Eid Mubarak: A Goatless Eid Al-Adha

ARUSHI SHARMA
Mar 6, 2021
3 min read

Festivals mirror the cultural, historical, and religious beliefs prominent to a specific community and give reasons to gather and celebrate with their near and dear ones while simultaneously promoting the continuation of the tradition, passed on by their ancestors. Out of the two Islamic festivals, Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha, the latter, also known as ‘Feast of Sacrifice’, Eid Qurban, or Qurban Bayarami, is celebrated on the 10th day of Dhu Al-Hajjah- the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. The prayers are offered after the rise of the sun entirely and the period before it enters the Zuhr time or the midday prayer time. After the prayer, the Iman addresses the devotees with a sermon, also called Khutbah.

Image 1: Devotees offering prayers

Apart from being a marker of a sacrificial festival, it, most importantly, celebrates the devotion and dedication of Ibraham and Ismael towards God. The recurring dreams of Ibrahim (Abraham) slaughtering his son to please God, are believed to have contributed to the commencement of the festival. After having a long discussion with his son Ismael, who also was a man of God, they concluded that the act of pleasing God should be carried out. But, the process was disrupted by the Shaitan (devil) who in return was shun by the father. After witnessing the whole scenario, Allah sent Jibreel (Angel Gabriel), the Archangel bearing a sheep to slaughter instead of the Ismael. Therefore as the marker of the action of Allah, Muslim people across the globe sacrifice sheep and goats. The meal is then divided equally into three parts which are distributed amongst the family, relatives, and to poor and needy. Even though God does not get the sacrificial meal but what gets through is the amount of devotion with which his children execute the process.

But amidst this critical situation when the whole world is fighting this pandemic, festivals in general and Eid Al-Adha in specific have been adversely affected. Various Indian states implemented various protocols during the 2020 Eid. The slaughterhouses were closed in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with strict vigilance of the state police that prohibited the sale, purchase, and sacrificing of animals in open. Similarly in the Gujarati cities- Ahmedabad and Surat the sacrificing of the animals were not only prohibited in the public place but also in private places that were visible to the public. The Maharashtrian government, under the standard operating procedures for the festival’s guidelines, stipulated the purchase of the animals for Bakri Eid online to avoid crowding at the marketplace. But this online selling created a sense of bafflement and confusion not only amongst the consumers but also the traders, as there was no system to facilitate the large-scale online transportation and the delivery of the goats from the neighboring states. Also, the trucks were being stopped by the police at the borders. Being a residence for India’s largest abattoir, Deonar faced a large loss that further impacted the laborers, traders, and other people involved in the circuit of the same.

Fig 2. The goats getting ready for the Qurbani, amidst the pandemic

According to Intezaar Qureshi, the vice president of the Bombay Suburban Beef Dealer Association, the biggest problem with online selling was the lack of digital literacy amongst the traders that made it difficult for them to set their businesses online. As the result of this inability, these traders were forced to indulge in certain activities that were against the released guidelines. Another vital reason that made this online shopping problematic was the physical absence of customers to inspect the animals. This inspection became necessary because their religion tells them to select a healthy animal for Qurbani.

Hence the pandemic affected not only the market but also a certain tradition with which it was celebrated. In many places, people opted for various creative alternatives to the age-old ritual like donating blood, cutting cakes with a picture of a goat on them, etc.

References

Johari, Aarefa. “A Goat-Less Bakra Eid: Covid-19 Is Dampening Festival Sales across India.” Scroll. in, 30 July 2020.