The term sacrifice has a great significance in many religions and the societies.
Sacrifice is used in the following contexts:
• Sacrifice life in the way of Lord (A spiritual act)
• Sacrifice life for the sake of righteousness (A supreme sacrifice)
• Sacrifice life for the sake of nation (patriotism)
• Sacrifice animals as a religious ritual (seen in most of the religious and ethnic groups)
Qurbani – ritual – in the month of Eid al Adha or Bakrid.
In the month of Dhul Hajjah (12th month of Islamic Calendar), the 10th day is celebrated as Eid al-Adha (Eid ul Azha) or Bakrid.
The tradition behind this Eid is, 4500 years ago Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was asked by Allah (God, Parameshwar) to give sacrifice in his name (Allah) to show submission to Allah.
He sacrificed many things, but still Allah asked him to sacrifice his dearest thing so that the worldly love and affection go out of his heart and love of Allah occupy his heart, ultimate essence is to rid the worldly things. Finally Ibrahim understood that he should sacrifice his dearest one to show his submissiveness to Allah. In the elderly age Ibrahim got a son Ismail, so he is the dearest one for him. Then he got ready to sacrifice his beloved son Ismail in the name and in the way of Allah. Then Allah pleased with his feelings and said, Ibrahim I am happy that you are ready to sacrifice your son to whom you love most, for the sake of my happiness. Allah thus accepted the feelings of Ibrahim and sent a sheep in place of Ismail.
The moral of this event is;
Rid the love of worldly things even if it is your lovely son. Fill your heart with the love of Allah (Parameshwar), who is the real and absolute.
But our Muslim brothers forgot this moral and just remembered the tradition of giving sacrifice of animals.
In Quran, the word sacrifice appears at three Surahs (chapters);
1. Al-Maida (Sura-5) – Ayah 27 says “sacrifice of chaste people will only be accepted.” (in the sense of sacrifice-sacrifice in way of Allah)
2. Al-Baqra (Surah-2) – Ayah 196 says “celebrate Hajj, and give sacrifice”. (in the sense of piety and sacrifice)
3. Al-Hajj (Surah-22) –
a. Ayah 34, Give animal sacrifice (in the sense of animal slaughter)
b. Ayah 36-37, Allah says : ‘It is not their flesh nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches him.’ (in the sense of piety and the wisdom of sacrifice)
Let talk about the permissible animals for sacrifice in Islam.
The animals that are herbivorous (vegetative eating habitual), viz. camel, goat, sheep, bull, ox, cow, buffalo, deer, etc.
Here cow is one among the animals that are permissible, but not compulsory.
For instance, Arab and hot countries have no cow and buffalos, many cold and moderate temperature parts of the world have no camel.
In America camel is not a common animal. It doesn’t mean that the Americans shall buy camel, bring to America and slaughter it. They can sacrifice the animals that are permissible to consume as food.
Likewise, in Indian subcontinent goat, sheep, bulls, buffalos are available at a considerable quantity. Muslim can give them as sacrificing animals, it is not compulsory to even give bulls and buffalos. A goat or sheep can be given. In Indian society, the Hindu community revere cow as a sacred animal. They claim that their scriptures say so. In this context, we must heed and respect the religious and traditional values and stop the cow to be slaughtered.
Do only Muslims eat beef and cow in India?
If you put the question you will get the following answers;
Beef is the animal protein of cattle. Some dictionaries in India give the meaning as Go- maams but the fact is buffalo, ox, bull, meat is also called as beef.
Now the beef companies are using the buffalos for beef and its products.
As a cheap food, beef is consumed by many people not only Muslims but from many religious groups.
• In the Indian beef market, most of the beef companies are not owned by Muslims
• Beef is consumed by not only Muslims but also people from other religions.
• But only Muslims are blamed.
Beef is the cheapest protein content food material. Hence it is consumed by a larger portion of the weaker sections of Indian subcontinent societies irrespective of religion.
The military camps are the largest consumers of beef.
Now let us put a question, do Muslims forgot the essence and the wisdom of sacrifice?
When Allah says sacrifice the dearest one to come close to me (Allah), then what the Muslims are doing?
Eid al Adha or Eid al Azha or Bakrid (colloquial name in India), is a festival of teaching wisdom of sacrifice. But now a days it is just remained like an occasion of feast.
We run after the cost of goat or sheep. If the sheep has by co incidence any mark on its body which resembles like written name of Allah, it will be marketed in lacs of rupees.
And even the people decorate the animals. Is this the spirit of sacrifice? Certainly the spirit and wisdom of sacrifice has gone and the spirit of entertainment and ignorance is occupied in our lives.
God save us.
Let us see cow in the religions of the world, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, & Hinduism.
In Abrahamic religions:
Fight in the name of cow is not a new one. Even before 3000 years, people of Moses fought among themselves. The story of Moses in Abrahamic Religions goes like this. Moses was one of the mightiest messengers of God in the tribe of Bani Israel (Children of Israel). He tried to eradicate all the evils in the society by bringing his tribe to monotheism. One of the evils in the tribe was animal worshiping. Once when Moses went to Mount Tur (Sinai), a man called Samari, started to plot against the teachings of Moses’ monotheism. Samari made a calf of gold and played trick that the golden calf makes a sound.
The ignorant followers attracted by this gimmick, started to follow Samari and began to worship the golden calf as god.
When Moses returned from Mount Tur (Sinai), he saw this superstition or blind faith again in his tribe, he began to teach that this calf is not a God but just a magic played by Samari. To remove this blind belief from the people, Moses brought calves and cows and slaughtered them and had feast and taught the people the calves and cows are not God.
In Hinduism:
Cow, also called as go-maata, in Hindu tradition, is a sacred animal. The root of this word cow and sacredness goes to Vedas. In Vedas ‘GO’ or ‘Gau’ has many meanings. But the context of the word “GO” used has a translation as “Light” not cow. The word Govardhan means the LORD OF LIGHT, not the LORD OF COW.
I feel better to quote the following link and wish the readers to visit these links for enlightening material. (Courtesy)
http://hinduismglance.wordpress.com/hypocrisy-of-cow-protectionamong-
Current hot topic on Social Media – particularly before elections and at the time of Bakrid. Now a days the hot topic and one amongst the sharing images and videos in social media, the slaughter of cow in a slaughter house. Even if the pictures belong not to Indian society, the sacrifices given in out of India, the images are on the net, and the situation of conflicts starts in India, which shows the ultra-motive of this sharing is to create a feeling amongst one religious groups against each other. First of all it should bring to light that, who has taken this video, where and who uploaded it. It has become a common trick among some miscreants, create such images and videos and spread hatred among the masses to disturb the social fabric.
As the good citizens and coexisting brothers in many religions we should respect each other and respect the religious feelings. We must show solidarity in understanding, by respecting the religions and their teachings.
