Animal Sacrifice on Eid

Eid-al-Adha or Id-ul-Zuha or "Festival of Sacrifice" is an important day to celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to Allah. People around the world sacrifice millions of animals during the month of Eid-ul-Adha to please God.

Sacrifice literally means “enduring the loss of something/somebody”. The act of Abraham can be seen as a spirit of true sacrifice as Ishmael was very dear and close to Abraham and there was certain degree of pain Abraham went through in this act.

Pleasing God by giving up something, which we are not attached to, is merely a joke. Slitting the throat of an animal, bought for few bucks, cannot be a sacrifice, as there is no love and attachment to that animal. It was bought/raised for slaughtering only!

Barbarous killing in the name of Sacrifice

How can Allah, whom we regard as compassionate and merciful, finds pleasure watching a helpless animal being slit with jaws and all four legs tied? Prophet has stated “La taqtolu bil-la iza’a” - if you must kill, kill without torture. He has also said: "There is no man who kills [even] a sparrow or anything smaller, without its deserving it, but Allah will question him about it [on the judgment day]," and "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself".

Holy scriptures mention love and kindness to animals at numerous places:

Quran 22:37 – "Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you…"

Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (4:40) – "For each creature which has a wet heart there is a reward (for showing charity)."

Al-'Ajluni 1:458 - "All creatures are God's dependents and the best among them is the one who is most useful to God's dependents."

Ruthless Transport for Slaughtering

Even if people interpret the holy books and cherry pick the words for their self enjoyment, one of the main consideration of Halal meat is that the animal should be laid on the ground with ease and should not be mercilessly dragged to the place of slaughter. Representatives from PETA have observed the loading, unloading, transport, and slaughter of cows and buffaloes used for meat in India and they found that most meat produced under current standards is Haram and is against the Islamic teachings of kindness to animals. All conscientious Muslims must avoid this because proper adherence to halal methods is blatantly ignored.

Animal slaughter must be prohibited and meat eating should not be practiced in the name of religion. Let's celebrate this holy festival in the true spirit of peace and kindness.

We pray for mercy from God by showing no mercy to others...Disgusting!

Cow Protection in Real Sense

The term “Cow Protection” brings many meanings to many minds based on faith and culture. Some say “why protection”? Some say “why cows, why not polar bear”? Some get involved in this movement without really knowing “what does it mean and why and how should one do it”?

Many believe that humans have souls while animals don’t. So humans are superior and can consume the innocent animals. If GOD wanted us to be superior, he could have made humans survive on stones and woods. Why would He want one of His child (the humans) to butcher His another child (the animals)? How GOD can be a merciful father then? This looks controversial!

All of us know that animals have souls and feelings as we humans do. No animal should be slaughtered. Note that “Slaughtering” and “Killing” is different. One may kill an animal to fulfill a higher purpose but slaughtering is to kill an animal for self enjoyment or whims (like modern science experiments) when there is no such need! Slaughtering does not only mean to personally bring an animal to death but providing resources/facilities/motivation etc in the chain of killing an animal is also slaughtering. So, the owner of an abattoir or a meat eater or an animal seller is also an indirect slaughterer. Further, using products made from animal parts like their fat/blood/skin/bone etc are also increasingly causing animal slaughter. AVOID THEM...PLEASE!!!

We must understand that without agriculture, existence is not possible on this planet (even for meat eaters). So, what is good for agriculture, is good for us. Research in traditional and agricultural science has proved that cow (bull) dung manure is an excellent organic fertilizer and cow (bull) urine is one of the best natural pesticides. Cow milk and its bi products are extraordinarily nourishing to the mind and body which help in spiritual advancement attaining the higher cause for human life. It’s not only for milk, that cow is regarded as mother, but because of the extra love and care she reciprocates with. Hence the motive of cow protection is multi-fold: economic, spiritual and emotional.

Not many people have time and dedication to serve cows physically. They can at least stop using products made from sinless animals. In fact there are better options available if one is little bit compassionate towards them. Cow protection is not only to save cows from butchers but also to take the responsibility to take care of them. What is the point in saving them from merciless killing but leave them for starving or plastic killing. We see so many cows on roads looking for food and shelter, but how many of us have tried to protect them? We think – No butchers there, no protection required!!!