8GRAPHIC IMAGES OF ANIMAL SACRIFICE BELOW - NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED*
A stiff early awakening softened by a pleasant breeze. The atmosphere filled with some of the coolest weather Karachi can offer. The animals perhaps anticipating their fate? On the trip to the mosque for Eid prayers it has already begun. During the course of the day the roads steadily swell up with the blood of animals. The day started with the air smelling of countryside, but is slowly replaced by that of meat, of a slaughter house and later still, the pleasant aromas of cooking.
Every year in the Muslim calender comes Eid-al-Adha which is like an Islamic Christmas, but, in a very Islamic way, it is very violent. Nearly every family sacrifices an animal to commemorate Abraham sacrificing his son which turned into a ram at the last minute. Either cows, goats or camels. A significant portion of the meat is distributed to friends and neighbours and also given to the poor.
I was surprised by my reactions to the animal’s deaths, by my apathy, distress and even enjoyment. The only sacrifice I found significantly distressing was the sacrifice of our own cow; perhaps it was the bond that had been formed over the course of the days prior to its sacrifice, perhaps still it was the fact that I had a direct part in its death – as I held the knife which cut its throat. The other big shock was finding actual enjoyment in the sacrifice of a camel however it wasn’t necessarily the gory killing that I found enjoyable but the whole spectacle surrounding it, the crowd, the commotion and the interest. But perhaps most shocking of all was the cold indifference I displayed to the consecutive sacrifice of seven cows (actually fifty, of which I saw only about seven) in what would be the bovine equivalent to the Hostel film series.
I’m not going to do the done thing, the clichéd reaction and suddenly turn into a vegetarian: I enjoy the taste of meat far too much to do that. What will happen is that I will think a lot more carefully about meat as a biological product; something from a sentient living being that suffers immensely to give us this transient pleasure. It makes me question our whole perspective of meat in both Muslim and Western cultures. Does the former really need to make the animals suffer so much to extract the last drop of blood following an ancient tradition, and does the latter need to confine an animal into an infinitesimal amount of space? And although I commend the modern method of slaughter the animal still suffers enormously before its death.
We are ultimately omnivores, and eating meat has been something we’ve done from time immemorial but perhaps in the modern world we should change our approach, or at the very least our stance. The techniques of both the west and east entail unwarranted amounts pain and suffering. My ideal scenario would be a gigantic island somewhere in the Pacific or Atlantic, full of cows, goats or chickens. All living in gigantic, wild populations (but with lots of space for each animal) and every animal would be killed just before it reaches the end of that particular species' average lifespan. I know this isn't a practical solution but elements of it could be employed! Cant they? Maybe we can only kill animals when they reach the end of their species' average lifespan. There is lots of land out there, especially in places like the USA where you can afford to give animals a hell of a lot more room than the currently have. I also think we should genetically engineer cows to stop farting so as to stop, or at least mitigate global warming.
Although Sacrificial Eid was a fun spectacle, it was also an eye opener. I think Muslims should slowly stop making these sacrifices huge spectacles and show the animal some respect before they begin to consume its flesh. Replace that need for watching animals die with something else, like a good horror film or a David Attenborough Documentary. Although I don't see my attempts at spreading his documentaries around the Islamic world being very successful.
