Pandemic popularises communal sacrifice

With the Zilhaj moon heralding the Muslim festival of sacrifice, scores of people have started thronging the various livestock markets set up across the megacity.

Among them, some are buyers looking to bid on the most expensive sacrificial animal, a few who’ll haggle for the best bet and many who’ll just window-shop.

Either way, the livestock bazaars, despite the impending threat of a fourth viral wave, have started experiencing heavy footfall of tens and thousands, which is likely to increase in the days nearing Eidul Azha.

However, hit by inflation and the crippling socio-economic ramifications of Covid-19, a majority of Karachi’s population has found itself struggling to make ends meet this year. In such circumstances, the financial burden of holy sacrifice is one that many pockets can no longer afford.

According to local cattle trader Kamran Qureshi, two years of battling a pandemic has also taken a toll on Karachi’s livestock market, where animal prices have climbed by 30 to 50 percent. Owing to which, tells Qureshi, the practice of ijhtemai qurbani or communal sacrifice has also peaked by 20 to 30 percent this year, as opposed to the practice of buying separate animals.

“So a majority of our customers this year have been representatives of local mosques, welfare organisations and neighbourhood committees, who buy ten to twenty animals at once and offer joint sacrifice options to people who cannot afford individual animals,” he claimed.

Per Islamic jurisprudence, a single cow, ox or camel has seven portions, which means that the animal can be jointly sacrificed by seven persons.

While goats and sheep, which have only one portion, can only be sacrificed in the name of a single person, but are still available in ijhtemai qurbani schemes for much less the market price. Speaking in the regard, Asif Shaukat, who is the secretary of a local mosque that holds ijhtemai qurbani, said a majority of mosques and seminaries offer two fundamental packages: One where people pay for one or more portion or at times a whole animal and let all the sacrificial meat go to the needy, without taking any for themselves. In the second practice, the meat is weighed and equally distributed among all participants of the joint sacrifice, while the share in the sacrifice is determined after calculating the animal’s purchase price, care, food, butcher’s labor and all other expenses.

“The second package is the most cost-effective and widely practiced in middle-income neighbourhoods. The minimum share in this starts from Rs9,000 and goes up to Rs15,000 or more,” said the mosque secretary.

As of the second day of Zilhaj, most mosques and seminaries across Karachi have closed their bookings for communal sacrifice, while a few neighbourhood committees and welfare organisations are still accepting reservations. In addition to which, certain organisations have also introduced the facility of online sacrifice against the backdrop of Covid-19.

Per Zubair, an IT specialist, the service had previously remained limited to overseas Pakistanis, but various cattle-farms, welfare institutions and mosques have now taken to social media to advertise the facility in Pakistan.

“This is a safer practice and more in line with pandemic protocols. It saves time and energy and allows people to carry out their religious duty without risking their health and safety,” he told The Express Tribune.