Between form and substance
With beef, cow’s meat, at the centre of controversy more than ever, secular India has been facing much criticism this year for vigilante murders. Few days before this Eid Ul Azha, villagers in West Bengal beat two Muslim cattle truckers to death in yet another incident of lynching in the name of protecting the cow as sacred in the Hindu tradition. This happened despite the fact West Bengal permits cow slaughter, unlike many Indian states, where beef consumption is banned and in some, life sentences are imposed for breaking the law. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi already condemned killings in the name of cow protection, after an incident in which a Muslim teenager was stabbed to death in a train on accusation of possessing beef. ‘A change in people’s attitude, an atmosphere of fear, increasing intolerance and wariness of hate mongering – most Muslims confess that after a spate of mob lynching incidents, there is a sense of being under constant threat.’
As citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Muslims of course, face no such threat. At Eid Ul Azha every year, also called the “Sacrifice Feast”, we, the proud followers of Islam, parade with equal pride cattle carefully bred for the very purpose of sacrifice and sold in the market often for sky rocketing prices. We distribute the meat of the slaughtered animal with great vigour among relatives, neighbours and the needy. We donate the hides for charity. and remember the sacrifice made by Abraham. But by sacrificing the cow in particular, isn’t there a chance that we may hurt the sentiments of1.6pc Hindus living in Pakistan, who as followers of the same tradition as in neighbouring India, may also hold the cow sacred? Well, being Pakistani citizens, they must have accepted the Muslim tradition of slaughtering cows for consumption and also for sacrifice – haven’t they?
“We mend ourselves to the religious and cultural practices of our country,” says Pandit Lal Khokhar of Lahore’s Balmik Mandir, Neela Gumbud. “We as minorities would never miss an opportunity to contribute to our nation. For Pakistan, we are willing to even sacrifice our lives. The Pakistani Hindus respect the beliefs and practices of our Muslim brethren. If we are engaged in prayers at our temple and we hear the Muezzin’s call for Muslim prayers, we immediately stop our prayers out of respect.” Pandit Lal Khokhar answers all my questions patiently to prove unbiased love for his country. But when I ask him about how he would feel if his Muslim neighbours would give the same respect to his religion, by not sacrificing a cow in his vicinity so that his feelings are not hurt, he gets emotional. “In our religion, it is a sin to kill any living being, be it as tiny as an ant. As far as the cow is concerned, we call itgau mata, where mata means ‘mother’, so naturally our reverence for that animal is very high. We fully respect the Sunnat e Ibrahimi and the duty of Muslims to sacrifice animals during Eid Ul Azha. But if our Muslim neighbours show consideration to our feelings in a way you mentioned, it would be a very good omen and we would feel very honoured,” he says.
In an essay titled ‘The politics and economics of cow slaughter’ published recently in an Urdu magazine Fikar -e-nau (New Thinking), the author, Sartaj Khan explored the issue of cow slaughter and argued that it was brought to Pakistan by Islamist organisations arriving from India after partition in 1947. Khan observed: “From the Islamic teachings it comes to the fore that the sacrifice was given of a sheep (by Prophet Abraham in lieu of his son as ordered by Allah). Cow is not born in Arab countries. Therefore, sheep, goat and camel remained the favourite animals for sacrifice.” He added: “Historically, the sacrifice of cows in the Hindu majority areas of the (Indian) subcontinent used to be carried out in cities which were centres of Muslim kings, elites and militaries. However, many Muslim kings outlawed the sacrifice of cows due to political reasons. The Mughal king Akbar is well known among them.”
Some subjects of the former kings still carry on this practice. In Mithi, a small town in Tharparkar district of Sindh in Pakistan, approximately 80 percent of the population is Hindu. “It is a town where Muslims, out of respect for Hindus, do not slaughter cows and where Hindus, out of respect for Muslim rites, have never organised any marriage ceremonies or celebrations during the month of Muharram.” However, this may be an isolated example as it is not a common practice in Pakistan. If we argue that a country with an overwhelmingly Muslim majority population has the right to slaughter whatever animal it likes on the “Sacrifice Feast”, regardless of what a minority population may feel, then a country with an overwhelmingly Hindu majority population also has a right to impose a ban on possession and slaughter of a beast it considers sacred – although it still does not hold the right to kill a human for breaking that law.
When Allah had asked Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his dearest object to test his devotion, Ibrahim could not think of anything or anyone he loved more than his son Ishmael It is the same devotion which is tested on every Muslim, every year – and slaughtering of animals may not necessarily bear testimony to it.
“It is not their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him.” – Surah Al-Hajj, Verse 37
Today, we remain oblivious to the true spirit of sacrifice. Hoarding cattle in over-crowded grounds with lack of food and water supplies, we sacrifice the rights of animals. Enslaving them in confined areas of our homes instead of slaughter-houses for the amusement of our children and for displaying our false pride to others, we sacrifice the rights of our neighbours and we sacrifice the practice of humility. Carelessly disposing the cattles’ remains after their slaughter on the streets and allowing the sacrificial blood to flow in the gutters, we sacrifice our duty as responsible citizens of the nation. Imposing our supremacy as true believers on believers of other faiths and paying no heed to their sentiments, we sacrifice the white oblong of Pakistan’s flag, with which Quaid e Azam had aimed to secure the rights of non Muslims in the country.
Is it too difficult for us to look around and see what others may feel about our religious fervour? Is it difficult to bear a higher cost in sacrificing smaller sized animal, just to be able to respect the religious fervour of others? Is it not possible for us to understand that Eid ul Azha is not about just slaughtering animals, it is about sacrificing what we love most to the Being who created us? Let us search our souls to find what we love the most and then learn to give it up. On this Eid and those in the years to come, let us learn the true meaning of sacrifice, by conceding a part of ourselves.
Qurban is not slaughtering chickens or cows and goats. There are four hundred trillion, ten thousand beasts here in the heart which must be slaughtered. – Bawa Muhaiyaddeen