Is Animal Sacrifice Hardwired Condition of Mankind from Ancient Times

By Rashid Samnakay, New Age Islam 12 July 2022 Sacrifice, Animal or Human Has Been Practiced By Mankind from Ancient Times and Seems That It Is Imbedded In Its Genes Main Points: 1- So called higher civilisations of the past from Aztecs to Zion had no qualm for slitting young men’s or young virgin’s throat at the altar of gods and goddesses. 2- The festival, Ghadimai, takes place every five years in Nepal where thousands of animals, are brutally killed with their throats cut with kukri. 3- In some cases the method of slaughtering for Qurbani leaves a lot to be desired. ------ Sacrifice, animal or human has been practiced by mankind from ancient times and seems that it is imbedded in its genes. Even the so called higher civilisations of the past from Aztecs to Zion had no qualm for slitting young men’s or young virgin’s throat at the altar of gods and goddesses. This month thousands of animals, of all sorts, but particularly cattle would be brutally killed with their throats cut with kukri, a curved knife, in the name of the Goddess Ghadimai. This festival takes place every five years in Nepal just across the border of India and Nepal, where throngs of devotees march with their animals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Don’t Let Baqr Eid Qurbani Descend Into Blood Orgy: Let the Qurbani of Eid ul Adha retain its spirituality, celebrating the spirit of Hazrat Ibrahim’s sacrifice ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This happens in spite of legal and religious ban on the practice over the years. Decades ago the number of animals slaughtered numbered in hundreds of thousands, but now it seems the numbers are down to thousands. The cruelty is particularly appalling as the other young and baby bleating animals, calves and kids are not separated to shield them from the blood and gore that they see their mothers and other animals going through! Alas; It is the biggest animal waste, unlike that of Muslim Ritual of Qurbani—Sacrifice in the month of Hajj, where the meat is consumed or distributed and hides sold for profit; the meat in Ghadimai festival is not consumed. However in some cases the method of slaughtering for Qurbani leaves a lot to be desired, in term of the cruel and primitive method adopted, particularly with large animals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Animal Sacrifice vs. Compassionate Eid: An Open Letter To Our Muslim Brothers and Sisters ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychologists have reported that there is an evidence of increased crime rate comparatively among workers in abattoir. This is said to be the result of being immune and desensitised to the sight and smell of rivers of blood and bleating of animals, which once may even have been their pet animal. Thankfully the slaughtering season of Qurbani is over and apart from the normal requirement for meat, that in many cases comes from abattoirs, the large scale worldwide slaughter of animals has come to an end till next year. In view of the increasing awareness, today, on many aspects of this ritual of sacrifice of animal resource, some pertinent questions come to mind, based on the Scripture Quran’s statements and the interpretation of the story related to the Messenger Ibrahim / Abraham and his alleged attempt to slaughter one of his sons, Ismail/Ishmael and or Ishaq/Isaac. Quran states that It was The former and the Bible states the later! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Reflections On Eid Al-Azha: There Is A Victory Mantra In The Battle Of The Sacrifice And The Colour Of The Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is such a well-known story, particularly for Muslims, one supposes, that references from the Book are not necessary here. Suffice it to give a gist for general readership. The story goes, that Ibrahim Khalillullah, the “friend Of Allah” once dreamt that Allah/God asked him to “sacrifice” Ismail in God’s way; which Ibrahim proceeded to accomplish. When Ibrahim laid his son down on the ground to slit open Ismail’s throat, the Devine voice called, stating that he, Ibrahim has fully demonstrated his loyalty to God and so should sacrifice a goat/sheep instead of the son Ismail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Is Universal Animal Sacrifice on Eid ul Azha A Bid’at (Innovation)? Animal Sacrifice Is Not a Pillar of Islam like Tauheed, Namaz, Roza, Haj and Zakat ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This then has become the ritual that Muslims the world over perform to commemorate Ibrahim’s loyalty to God, by slaughtering a cattle, such as goat, sheep, cow, bull and camel. The later large animals are supposed to be enough to cover for up to seven people to go to heaven, whereas the former is only good for an individual. Based on the above simplistic story, the following questions are asked: 1- It is a personal story of Ibrahim Khalillullah. And NOT a divine Message to him as a Messenger to be propagated to Humanity as a whole to adopt the sacrifice Ritual. 2- It was to sacrifice/dream initially. To sacrifice Ibrahim’s son, replaced in action by a goat/sheep. Therefore, even considering that it was a “commandment”, it should not apply to those who have no son. 3- The sacrifice was particularly of goat/sheep. NOT large animals. Hence the ritual slaughter of large animals is a Biddah/ Biddat! It is therefore a case of “they want to be seen” as holier than thou or richer than thou! It is therefore an alteration of scriptures text. 4- Ibrahim’s sacrifice was at Mina/Makkah… if the ritual is to be followed to the letter, only the Hajjis should perform the sacrifice there! 5- The Quran asks for a Hadiya/gift to be sent to the place of hajj to feed the lean, hungry and weary travellers there; NOT to perform in ones back yard for a BBQ! 6- This gift can be of any form, not necessarily an animal. All in all, it seems that this Muslim world Biddah is exactly that, not to forget a huge waste and loss of animal resource. Half the world today hardly gets a square meal a day. This ritual adds enormously to climate change by encouraging graziers to herd more and more animals, degrading arable land and forests and the pollution of production of methane from animal breath. The cruelty subjected to these animals through “live animal trade” is a special case where no major exporting country of animals is immune from, including India, largely a vegetarian country! To sum it therefore, animal sacrifice for Muslims is a Religious innovation and should be discarded promptly, even if the Muslim Churches come out on streets because of their loss of “sustenance” from the sale of hides and skins that runs into millions of dollars for them. ---- A regular contributor to New Age Islam, Rashid Samnakay is an Indian-origin Engineer (Retd.) based in Australia for over forty years. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/animal-sacrifice-mankind-nepal-ghadimai/d/127466 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism