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Do you kill your own goat?

Do you kill your own goat?

How many people do you know that jump on the “qurbani is against animal rights” bandwagon? Are they right, or...

Zahra Peer Mohammed November 08, 2011

Do you kill your own goat?

No

Why?

It’s gross

Hmm… so where do you think your masala ribs come from? An organ donor?

How many people do you know that jump on the “qurbani is against animal rights” bandwagon every year around Bakra Eid?

How many do you know who blindly accept that children being exposed to acts of slaughter has no deterimental effect on them?

Reading the heated debate going on underneath the post “10 things I hate about bakra Eid” inspired me to go out there and shoot some reactions myself.

While those against the practice of animal sacrifice presented “gross” and “cruel” as supporting arguments, those in favour of it had interesting responses.

The sanest voice seemed to be the one that said that the spirit of Bakra Eid is lost on us; there is no bonding with the animal and no real sense of loss minus the hefty price tag that the goat/cow comes with.

How do you feel about the slaughter of cattle in one's home?

WRITTEN BY:
Zahra Peer Mohammed Former Blogs Desk Head and Senior Sub-Editor at The Express Tribune. She is a business graduate from the Queen's School of Business who tweets @ZahraPeer (https://twitter.com/ZahraPeer). She blogs at zahrapeer.wordpress.com

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (43)

Eymaad | 13 years ago | Reply @narayana murthy: and everyone is doing that ONLY KILLINGS mere doost

Ahmed HM | 13 years ago | Reply Silly article. The motive of these 'few' writers is quite obvious. No one is 'killing' or 'murdering' an animal. Islam recommends proper slaughter, including not hurting the animal and covering its eyes and also using a sharp knife. This Eid has a purpose. While the rich and the mod go to Gun Smoke or Arizona Grill for a 700 rupees Steak, this Eid results in poor getting meat which they cannot afford. I do believe that we should get slaughter houses for proper disposal and the streets not turning into flowing red rivers.

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Deloris. | 13 years ago | Reply It's funny how KnNs always gets away with it.

lodhi | 13 years ago | Reply Rich people who can afford are not sacrificing anything as the price of a goat is peanuts for them.The poor need money to pay for the education of their children and to buy the basic necessities of life instead of eating the sacrificial meat. Sacrificing for others is related to one's personality and national culture. The spirit of sacrificing does not imbibe into people by sacrificing animals.

Umay | 13 years ago | Reply Ahh..! Not again...another issue created based on Islamic beliefs. Can we have enough of: "Look! What Muslims are doing..! Even though they've been doing this for centuries and the whole world knows its their religious practice, but today we will make it an issue since everything related to Islam is magnified these days". (for muslims) If the issue is that with what spirit our religion has asked us to perform this sacrifice and how we are doing it then we can talk about how we can guide people or how 'correct way of doing things in Islam' can be regulated...beyond that.we should leave it to Allah & he knows better. But .. Dear Vegies...Please don't annoy the hell out of me by showing that you have a problem with other peoples lifestyle, while we don't. There are some who simply don't like meat ..but don't really have a problem with people's beliefs and then there are bunch of confused vegetarians. Obviously you cant prove God wants you to be vegetarian because humans are omnivorous. Our set of teeth are meant for both eating meat and vegetables, our digestive system is meant to digest both as well. If God wanted us to be vegies, then we would have had a body system of a cattle. And please don't get me started on animal rights bull crap. If animal rights is really your forte.. then please file a petition against KFC, Mcdonalds..etc. you can go on youtube and see how kfc deals with their chicken and I hope u can really do something about the closure of KFC in your country. FYI...the amount of cattle slaughtered in India for the production of leather is far far more than consumed for eating. People living in desert can't grow vegetables, so according to you they must die. And there are zillion of other reason for consuming meat but its useless to argue wit you. So please don't go on talking about something you cant do anything about. Yes, we like meat, we enjoy it..if you don't then don't eat...

Cynical | 13 years ago | Reply There is an animal inside us.It's from our primedorial past. Killing per say will take us to jail. The next best option is to kill an animal who can't defend itself. Als a self imposed sense of superiority (of human beings) over other living beings helps.

lodhi | 13 years ago | Reply There is a need to study the history of religion. The History of God by Karen Armstrong is a good book.The comments show many individuals are brain washed by mythical stories fed by our society.

Cynical | 13 years ago | Reply @abhi Like your down to earth approach.

abhi | 13 years ago | Reply In the desperation people have eaten human flesh also (there are recorded instance in history) so eating animals is no big deal but people giving useless logic about plant screaming and vegetarians not showing compasion to plant life should stop pretending. They can always say they love to kill animal because they love the taste of meat there is no other reason for it.

Anwar Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply The act of Qurbani is a very religious event to pay respect to our prophet for agree to sacrifice his son. The problem is the circus that is created. The hugh animal is paraded on the streets. Cutting is done on a main road to attract the maximum number of people. Videos are made and uploaded on U tube to show the the whole world how Muslims perform a very respectable ritual in such a barbaric way. Qurbani should be done in designated areas with strict adherence to hygeine and cleanliness. THE DOOR-TO-DOOR QURBANI HAS TO STOP.

lodhi | 13 years ago | Reply There cant be any argument on religious beliefs.Can thos friends who have supported sacrifice of animals give some proof that countries where sacrificial animals are slaughtered are better off in human rights adherence ,service to humanity, better judicial systems, and have less gap between rich and poor? Do the people sacrifice their self interests for the down trodden?

hammurabi | 13 years ago | Reply Many views given in favour of sacrifice are religious but are far from ground realities.In practical life we see that the charities and scrifice of ones time and energy has nothing to do with the sacricial animals. Even Abdul Sattar Eidhi is not religious person.In ancient era people assumed that gods would be happy with sacrifices.Its the continuation of the same psyche.

A@SIM | 13 years ago | Reply Dear all, With All due Repsect i would like to Share my Opinion on the ablog Point Wise. A person can never understand the depth of logic we have in doing Qurbani until he studies the Hadith and Quran properly with the guidance of a Teacher.As i never understand the reason of Throwing colors on everybody,tying bands on your brothers hand juts to prove that you are still my brother(Amazing),Even Hindus slaughter in the Name of "BALEE",and very latest in Movie RA-ONE SRK bring it very well ont he Screen That you Burn Down RAVAN because you still thinks that he is Alive.(No Hard Feelings) Qurbani is not something to Show off that how rich you are & how brave you are? I believe that allah Love his Ummat and for that very purpose he make sure to Place DUNBA Instead of Hazrat Ismail (A.S) because allah knew that no one will have the same jazba and strength to place Knife on their own Sons as much Hazrat Ibrhaim(.S) had. so If our Allah is so Much Merciful and loves us alot than its our responsibility to atleast sacrifice goat cow or Sheep to show allah our love for him.I saw people who don't even offer namaz,Fasting during Ramzan etc but they do Qurbani weith a lot of Passion this kind of Qurbani Allah never aacpet from us beacuse its Sunnat not FARZ and we should first start learn to complete our FARAIZ . iam sure that many ppl dun care how much mess they create with all the after Qurbani Blood and Disposal of Offal but we should know that Islam first talks about how to be clean and keep your surroundings clean

Huzaifa Akbar | 13 years ago | Reply Remember how a bandwagon looks like? Well this argument is that group of bandwagons which are grouped together in a circle, beginning and ending on the same bandwagon/point! Everyone's opinion is ... an opinion. If people have certain believes, let them practise those until your civil liberties are not strangled. We do not question the Vegan about their less-healthy practises of eliminating meat consumption and 'harming' plants, hence, they should concern themselves with what relates and involves them. If someone slaughters your goat, then complain!

Ahsan Nisar | 13 years ago | Reply It is one of the rules of Nature that the species that gives the most sacrifice multiplies in number. Have you people ever heard that cows, goats, sheep or camel have become extinct? On the contrary, every now & then, we hear that snow leopards, pandas etc. are becoming extinct. So, whether it is a nation or a group of animals, they are bound to grow in number provided they are willing to sacrifice themselves for a cause. Secondly, ours is a unique religion which begins with the month of sacrifice (Muharram) to mark the event of Karbala and ends with sacrifice as well (Zilhaj). So, the message is clear- apparently an animal is being slaughtered (symbolic manifestation) but in actual Muslims make a resolve to sacrifice every thing in the way of ALLAH, come what may...!!!

shoaib | 13 years ago | Reply My Hindu and Vegetarian friends, plants are living things too last time I checked! What has a carrot done to you to slice and cook it? Point is we are all part of the food chain...and of course vegetarians can and do kill Humans! Not to eat but what is the moral to end life come from if its so enshrined in your eating habits

Aurangzeb | 13 years ago | Reply centuries years ago the argument was "plants are non-living things"... and today the argument has moved to "fruits and vegetables are excretion and unwanted for plants"...coool....next time i gonna see tomatoes get rotten on plants and wait till it fall itself into my basket. its really amusing when vegies come up with their self-opinionated arguments. i love chicken wings, they r unwanted (chicken does not fly), so can i cut and eat them without killing a whole chicken....

Muhibullah | 13 years ago | Reply "How many people do you know that jump on the “qurbani is against animal rights” bandwagon every year around Bakra Eid?" Zero, I suspect that these people all belong to the westernized upper-class. Numerically speaking, they are an insignificant minority and their opinions are irrelevant.

Qarib Mukhtar | 13 years ago | Reply @abhi , plants do scream and shake when cut , or fruit is plucked . DO google a bit.

Qarib Mukhtar | 13 years ago | Reply @hassan , simple experiment , ECG , and EEG shows it. EEG -electro encephalography shows us the electrical signals transmitted by neurons. ECG in case of beheading , silting the throat method , produces a graph similar to the one produced as a result of Hear impairment or heart attack . EEG in this case also , is similar to the one suffering form excruciating pain. In case of halal method of slaughter , the EEG of brain produced is similar to that of an animal in deep slumber. SO , it shows that halal method is less painful. :D

abhi | 13 years ago | Reply @Usama your argument is very lame. Plants have life but the fruits and other parts of plant that are eaten are mostly produced for consumption only. If you pluck some leaves from a plant it will not die. But yes you can make yoursefl happy with this assumption and shutdown your thinking process.

hassan | 13 years ago | Reply @Qarib Mukhtar: " Halal method of salughtering => Immediate brain death resulting in little pain " How do you know it is painless death? Hasn't beheading been our favorite method of killing since 7th century?

Noman Ansari | 13 years ago | Reply "A much closer bond between man and animal." Zarrar, that doesn't sound right dude.

narayana murthy | 13 years ago | Reply @Usama...Plant products like fruits and vegetables (except for root vegetables) are excretion and unwanted for plants. In fact you have to pluck vegetables and fruits for the well being of the plant/tree. And other grains like wheat, dal and rice are reaped only after the plants die and go dry. The only killing of plants occur when you eat leaf and root vegetables.

narayana murthy | 13 years ago | Reply Someone said rightly that you can only sacrifice what belongs to you. The animal's life does not belong to you. So, you cannot sacrifice an animal. If you so desire, sacrifice yourself. This is superstition and vulgarly violent practice - sacrifice of animals, in every religion.

Usama | 13 years ago | Reply All those vegetarians out there must be knowing that the plants they like to gobble up are also classified as living organisms. Plants don't have any 'rights' because the can't move or speak? How rational!

@atif | 13 years ago | Reply Muslims have nothing to fear in india. Nobody is going to harm them for celebrating a festival.infact other muslims are also not present while the animal is sacrifised. I am glad that muslims in india are mature enough to understand that this should not be turned into a spectacle. As mentioned earlier, i am a vegetarian and do not approve of animal slaughter but i appreciate the fact that in india , it does not become a spectacle for people to watch.

atif | 13 years ago | Reply @Nandita: Buddy...i do respect your opinion and love that you love the festival. My sincre thought to u is that they do this because if the do it publically the can be subject to some complications as being muslim we have some rituals which can be painful for hindus as particularly in case of slaugter. So other pple not allowed is clearly understandable. I have my muslim n hindu friends n i have heard a lot of stories from both side ..no disrespect to religion or anyones opinion.

Qarib Mukhtar | 13 years ago | Reply @Vegetarian: Have u ever tried to read anything regarding slaughtering methods? Stun and kill method , adopted all over the world by non-Muslims , other than Jews is extremely painfull . Halal method of salughtering => Immediate brain death resulting in little pain Stund and slit the throat methd = > Causes cardiac impairment , animals dies of extreme pain of cardiac seizure.

Qarib Mukhtar | 13 years ago | Reply The halal method of slaughter is very little painful as compared to stun and slit method. U are actually cutting the Superior vanacava open , blood gushes out , brain death ( animal falls in deep sleep) starts immediately , no feeling of pain any more. In case of stun and kill method , U are actually detaching the head along with spinal cord immediately , which results in cardiac impairment and heart attack , and the last signals the brain receives are of are of heart attack's extreme pain . It has been experimentally proved , using ECG. Halal method = > less pain , deep sleep Stun method => cardiac arrest , hell of pain. P.S => I am vegetarian . And I don't consider it a violation of animal rights.

Kumar | 13 years ago | Reply I am thankful to ishwar,bhagwan for making me born in hindu family. I hated once the guy told him that he enjoyed killing the goat.I asked the same question to a pakistani friend,and he could only justify it with his religious obligation of attachment detrimental for sacrifice !! Every humane,animal life is precious.No allah,god,bhagwan wants to see killing if its not needed. A wild animals needs to kill another animal but we humans should not be killing anything to survive!! I also hate those hindus who do bali of goat to please nav-durga!! Lets stop religious killing of animal!!

Anwar Hasan | 13 years ago | Reply Door-to-door animal sacrifice should be banned. Qurbani should only be allowed in neighbouhood designated areas only.

FAZ | 13 years ago | Reply @saad khan: You are lucky that you "consume" meat daily. In this country alone there are people that dont even get proper food once a day!! One most important aspect of this is to distribute meat to these people so that they also have a chance to enjoy the same luxaries as you have. When we say that Islam is a code of life, it is not just some religious talk done in favor of this religion. It is a fact! In Saudi Arabia the tons of meat produced after Hajj is sent to poor malnourished nations. We on the other hand have totally lost the true essence of this occassion. For us this eid is just spending money on a ridiculously named animal, showing off in the community and slaugtering it infront of a crowd! Then stuffing our belllies for weeks and weeks with meat products and complaining religion about the problems that follow!

Rayhan Khan | 13 years ago | Reply First thing is that there's a difference of killing and sacrificing. Until and unless, we will not understand the spirit of this sacrifice that Prophet Ibrahim(AS) went to perform, it is hard to realize the goodness in this act. We should be thankful for Allah(SWT) that He is giving us an opportunity to perform what Prophet Ibrahim(AS) did. And Those who talk about animal rights, Do they know the birth ration of animals that Allah(SWT) made halal for us? If we were not eating them for years then there will be only animals in this planet and no space for humans. Go figure!

Vegetarian | 13 years ago | Reply Oh my god. What kind of barbarism is it that makes us human pick a knife and murder a goat. What harm did that goat do to you ? Have we become so heartless as to raise a goat carefully with love and then one day brutally murder it ? How can any God want this and still be addressed as being compassionate ? We slaughter these animals in front of our kids and then expect them to be non-violent when they grow up - isn't this unrealistic ? It is very sad to see educated people support such slaughter - perhaps the fact that they all eat meat daily makes it hard for them to oppose slaughter, perhaps their fear of being an infidel in the eyes of God makes it hard to speak out against murder. I can only hope that one day human beings would abandon this blood lust and restrict themselves to a diet without meat.

fatima | 13 years ago | Reply The lady who said that she eats meat but not GOSHT wins...

Shafi Sabir | 13 years ago | Reply

   "You  kill your own goat" is the outcome of a superficial study of the unprecedented event in the history of the human race.It shows lack of insight to appreciate the underlying submission and resilience.Sacrifice is claimed in every walk of life and in every religion and creed even but according to the status of the person from it is desired. Here the person ordered to sacrifice  is not an ordinary person. He is a Messenger of Allah. Allah distinguished him from other prophets by calling him His Khalil.He acted upon the revelations from Allah in dream even. He laid down his 6/7 years old child on the ground to slaughter  him. He put  knife on the throat of his son and applied force execute the order of Allah but the knife did not function.Angle at the order of Allah brought a sheep under the knife in place of the child..Roll played by the child is not less astonishing, He gave his willingness and readily accompanied his father to the altar willingly.
This is the first and the last occasion  and history cannot quote any such  example.More you meditate upon it , more its significance and splendor  will be unfolded.  In view of this fact it has been perpetuated so that this splendid sacrifice may remain fresh in the memory of the man kind till Dome' day. The plea  of Animal rights is also baseless. Firstly the animals have been created to feed the human beings. Secondly innumerable animals are slaughtered every day with out any justification by the upholders of animals rights.

Arsalan | 13 years ago | Reply The report was great but it is against the ethics of journalism that you are collecting views from your staffers' only.

toobahatif | 13 years ago | Reply No one does it for pleasing religion.. Thats freaking bs no one cares about animal rights while eating at KFC, Mc Donalds.. but when it comes to muslims SACRIFICING animals they question our spirit of the whole sacrifice on eid thing.. Stop using these "RIGHTS THING"as tool to attack religion.. It is the law of nature.. its the freaking food cycle .. if animals get the chance to eat us trusy me they wont bother about our rights either.. If one is a vegetarian then it makes sense. But if you're a meat eater and suddenly realize once a year that slaughtering animals on Eid is animal cruelty then its just a load of horse.

Nandita | 13 years ago | Reply there are millions of muslims in india. All of whom celebrate eid but i've never seen such a spectacle. roads blocked or covered with blood with dead animals lying around.The muslims here also do " qurbani " but don't make a spectacle of it.Hindu friends are often invited over. The non vegetarian hindus enjoy eating meat with their muslim friends, and vegetarian hindus like me love the kheer and sevvaiyan. while growing up, the building i lived in had around 6-7 muslim families. While they did " qurbani " no one was allowed to view it. As children, we were never allowed to be present there. And the parking lot where the ' qurbani " was done was cleaned very well. while the qurbani was done, no one ( not even other muslims ) were present. After that, my neighbours would invite us over for dinner or lunch. Although, i am a vegetarian and do not approve of animal killing at all, i really appreciate the way muslims in india celebrate the festival.

Zeeshan | 13 years ago | Reply i think if the roles were reversed and it was humans under the knife on eid the author of this post wouldn't be throwing around the term ''bandwagon'' when describing rights.just becuase they are poor,innocent animals doesn't make it right to brutally kill them to please ourselves that we have earned sawwab and we will go to paradise now.

GarbarGotala | 13 years ago | Reply I second what the girl in green said, WHATS ALL THE DRAMA ABOUT!? eat meat, its such a treat!

saad khan | 13 years ago | Reply it's not about meat consumption.eid slaughter is to satisfy religious beliefs,it's the appeasement of religion.the innocent animals are sacrificed at the altar of religion.they pay the price to make us feel better about ourselves.the normal meat we consume daily is for sustenance,this massive slaughter of millions of animals on one day is due to religion.

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