rational fashion rather than writing this random article.

M | 13 years ago | Reply Why cant I view any of the LOADS of previous comments? Or did ET remove them?

Owais | 13 years ago | Reply Just like you do not like the ritual, I do not like you. Just like you cannot make sense out of the ritual, I am unable to make sense out of your rambling, because for you killing the animal is not a problem, celebrating it is. Kill it and eat it. And all is good! Bravo!!

parvez | 13 years ago | Reply Nadya you are an amazing writer. Your blog is not even one day old and you have possibly 67 negative comments, 2 half and half and 1 supporting you. I haven't actually counted but that's the way it looks. I accept the religious significance but the societal aspect of the sacrifice is debatable and I will agree with your views.I do not necessarily agree with your choice of words and mode of expression, but then I put that down to you being Nadya V.

zzzz | 13 years ago | Reply @Noor Muhammad: Allah never wants us to harm animals or kill cattle. Animal sacrifice is only customary (pre -islamic arabic ritual) not mandatory in any way. Al-Hafiz B.A. Masri writes in Animals in Islam (p. 117), that the well-known Sheikh Farid Wagdi wrote, “[T]here may come a day when Muslims shall have to substitute the rite of animal sacrifice with other methods of giving alms.” http://islamicconcern.com/sacrifice.asp

shan | 13 years ago | Reply ok

vikas ranjan | 13 years ago | Reply @MMAli .Non-muslims ever try to create propaganda against Muslims belief. Most of them eat meat but not beef Could you clarify the statement please?Are you saying that Christians, Jews, Ahmadis, Animists,Japanese or Communist Chinese do not eat beef? OR, Do you imply that as they eat beef all of them are Muslims?

Mohammed Ibrahim Qazi | 13 years ago | Reply I partially agree with Nadya for "There is a reason why the act of butchery has been increasingly mechanized and hidden from society" though this ritual is not a mere "religious" legacy of Prophet Abraham perhaps it strings to the populace of social rituals of sacrifice and vigor to enhance the metaphor of social wellbeing in any societal system of justice and welfare for its inhabitants. Sincerely Mohammed Ibrahim Qazi Polticial Aide to Lord Ahmed of Rotherham House of Lords, United Kingdom Parliament Westminster - London

Saad | 13 years ago | Reply this is freaking stupid!!! tomorrow u ll stand up n say "whats da point of gathering all these people for haj?" u dun bend ur religion according to ur thoughts.... i regret even reading this.... u cant questioning your religion like this... its plainly laid.... NOTHING should be dearer to u other than ur ALLAH and his PROPHET... NOTHING = not even ur kids this is where EID UL AZHA originated from.... i feel sorry for u all

Raheel | 13 years ago | Reply come on.... we pay for the animal, we feed the animal we try to keep him and his surroundings clean....then we slaughter with utmost care and we have professionals to do that....then we clean it and cook it in proper fashion..... on the contrary look what is happening in Animal community ...i see every day @ NatGeo Cat Family first of all running after the sweet beautiful Bambi/ Buffalo and Zebra (especially after infant) ....then ripping it apart....and eat while blood is dipping....on top of all the Mr. Lion doesn't even pay for it....and kids watch that all the time....no body call that barbaric...they call it Nature? it's so unfair and very ignorant of you to call this civilized act on human end barbaric...by the way infant sacrifice is not allowed :-) According to Dr. Javaid Iqbal we have conservatives (total rejection) westernized ( total acceptance) and modern Muslims ( reconciling Islam with modern development) you seems to be the westernized one but at least has the decency to keep your cutie pie hypocrisy down… as pointed can’t call that barbaric and still enjoy the meat ?

Someone with knowledge | 13 years ago | Reply Nadya, I really think you should study your religion before writing such rubbish! Express Tribune should not have posted this! It is not barbaric, it is a ritual which we perform as an act for God. And really, unless you're a hardcore vegetarian, you're being overly dramatic about the slaughter. If it bothers you so much, don't watch it. What a disappointed this was!

hello | 13 years ago | Reply hahah this is funny

Ghausia | 13 years ago | Reply 1) Who's forcing kids to watch the qurbani? Tell them the same thing you say when their pet would die under ordinary circunmstances. 2) Wow, hypocrite much? Do you even KNOW where those burgers you adore come from? 3) What USL said. 4) Yeah, once a year sacrifices desensitize people to violence, not bombs exploding and people dying every other week. 5) The streets are already running with blood, or do you not live in Pakistan? 6) Your blogs get dumber and more senseless by the day.

Saba | 13 years ago | Reply I would take you more seriously if you weren't so condescending about the slaughter itself. The ritual itself is Islamic- to declare it barbaric and outdated will get you a lot of well-deserved opposition. If you had stuck to the debate about the WAY the ritual is carried out, you would have had a lot of support, including from me. A lot of support which you lost by declaring that you yourself eat meat. So basically the people who slaughter, clean, prepare, and cook the animals are the barbarians but you are not while you gobble it up while the same animal's blood runs in the street? Like I said, really hard to take you seriously after that because I don't like hypocrites.

CRITIC | 13 years ago | Reply Okay so you are trying to portray that you are one of those misfits in the society who have out of the box thinking and you are from the lot who can bring revolution? Ms.V, I must tell you today that you are one of the many wannabes who are constantly trying to grab attention. You wrote after a long time, so I was wondering why ET looks so clean these days. There are two ways to get popular, either write something outstanding, or write crap. Congratulation on you success, as you have chosen the latter.

Taha Kehar | 13 years ago | Reply I felt this to be a very superficial justification for what has been termed a barbaric act. There are too many contradictions in your piece. Firstly, you're ending suggests that you disagree with this practice as it ruins your streets. And yet, you've presented a heartfelt appraisal of how this Eid provides you with an opportunity to make "goat friends" who you empathize with. Secondly, you are, to some degree, making a mountain of a molehill by connecting this form of slaughter with violent behavior. For most people, this practice offers spiritual well-being rather than the thrill of inflicting control over a harmless creature. There is always a diversity of perspective in these matters and your perspective, in particular, depicts the human nature as cold, ignorant and domineering.

Amer | 13 years ago | Reply Noor Muhammad: Awesome Analysis! I think you would have written a much better blog then Ms. Nadya V. She just seems so confused in her own shell! :) But she's entitled to her own opinion, Vege Burger maybe? or maybe just our own Confused Burger class....lol

Noor Muhammad | 13 years ago | Reply Waaaoo.... great. First you should understand why do people slaughter animals. Why Do People Perform This Act People do this for the sake of religion called Islam. Allah, who is creator of this universe; who also created us;He ordered His followers to slaughter the animal on 10 Zil Haj. I think Creator always have best intention for its creature. In short, this this belief which guides people to do this act. Religious Need The Quran has referred to three objectives which must be borne in mind while offering a sacrifice. Sacrifice of animals constitutes the symbols of Allah’s worship. Offering of the sacrifice is a practical expression of ones gratitude to Allah for His many blessings. Offering of the sacrifice is a declaration of Allah’s greatness and glory. Impact on Economy The religious and spiritual importance of this obligation is paramount; the practice has comprehensive economic implications for the livestock raisers in rural economy. A conservative estimate has put the total number of animals slaughtered in Pakistan in 2007-08 Eid ul Azha, at 5.5 million heads with 2.2 million as large animals (catties and buffaloes) and 3.3 million small animals (sheep and goats). The total value of these animals at the prevalent market price amounted to Rs 80 billion which after adjustment for statistical discrepancies, implied a total direct injections of Rs 70 billion to the rural economy and about Rs 10 billion as the value of the bi-products resulting from fulfillment of this obligation of the practice. Growth of live Stock The classical economists’ maxim of laisez-fair implied, let all men do what their abilities, facilities and market conditions make it natural for them to do. Livestock’s raising is one such classic example of the natural product of the rural economy that corresponds to the natural environmental and infrastructure i.e. their feeding, housing disposal of wastes, cleanliness, attendance requirements etc are well acceded to in the rural environment, and hence rightly expected to sustain and improve life of the rural population. Livestock also serves as one source in which the rural population value their wealth. The current population of the large animals is 54.155 million and that of the smaller ones in 87.976 million. If their current growth, with the obligation of sacrifice is continued, the number of large animals in the year 2012 is projected to be 59.48 million and that of the smaller animals as 97.960 million. If the practice of sacrifice is abandoned in favour of equal amount of alms distribution, then there would be a net addition of 5.5 million head to the large animals and 14 million to the small animals, thereby adding a net 20 million heads to the livestock over the next 4 years. Bi Products The fulfillment of the obligation of sacrifice also produced three major bi products namely animal’s skin, wool and slaughtering services. The market survey revealed the average value of the skin of large animal as 1500 rupees and that of the small animals as Rs 200/- . The average value of raw wool produced was estimated as Rs 50 from small animals. On the average, butcher took Rs 800 for large animals and Rs 400 for small animals for his services. The total value of the bi products has been estimated to be Rs 7205 million i.e. Rs 7.205 billion. In Short The sacrifice of animals at Eid ul Azha has comprehensive fallout for the rural economy. The market is very competitive and the practitioners have greater regard for quality. The deductions made from the study signifies the practical importance of the injunctions of Islam. It has also been point out that the practice is a built in arrangement to stimulate the rural economy and balance the growth of livestock. My Agreement With Your Point Yes, i do agree that this should not be on streets but can be in home & people should not throw blood and other material outside. There should be proper mechanism to collect this garbage or there can be slaughter houses in every town and city, where people can go to slaughter animals. If its still barbaric for you then please don't go outside during this barbaric act. Simple, just close your eyes and don't go outside. :) Why can't we give freedom to people? Imposing your feelings on others is another act against freedom which you might like to enjoy so be patient and be tolerant. Respect other's views, emotional attachments and feelings. I hope this might help you to understand, why is it important ? Cheers :)

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply Wow, please read up on your Islamic history and the fact that it is a compulsory ritual for those who can afford it. I don't like seeing the streets red with blood either so I agree with you that there must be a more hygienic way of dealing with this situation however, do not forget the first and foremost Pakistan's proper name is the ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan and slaughtering cattle is a commandment of Allah.

Shumaila | 13 years ago | Reply I don't have much against the issue of sacrificing animals on Eid - though it does seem barbaric, the huge number of animals given over to slaughter on one day - shudder. But I agree that the way they do it in the streets is just unhealthy, ostentatious and disgusting.

Hammad | 13 years ago | Reply @Zain Hasan: dude the point is not in following wat our ancestors did...u got it wrong!!! its jus a commemorative event establishing how Hazrat Ibrahim was ready to sacrifice his own son! For heaven's sake...its not about slaughtering on the streets or slaughtering in some reserved place..its the ritual which is more important!! perhaps, u shouldn't let ur children pluck tomatoes outa the tomato plant cuz then the tomato dies too...be realistic..and u guys think this brings violence, wat abt the hundreds who die in karachi everyday?? its absolutely amazing how ppl can agree with wat the writer has to say...

Hammad | 13 years ago | Reply strongly disagree....there are other ways of stopping violence..this is no cure to our problems...

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply Yeah don't celebrate .. what billions of people call Eid. It's butchery. Don't celebrate marriage... it's in fact a celebration to submit a gal to a person's needs, It's slavery Don't celebrate Eid after fasting, It's the celebration of abstinence, which is stupid Don't celebrate anything....

USL | 13 years ago | Reply Sometimes I wonder if you write so badly just so your readers could berate you :)

Anon | 13 years ago | Reply You sound awfully smug for someone who eats meat :)

Amer | 13 years ago | Reply @Fahad: I don't live in Pakistan either but I DO understand why it shouldn't be done on the streets. I don't know where you live but have you ever thought why it isn't done in the streets of the UAE or Saudia or Kuwait or Qatar or Malaysia or Canada or the UK or US etc? All of thisThink about it bro.... I have lived in 4 countries out of the ones I named above and I know that it's mainly because of health, safety and hygienic reasons. I don't know about you but I certainly don't like a cow running down the roads of my neighbourhood with half it's head cut off etc. I have seen such scenes in Karachi....

Marium Kaludi | 13 years ago | Reply @Vikas Ranjan Its amazing how a non-muslim can go into the depth of an islamic practice - more than the muslims of today do! Surely nowhere has Allah instructed us to make a public spectacle out of the sacrifice. If only the rich who indulge in 'competitions' as to who sacrifices the more expensive and 'classy' animals can understand this.. And as for what the author says: "how there is a link between serial killers and a tendency towards torturing and murdering animals at a young age." I believe its the responsibility of the parents/elders to educate their children that its the beauty of Islam that even though almost every religion allows its believers to eat meat, Islam instructs us to cause as little pain as possible when sacrificing the animals even! And that mercy and compassion are rather important elements of the religion. The sacrifice shown in this light can only do good.

sarah Haider | 13 years ago | Reply Your write-up is written in such an authoritative tone as if you are trying to impose your opinion over people here. You have already made your points clear in your article that you do not wish people to comment here and link your views to the background of the ritual by continually informing people that your ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT this and that. I think most females do not like to watch the sacrificial ritual so that's a normal thing. Seriously, this article is a total waste of space.

Fahad | 13 years ago | Reply Nadya, and many others who say it should not be done in streets. I think you people have no idea on the volume of slaughter thats done on the first day of eid - I was wondering how can we reserve a place for that. And I do not live in Pakistan but I go there specially for eid-ul-adha - just to enjoy street slaughtering because I think we are not doing anything wrong + we have to do this to fulfill our responsbility so why not do it together with others. Come on guys, there is nothing wrong in it and we love it and we also love the BBQ afterwards. can't wait to go now!! Now haters go on and hate me :)

Aina | 13 years ago | Reply @vikas ranjan: Allah has asked to share it with all. There are clear orders on how to distribute meat among relatives, the poor and needy people.

Muhammad Sarfraz Abbasi | 13 years ago | Reply This crap thrown this article has nothing than mere telling how much my so called burgers are gone away from the religion. They even dont whats the lesson behind the sacrifices that we do on Eid. They dont fast because they believe its outdated, they are anti-veil because they think takes away women freedom. They dont try to learn why these things are suggested to follow by Islam. All they can do, they open up their mouth by using the small brain which think beyond what they have learned through the unIslamic society. My suggestion is simple please, if you claim to be a Muslim than come up with an Islamic perspective, tell one good reason that why this sacrifice make you angry? Tell me that why your love your goat is great than Allah who has created you and your goat and will not seek permission from you when he will decide to take your life. Learn before this life temporary life goes away and new endless life begins..

Areebah Shahid | 13 years ago | Reply Okay one question to the writer and the commentators: SERIOUSLY?? Let's all please grow up about this! Writing a column for the freaking sake of writing it frankly makes no sense! BECOME a vegetarian, stop savoring juicy steaks and may be you'd be taken seriously! Practice what you preach :) Animals are slaughtered almost all across Pakistan in exactly the same way and so you're a traitor to your own cause if you're still eating that meat!! :)

wehshi | 13 years ago | Reply okay, i guess you must be a vegetarian...if your not....where do you think the meat in your "aloo gosht" comes from? or the fillet in your chicken burger comes from? its a natural process of life...God made these animals for the purpose of meat, milk and leather.....get over it, its been happening for thousands of years now. secondly...what kind of "violence"? animals are slaughtered the islamic way..they are Halal...they are not chopped open from the middle...or their brains are not smashed open.....how else should they be slaughtered? seriously!

anonymous | 13 years ago | Reply how sweet and childish argument has made a space in above text. :-)

MMAli | 13 years ago | Reply Non-muslims ever try to create propaganda against Muslims belief. Most of them eat meat but not beef.

Rakhshanda Ali | 13 years ago | Reply This is a very daring article.

vikas ranjan | 13 years ago | Reply @Aina Do you have any knowledge of Islam? and the reasons why the concept of qurbani was introduced? You should be ashamed of calling it a barbaric act while its the most liked and respected actas in front of Allah. I confess I am no authority on Islam, however, the concept predates Islam. In fact it was Abraham who was asked by God to sacrifice his son Issac. Abraham was asked to bring his son to a desolate mountain.Abraham left his servant at the foot of the mountain and only Abraham and Issac went up the mountain, where God spared Issac and provided a ram for the sacrifice.Had God been interested in a public spectacle, he could have asked Abraham to carry out the sacrifice in the city square. I think Nadya V was also making a similar point in pleading,"I’m sorry. I just don’t want my streets running red anymore." Sacrifice by all means, but do it in private as God had asked Abraham to do.

Waqqas Iftikhar | 13 years ago | Reply i like chicken.....and beef....dont like mutton....so you can have the damn goats....

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply wow.. tolerant..

o.izen | 13 years ago | Reply v speechless on how u hav learned 4m ur so call'd socity,u shd hav learnd how,nd y we,Muslims,Sacrifice our lamb nd Goats,one should know his/her roots,4m where it all came,nd y was it so.

Amer | 13 years ago | Reply Nadya, I thought again of what you wrote here and what I said. While I agree that young children should not be the guests of honor in witnessing an animal slaughter and animal slaughter on Eid should be done in a specified area, I don't agree to it being an act of terror. I agree that animal slaughter should be done in a specified area for the hygienic reasons along with the simple reason that there is alot of show off in our society. People like to show off their animals to their neighbours and sometime it seems to the whole city. They don't keep in mind that their neighbours might not be able to afford sacrificial animals etc. In any case, I feel that the sacrific of the animals is for Allah alone and anything that's for Allah should not be advertised to the world with pomp & splendor.

Nonsense Article | 13 years ago | Reply "When will we move beyond this barbaric, arcane ritual?" This so called barbaric and arcane ritual is a part of Islam. And yes Google may know better then you, so google the "advantages" of this day. In the end, I can't give a reason as you have already made up your mind, but what i will give you is a suggestion. Be a vegetarian.

anon | 13 years ago | Reply Hats off for empathy, sensitivity and naivette of the writer. She is feeling sorry for animals in a society where there is hardly any compassion for human beings. My sincere, profound comliments!

Chana | 13 years ago | Reply Good ! At last someone raised the point ! Well, for some time I am living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I was surprised to find out that even in a conservative wahabi society like this, the open slaughter / qurbani in the streets is NOT ALLOWED anywhere here.

Klues | 13 years ago | Reply You know when the take out broccoli from ground they scream too. We should only eat air.

Amer | 13 years ago | Reply Dear Nadya, You are entitled to your own distorted opinion.It clearly shows that you understood nothing of the Quran and why muslims slaughter animals on Eid Al-Adha etc. I think some people in our Burger class like to eat Burgers these days but think they can ignore where the meat comes from!! After I read your blog, I said to my self, what a waste of 5 minutes of my life reading this crap!

Mariam | 13 years ago | Reply This is what you are suppose to do in order to fulfill the sunah, but it would be much better if we have slaughter houses and qurbani can be done there.

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply It is even more disturbing that mostly people are defending street slaughter, it seems that there brains are already satisfied with barbaric norms and they are totally comfortable watching happening in front of them. It is shocking that few people are even calling writer non Muslim as according to them questioning about any so called religious thing means a person is non religious. You people are same as there were Arabs in Prophet's time, believe without logic. You just follow what your ancestors had followed without thinking.

Fahad | 13 years ago | Reply @anonymous (anynymous) "the feeling of slaughtering the goat with your own hands is amazing :)" This is so true! I am sure whoever has experienced that will agree :)

Munazza sami | 13 years ago | Reply Hey Nadiyaa...Do tell me one thing honestly...R U MUSLIM or not?????????

Anynymous | 13 years ago | Reply If at any point you feel the need to move beyond this barbaric, arcane ritual, you can renounce Islam and this will no longer be binding on you. As for the cruelty, this is the best manner to slaughter animals as opposed to automated slaughterhouses. You are free to go down the route of vegetarianism but for me the feeling of slaughtering the goat with your own hands is amazing :)

SUB | 13 years ago | Reply @Dear Mr. Mishra Sir, I hope when you started studying science long before you were educated as a doctor. You may have heard the concept that plants also breathe and are lively beings although in a different way then us humans and animals. Perhaps you should stop eating those poor vegetables also

SUB | 13 years ago | Reply That’s waste of internet space on ET. Write a few stupendous paragraphs and generate comments from readers. Sure it’s no measure for the popularity of the writer or the blog. Only thing I would want to avoid is creating a mess in my street or blocking sewerage

zzzz | 13 years ago | Reply More indepth article about the animal sacrifice of "Eid al-Adha" http://islamicconcern.com/sacrifice01.asp

zzzz | 13 years ago | Reply @Fahad: It is about minimizing violence ( just as it's preferable to kill animals vs humans for good, similarly its better to kill plants than animals. If you eat just ripe fruits then there is no violence, since they are meant to be eaten and their seed spread.) There is a school of thought which believes that according to Al-Quran, vegetarianism is preferable to a meat based diet. The Qur'an, the Hadith, and the history of Islamic civilization offer many examples of kindness, mercy, and compassion for animals. Here is the website http://islamicconcern.com/default.asp

RimShot | 13 years ago | Reply @faraz you may prefer the jhatka style which is decapitating the head of the chicken in one stroke. It is followed by punjabis on the other side of the border. I have'nt had a jhatka chicken so i dont know how it tastes also, i cannot fathom how they drain the blood.

Shahbaz | 13 years ago | Reply How wonder it is living in Muslim society followed the rules implemented by Allah Almighty whilst quizzically describe it is an explicit example of westernize thought and illogical all that what you depict from your so-called concept of bleeding streets........

Misha | 13 years ago | Reply I've taken this stance for a long, long time. Unfortunately in our society, to question anything with remotely religious roots is asking for trouble so I simply make my own stand in not doing it anymore. If I want meat, I can bloody well just buy it from the market.

Realist | 13 years ago | Reply Looks like someone wants to eat Kebabs but does not want to know where they come from. Its a good lesson for kids. "Hey Kids! this is how we make those tasty Kebabs." Personally, I couldn't care less. We are predators. If we make our food our friends, what are we going to eat? What is this? Twilight?

Fahad | 13 years ago | Reply Animal abuse, barbaric act, brutal etc I think you have used everything to describe this festival. But then, do you really know how much care we should take when we offer a cow/sheep sacrifice? There is no abuse at all. It is essential for us to take good care of the animals and then on the day, sacrifice in Allah's path. Okay, coming to reality and on your comment of 'murdering". What we humans are eating are only living things anyway. Fruits and vegetables come from plant and revise your primary science book, yes thank you, they are living things. They breath and feel like all other living things. So you are more brutal eating vegetables because those poor fellows cannot even scream or move when you cut their throat or any other part. And then I am sure you belong to a good family where eating meat is no big thing but don't forget we live in a country where, forget meat, people don't get to eat simple meal everyday. On Eid al Adha, lots of needy people get the chance to eat meat. You have issues in that? (you can go out and enjoy burgers and don't like it when poors get to eat meat). Don't eat animals because they are living things then don't eat fruits and vegetables also (don't eat paper also bacause it comes from tree...well eat plastic - lol - that is a bi-product of oil and you know how oil comes!) So starve and die! Moreover, these animals (cows/goats/sheeps) have short life so they die anyway. And one question to you: every year we sacrifice millions of animals yet the next year we have no shortage and this has been happening for centuries now - the fact of the matter is that you, and me, are just human and we only use about 5-8% of our brain and the Almighty has created us - don't question Allah's judgements and commands. You can never understand - because you (and all of us) are not capable enough. Apologies, if I have hurt your feelings in anyway - but Nadya do some research on this with clear thinking and I am sure, Insha Allah you will get the answer.

Umer | 13 years ago | Reply u r sick ...

Aina | 13 years ago | Reply This is the most stupid thing i have ever read...and regert why i even clicked on this link...Do you have any knowledge of Islam? and the reasons why the concept of qurbani was introduced? You should be ashamed of calling it a barbaric act while its the most liked and respected actas in front of Allah.

Tippu | 13 years ago | Reply good article. it was shocking to see the spectacle. Horror of horrors, kids are a sked to partake in the ritual. Now i fully respect the right of people to slaughter the animals and to enjoy meat (as i do) but to do it in full view on the streets is a bit much i think.

Spam Robot | 13 years ago | Reply @faraz: They do it to drain the chicken of the blood.

Spam Robot | 13 years ago | Reply Are you for real? Probably signs of our time. I can't decide whether we have become soft or hard. Kill them in Iraq and Afghanistan so that we can pump our SUVs in US. This mechanized life if you will has taken us away from the elements and transformed our existence into a virtual sort of world. Animal Abuse???? Do you know all the requirements you need to fulfill to perform this "ritual.?" Have you ever seen what happens in these mechanized slaughter houses? I hope you step out of your life and see the millions of Pakistanis for whom this "arcane,barbaric" practice is part a daily reality. I wonder how many serial killers are we producing......

Naeem Siddiqui, Australia | 13 years ago | Reply Nadya, I agree with you that we now need to be more civilized in celebrating the Eid-ul-Adha, rather then slaughtering animals on streets or on front yard of your house in front of young children its batter to do this in common community centres where only elders can go slaughter their animal and bring the meat at home. Unless you want your kid to be professional butcher; showing all the process of slaughtering, skin removing and butchering to young and innocent minds of children makes no sense to me.

The Only Normal Person Here. | 13 years ago | Reply So you wont give up. Anyways, I dont have to waste my energies much on this write up. Mullah brigade would be coming to get you. All the best.

Dr Dev Mishra | 13 years ago | Reply Do you think the Hindu, particularly the Jain system of belief has a point? Ahimsa, vegetarianism, respect for all living beings. Sushil Kumar, world wrestling champion is a vegetarian. Feast on that. Dr Dev Mishra, UK

Zain Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply Nadya I love you for this article, although your essay would be offensive and indigestible for many people as you know this is an ethnocentric society and they have accepted this barbaric tradition as their religion and an ornament of festivity. Eid ul Adha has been always an disturbing event for me, the philosophy of sacrifice is far behind many people even don't know the actual history of Abraham and his holy son. I am totally agree with you that this encourages our children to be mean with animals and to be cruel with them, but these people have accepted this as a sole expression of their religion. They still love to clap and enjoy when people pull legs of their cows and bulls so that they can slit their necks and start skinning while they bleed. @Faraz: what are you trying to say? the author isn't against slaughtering the point is that public slaughtering isnt psychologically healthy anyway, it isn't something to enjoy and celebrate in front of minors and infants. We eat meat all year long and we knows that this meat comes from slaughterhouses where they slaughter animals daily but that's a designated place for that purpose, there are expert butcher and no body claps there. It disturbs, that's why we are complaining, if you think it is religious, then go and enjoy, maybe it is more important than namaz, zakat, hajj and other mandatory things for you. @Tanzeel: Stop preaching about history of that account, read that article carefully then reply.

Amna | 13 years ago | Reply @Tanzeel: it was a test to see his willingness to comply. hence he wasn't required to follow through. Human sacrifice is not ok. Following Allah's command is. Mind you, I said "Allah's commands". Not people's distorted versions of it.

Amna | 13 years ago | Reply Animals slaughtered the zabiha way feel virtually no pain. There have been studies on this. And I think it is a huge hypocrisy for you to be eating meat and writing columns like this....lets keep killing animals for food...just away from the public's eye....doesnt sound very convincing.

Alina | 13 years ago | Reply @Faraz You cannot sacrifice the animal in a single stroke because that may cauterize the wound and prevent the blood from draining out completely. When their heart continues to pump it will ensure complete drainage of blood. If a specific method of sacrifice has been defined in Islam, don't you think there is a posssibility of a logic behind it? Just a thought.

irfan urfi | 13 years ago | Reply INTRESTING ! its Your point of view !

Tanzeel | 13 years ago | Reply I can't agree more to your thought provoking article on "Feast of sacrifice". I wonder how Islam advocated human sacrifice at that time. Allah would not contradict Himself by ordering Hazrat Ibrahim (A.S) to commit what he prohibited even as a test. Infact It's Satan who advocates evil and vice.

faraz | 13 years ago | Reply What about the poor chicken who are 'murdered' everyday in millions? There is nothing barbaric about animal meat; did you ever feel gloomy after eating roasted chicken. I have just one issue; why do butchers partially slit the chicken's throat and throw it into the drum which produces a disturbing rattling sound for good 5 minutes. Why dont they decapitate the bird in a single stroke?

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