I am cross-posting this thoughtful post by temporal that was published at the Pak Tea House:
Eid ul Adha is on or around December 19-22, 2007 depending on where you are. Have a safe and happy holiday with your family.
Spare the poor goat or lamb’s life. For those who want to sacrifice the writer please scroll down and read Chapter 22, Verse 37 as translated by Marmaduke, Yusufali, Asad and Usmani: or pick your own copy of the holy Qur’an.
They all talk about your devotion, piety, God-consciousness and taqwa that reaches Him.
Please pause and think.
According to the Hidaya Foundation the cost of one goat/sheep is $100 in the US. Here in Canada the price varies between $90-100. I am not sure about the price in Pakistan or India.
What I am sure about is only the well wheeled can afford it. The Poor cannot even budget for a kilo of meat a month.
We are carnivorous people. In Karachi and Lahore there is not one decent vegetarian restaurant worth talking about. But I digress.
Is there a better way to spend 50 dollars per eligible person (half of 90 or 100 dollars) or the equivalent in your currency?
A manual or electronic sewing machine for a widow or unemployed poor woman? Tuition Fees or books for a poor student? Some money to ease the days for unemployed people? Medicine or partial hospital bill for a deserving patient?
A friend from Egypt wrote this:
This is what we do most of the time, the price of a sheep here ranges between 1 – 1.5 K Egyptian Pounds we distribute the equivalent of half of that, after all you’re allowed to keep a third of the meet and gift a third to family, so we figured half is good, there is a decent NGO that runs a few homes, one for orphans, one for battered women, one for elderly homeless people, they also help the poor in getting married, by providing some cash and furniture and they do really good stuff in the poor areas,
We can think of many ways to make Him happy and spare the lamb.
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The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 22, Verse 37.
[22:37] Their flesh and their food reach not Allah, but the devotion from you reacheth Him. Thus have We made them subject unto you that ye may magnify Allah that He hath guided you. And give good tidings (O Muhammad) to the good.Marmaduke
[22:37] It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches God: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify God for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right. Abdullah Yusufali
[22:37] [But bear in mind:] never does their flesh reach God, and neither their blood: it is only your God-consciousness that reaches Him. It is to this end that We have made them subservient to your needs, so that you might glorify God for all the guidance with which He has graced you.
And give thou this glad tiding unto the doers of good Muhammad Asad
[22:37] It is neither their flesh nor their blood that reaches Allah, but what does reach Him is the taqwā (the sense of obedience) on your part. Thus He has made them (the animals) subjugated to you, so that you proclaim Allah’s glory for the guidance He gave you. And give good news to those who are good in their deeds. Mufti Muhammed Taqi Usmani
