Mumbai: Eid ul Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, one of the most important festivals in the Muslim calender, will be celebrated on Monday. The festival is observed 10 days of the sighting of the Eid ul Adha moon. The festival remembers the willingness of prophet Ibrahim, also known as Abraham, to sacrifice his son, Ismail, when God ordered him to. The festival is also called Bakri Eid because believers sacrifice an animal, usually a goat, to mark the event.
In Mumbai, the municipal abbatoir at Deonar is the largest market for sacrificial animals. Goats with special markings are highly prized. The asking price for one goat brought from Udaipur by dealer Dilip Tel, was Rs 51 Lakhs because the markings on the animal' further resemble the words Allah and Prophet Mohammad which make the animal more precious. This newspaper could not confirmed whether the goat was sold at this price.
Maulana Mohammad Arif, a religious scholar, of explained that the tradition of the sacrifice dates back hundreds of years before the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad, the religion's founder.
"The first sacrifice took place during the time of Adam, the first Prophet who lived around 2500 years before Prophet Mohammad. Prophet Adam had two sons, Qabil and Habil (The Biblical Cain and Abel). Both wanted to marry the same woman. Allah told Prophet Adam that his sons should offer a sacrifice to marry the woman," said Mohammad Arif.
The story ends tragically. Habil, who was a goat rearer, offered a ram as sacrifice. Qabil, a farmer, offered his crops. Qabil's sacrifice was rejected and he killed his brother out of spite.
The sacrifice is done on the first day of Eid or the next two days. Saturday was the most important day of the annual Haj pilgrimage that is taking place in the holy cities of Makkah and Medina.
For many believers, the goat is a metaphor. "Most of each of us has a beloved beautiful child, an Ismail of our own whose life God says we must preserve and cherish. Metaphorically, our loved or personal "child" may also be might, power, glory, possessions, an alter ego, name and fame among others. Can these be sacrificed at the alter of honor for the cultivation of civilizational values to rid our world of poverty by diminishing hunger?," asked Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Director General, Wisdom Foundation and former head of the Department of Islamic Studies, St Xavier's College.
"The Quran says 'Neither the flesh nor the blood of your sacrifices reaches God, but it is the righteous motive underlying them that reaches him'. Can sacrifice of personal benefits amplify measures for a better healthy, safer world? Can the sacrifice of personal resources assist in augmenting a sound education for all, or reinforce a scientific temper?" Ali asked
