Whether trained, semi-trained or amateur, butchers have pulled their socks up to make roaring business today in the federal capital. The butchers, who are deemed as rare commodities, especially on the first day of Eidul Azha, have received innumerable orders, despite the exorbitant charges for their services. They are charging up to Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200 to slaughter a goat, Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 for a bull or calf and Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 for a camel this Eid, but the money will be well spent if they do the job properly, as paying less to get an amateur may ruin your sacrifice.
At least that was the experience of Mohammad Hamza, a government officer who lives in sector G-10, last year. His sacrificial goat turned out to be pregnant, but the ‘butcher’ did not notice that. Islam does not encourage the slaughter of pregnant animals.
“What kind of a butcher he was who did not know a pregnant animal?” asked Hamza, who could not afford another animal. “This is just another way of making money. “What these people forget is that they will be held accountable by the God and punished.”
In posh sectors, services of professional butchers have been hired on advance payments. The package includes slaughtering of animal, peeling off the skin without any cut and chopping the meat into pieces. They have set different rates for goat, cow and camel slaughtering. They are offering two options to the clients – first is to slaughter the animal at the doorstep of the client on higher rates and the second is that rate will be reduced if the customer brings the sacrificial animal at their shops.
After smelling the lucrative charges of slaughtering sacrificial animals, a large number of seasonal butchers (majority of them of Pakhtun or Afghans) have sprung into action. They have even set up booking stalls at various locations normally in main market (markaz) of every sector. With a view to trap the innocent people, they are offering 50 percent less rates than being charged by the professional butchers.
It has also been observed that a majority of the unemployed youth venture into slaughtering the sacrificial animals and try to gain experience so that they may earn more on next Eid. Sometimes, people who are lured by the low rates offered by the inexperienced butchers, non-availability of skilled ones and in a bid to have an early go for sacrifice, repent for the rest of day.
Shakil Akhtar, a resident of Sector I-10, says people should be wary of the butchers charging too little. He became suspicious when a man he was negotiating with for the slaughter of his animal on Eid went from an opening offer of Rs 2,100 immediately down to Rs 1,000.
“More than 70 percent non-professionals will be operating on this Eid,” Billu Ustad, a butcher associated with the profession for the last 20 years, told this scribe. He said many labourers, who were unable to find work due to Eid activities these days, had also adopted this profession for the time being to earn livelihood. He further said he himself had hired a group of six persons from his native area for slaughtering the maximum number of animals.
Kashif Pervaiz, a resident of Sector G-7, said last year, they had caught several non-Muslim butchers pretending to be Muslims and handed them over to the police. Animals slaughtered by non-Muslims are not considered halal.
Talking to this scribe, a retired government officer Pervaiz Akhtar said, “A new tradition has started in which people get the meat cut, packed and then store it directly in their freezers with no distribution.”
In the next few years, he added, it would become a regular fashion and thus, the true spirit and tradition of Qurbani would fade.
Qari Allah Yar Al-Azhari from the Hajveri Mosque and the affiliated seminary in I-10/2 says amateur butchers not only ruin the sacrifice but are also cruel to the animals. “Islam does not allow the torture of animals, he said. “The neck must be quickly slashed with a sharp knife. Otherwise, the sacrifice is resented (makrooh),” he said.
He added that learning about the traditional Islamic method of slaughtering animals would help people judge proper butchers from amateurs. Qari also condemned those who stored all the meat and do not distribute it into three equal chunks.
He said butchers were the most wanted persons on Eidul Azha. They should act with decency and behave like good citizens with their customers to add to the happiness on the auspicious festival.
