Eid-al-Adha Is Sheer Religious Conditioning For All Muslims
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
6 July 2022
Muslims
Came Out Of Their Religious Conditioning And Stopped Shedding The Blood Of Poor
Creatures In The Name Of A Bloody Ritual That Ought To Have Been Discarded
Centuries Ago
Main
Points:
1. Qurbani or
Udhiya has an allegorical significance not just in Islam but in all faiths
2. The essence
of sacrifice in Islam is sacrificing what's dearest to the sacrificer.
3. Out of
Allah's 99 major names, 97 names manifest his benevolent attributes.
4. It’s wrong
to think that Allah is happy when you sacrifice a goat, cow, camel or whatever
it's.
“Har Kisi Ko Haq Hai Duniya
Mein Jeene Ka/Phir Woh Insaan Ho, Parinda Ho Ya Ho Charinda "
- Nuzhat Amrohi
Every year
during Eid-al-Adha, my concern and compassion for poor animals increase
manifold as nowhere is Muslims' relationship with meat so obvious as on
Eid-al-Azha (Baqr’eid in the subcontinent).
There's no
use repeating the hoary-old story of Abraham's near sacrifice of his son
(Ishmael or Isaac? - Tabri maintained that it was Isaac, consistent with the
Hebrew Scriptures) and then slaughtering a lamb (Dumba) as per god's
instruction/s.
Since then,
zillions and trillions of innocent animals have been slaughtered to honour a
primitive ritual.
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Qurbani or
Udhiya has an allegorical significance not just in Islam but in all faiths. Hinduism
had the tradition of human sacrifice long ago. It sobered down to animal sacrifice
and today it's by and large, symbolical sacrifice of a pumpkin (that resembles
a head!), though a few temples in Eastern India, Kalighat, Kamakhya (actually
Kamakshya), among others, still allow animal sacrifice.
The essence
of sacrifice in Islam is sacrificing what's dearest to the sacrificer. It's
your life that's dearest to you. So, why don't you sacrifice yourself to please
and pacify an ever-demanding god? Next to your own life is the Ana (ego/sense
of self) that must be relinquished for the sake of your god. And that's too
difficult to drop. When neither can be sacrificed, you make do with poor
animals and slaughter them! This is not just unfair and opportunistic, but also
reprehensible.
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Also Read: Animal Sacrifice
vs. Compassionate Eid: An Open Letter To Our Muslim Brothers and Sisters
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We call the
Creator, All-Love, “Who sees with equal eyes as god of all/ A hero perish or a
sparrow fall “(Alexander Pope). Ironically, we just do the opposite by
slaughtering one of its offspring! How can a loving (!) Allah allow poor
animals to be slaughtered in his name? Out of Allah's 99 major names, 97 names
manifest his benevolent attributes. So, it's wrong to think that Allah is happy
when you sacrifice a goat, cow, camel or whatever it's. This is religious
totemism or 'religio-metaphorical symbolism' (a phrase coined by Sir Carveth
Reid in his Magnum Opus, ' Man and his superstitions ').
Moreover,
animal sacrifice is not obligatory in Islam. Many companions of Muhammad didn't
sacrifice. Muhammad himself extended his love to animals.
Sufi Islam
abhors meat-eating and animal sacrifice even if that be religiously sanctioned.
Sufis like Rabia Basri and Rahim Bawa Mohiyuddin were vegetarians, who
refrained from animal sacrifice on the occasion of Eid- al-Adha. Rumi and his
putative master Fariduddin Attar never sacrificed even a bird. Sufis believe
that all creatures, big or small, have an inalienable right to live and grow.
Such a sublime thought!
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Vegetarian
prince Dara Shikoh convinced his father Shahjahan that animal sacrifice on
Bakrid was just symbolical. Shah Jahan got convinced. But the hard-core Sunni
Aurangzeb became furious.
Swiss
psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung found a connexion between ritualistic sacrifice
and dormant sanguinary instincts of humans. He believed that ritualistic
sacrifice paved the way for violent indoctrination among humans. This cannot be
denied, esp. in these times, when some Muslims are intent on proving their
animal instincts by cutting and pruning throats of Muslims from other sects as
well as non-Muslims in the name of blasphemy and apostasy.
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Also Read: Religious
Falsehood of Animal Slaughter and an Inconvenient Truth about Climate Change
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It's high
time, Muslims came out of their religious conditioning and stopped shedding the
blood of poor creatures in the name of a bloody ritual that ought to have been
discarded centuries ago. But, it's never too late to start, realize and amend.
Don't they say, ' Jab Aankh Khuli Tabhi Savera '? Are 'sane' Muslims
listening or still caught in the time warp with the stubbornness of a mule?
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A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/eid-azha-adha-religious-muslims/d/127416
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