Ritual of Slaughter
Monday, October 31st, 2011 1:43:57 by Fouad Ashraf
Ritual of Slaughter
Slaughtering of humans and animals to please God can be traced back in ancient times. Three thousand years BC, infants and virgin girls were slaughtered and thrown into River Nile to please ‘God of Floods’ so that The Nile did not flood out to destroy their crop. Prophet Ibrahim (AS) on becoming prophet changed the ritual of slaughtering children and girls and instead preached that even animals could be slaughtered to manifest the act of sacrifice. Among the Muslims, the tradition of sacrifice is connected to the Hajj as obligatory part in the memory of Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) who, in accordance with one narration, on God’s orders had laid his son Ishmael (AS) to slaughter but God immediately sent a lamb instead that changed the tradition of slaughtering children. Just before the advent of Islam, the pilgrims used to bring animals along with their luggage primarily to eat during the course of their stay at Mecca. It was also considered a feast as well as to recall the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim. Hajj in those times used to be a festival, where in young people used to eat, drink and dance. It was also an economic forum for trade activities and traders ‘meetings to exchange goods of interest in coming year. For keepers of the Ka’aba, the festival of this pilgrimage was a great source of revenue that was generated through providing food, boarding, lodging and access to Ka’aba in Meccca. In addition to this, pilgrims also donated handsome amounts of money to owners of the tomb to get their prayers answered.
On advent of Islam the tradition of Hajj was reshaped and was declared as obligatory worship for those Muslims who could afford the travel expenses, once in life time. Early Muslims did cleansing of Kaa’ba by removing all idols placed there. They also changed the various customs performed in the past restricting it worships only.
Nevertheless Hajj remained a great day for Muslims and was also celebrated all over the Muslim world as a festivity called Eid-ul-Azha. The tradition of sacrificing animals as the will of God has continued. It is still celebrated with fervor all around the
Muslim world.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=2266
Posted by Fouad Ashraf
on Oct 31 2011. Filed under Pakistan.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
