No Apologies on Eid Why Animal Sacrifice on Eid-ul-Zuha is an Indispensable Part of Islam

Of late, a new fad has caught the imagination of apologists around the world, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, who are trying to re-interpret the animal sacrifice that marks the festival of Eidul-Zuha as an expression of charity that is more appropriately expressed in money terms in today’s day and age. In their own understanding, this is an attempt to make Islam more compatible with what they perceive to be the demands of the ‘modern’ world. Unfortunately, this fad proceeds on a mistaken understanding of both Islam as well as the ‘modern’ world.

To begin with, let me straightaway disclaim that this is not an attempt to argue with animal rights activists. If you believe that animals are not meant to be eaten and advocate vegetarianism, then all I can do is to quote the Quran where it says “to you be your way and to me be mine” (109:6). Though I will say this in fairness – at least your philosophy is internally consistent and does not contradict itself. But if you enjoy steaks and kababs and naharis all year round and save your animal rights and environmental activism for this one day of the year, then this article is for you. To begin with, I would like to inform you that the processed meat you buy from the frozen foods section of your local supermarket was once a frisky lamb or a fluffy chick that had its throat cut open by a gutka chewing man in a banyaan. I just wanted you to know that.

It is being said that livestock was merely representative of wealth in seventh century Arabia, and that is why animals were sacrificed on this day, and money as the new form of wealth may be given in charity as a modernday replacement of the offering. As an article in The Wire put it, “Real sacrifice requires us to give up some of what is dear to us. Today, the most cherished possession is money”. Again, this proceeds on a completely mistaken understanding of Arabian society at the time of the Prophet. Makkah (Mecca), where Islam was born, thrived in the pre-Islamic period as an important pilgrimage centre that trade caravans from far and wide altered their routes to visit to pay homage and obtain blessings. The Kaaba, said to have been built by Abraham at a spot ordained by God and having embedded in it a stone that had descended from heaven, was a pantheon of gods containing idols of the followers of many faiths and was consequently holy to all of them.

The economy of the city was centred around trade with these caravans and the tribute that the faithful brought to the site. While rearing of animals, particularly camels, was important to the lives of people, it was far from a universal occupation. So, while it is true that livestock was a far more important asset in those days than it is today, it was by no means what the wealth of a person was calculated in. This was not the age of the barter system and money, represented by the dinar and dirham, was very much in vogue. Monetary transactions are, in fact, discussed in several Prophetic traditions. Trade with foreign caravans was in terms of silver and gold, the universal currency. And I am no anthropologist, but I think we can safely say that money was even then a cherished possession. The love for lucre is far from recent.

In fact, the tradition of sacrifice on Eid itself clearly does not presuppose that every person would own livestock, as is evident from the fact that one of the conditions of sacrifice is that one person may sacrifice a goat or sheep whereas seven people may get together and sacrifice a larger animal like a camel, buffalo or cow. If every person was merely sacrificing a part of their own livestock, there would be no question of seven people obtaining shares in one animal to perform a joint sacrifice.

Secondly, and more importantly, Islam has an entire system of charity in money terms known as zakaat, which is one of the five fundamental tenets of Islam. Each year, every person who has money or assets that are unused for an entire year has to give 2.5% of their value in charity. This form of compulsory charity is both denominated in money terms and distributed as such. And zakaat is just one form of charity in Islam. There are many more such as sadaqa which are not bound by any percentage and depend on the inclination of the giver. Just the first 2.5% is zakaat, and for that too, the Sufi saint revered by Indian Muslims and Sikhs alike, Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar has said - there are several kinds of zakaat. Zakaat-e-shariyat is those who spend 2.5% and keep 97.5%. Nobody is generous for giving zakaat-e-shariyat. That is your religious duty and is bound by religious precepts. Spending more than 2.5% is generosity, till zakaat-e-tariqat is when you spend 97.5% and keep 2.5% for yourself. And finally, zakaat-e-haqiqat is those who spend all they have for others and have faith that Allah will look after their own needs tomorrow. There is also a hadees reported by Sahih Bukhari where the

Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said “do not withhold your money by counting and hoarding; spend towards charity as much as you can afford”.

Whether you call it zakaat-etariqat or sadaqa, all of these are Islamic principles that advocate giving up more of your wealth than is mandated towards charity in the hope of pleasing your maker. In fact, even on Eidul-Fitr, the other major annual feast for Muslims worldwide, every Muslim who has wealth in excess of his or her day’s need is required to give zakaat-alfitr, which is 2 or 3 kg of the staple foodgrain of the area or its money equivalent given for every man, woman and child in the household. This charity has to be given before the Eid prayer so that the poor too can enjoy Eid.

So those who feel they have come up with a brilliant new idea not contemplated in Islam of giving money in charity need to first study and understand Islam before they speak. It is abundantly clear that the precept of sacrificing an animal in the Abrahamic tradition exists independently of all other forms of charity that are dealt with at length separately, and cannot be substituted by them.

In fact, the entire set of practices around the Hajj, which Eid-ul-Zuha celebrates, are a re-enactment of Abrahamic traditions. Whether it is circumambulation of the Kaaba that Ibrahim a.s. constructed, offering namaaz at the spot where he prayed after completing the construction, throwing pebbles at the spot where he chased away Satan by throwing stones at him, or sa’ee, which involves running between two hills, Safa and Marwa seven times in honour of the seven times Ibrahim’s wife, Hajra, ran up and down the hills looking for water for her crying son Ismail after Ibrahim left them in the valley upon God’s command. Today, Safa and Marwa are housed within a large building that has been constructed over them with marble floors, air conditioning and water dispensers every few yards. Slaughtering an animal is just the last in this series of Abrahamic traditions around Hajj. If you wish to question traditions for contemporary relevance, may as well question them all. And if you start questioning each of the traditions of Hajj as mindless emulations of a bygone era, then to you be your way and to me be mine.

And this issue is all the more important because it is much larger than just slaughtering an animal. The outcome of vilification of the Islamic faith in popular discourse has reduced educated Muslims to apologists trying to distance themselves from their religious practices or attempting to portray them in a “modern” light in the hope that critics of the faith will be more forgiving of them. The need of the hour is for Muslims to take pride in the precepts of their faith, to first study and understand Islam and then see for themselves what religious practices are about, how much room there is for interpretation, whether there is actually any need to ‘modernize’ and how much controversy is created by ignorance and deliberate misinformation.

No resurrection of a beleaguered community is possible until they begin to take pride in the identity that is under fire and embrace it. Until you take pride in who you are, you cannot command the respect of others. The Jews remained a scattered persecuted lot while they were trying to be invisible. The Sikhs could emerge from the vilification they faced in public discourse during the heyday of the Khalistan movement only because of the pride they take in their Sikh identity. Today, the Muslim identity is under attack more than ever before. A lot of Muslims who have been through the western education system react by expending their efforts in trying to become invisible and effacing whatever makes them stick out. Unfortunately, it seems to take very little for us to start believing that we have risen above our shariyat and are living in times that God did not contemplate when revealing the last verse of the Quran “This day I have perfected your religion for you” (5:3).

Everyone begins by trying to improve upon religion without first understanding it. There is no doubt there are certain practices and interpretations that have crept into Islam that need to be reformed out. But one can never reform that which one does not understand. And if you try, you will merely succeed in distancing yourself from adherents of the faith and will not have their ear even when you are saying something that is actually relevant.