CHITRAL: Although the act of sacrifice is mentioned in the Holy Quran. Allah Almighty says in Surah Al-Hajj 22:36-37: “We have made sacrificial camels and cattle among the symbols of Allah… Never does their flesh or blood reach Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him.” Another is Surah Al-Kawthar 108:2: “So pray and sacrifice to your Lord alone.”
The three sub-sections of the majority Sunni sect and the next largest Shia sect consider slaughtering an animal for sacrifice on Eid Ul Azha as sunnah of the Prophets and do not consider it a sin if the same is not abided by. Only the hanafi subsection considers it a step higher than sunnah (wajib) but they also stop short of calling it a Farz (an obligatory ritual).
The Ayats from the Holy Quran regarding the act of sacrifice are interpreted in different ways by different scholars. Some present day scholars opine that a sheep in the mention was just a symbol. The actual sacrifice which Prophet Ibrahim offered to Allah Almighty was of his son which was replaced with a sheep by Allah at the slaughter point. They therefore stress on the spirit of sacrifice rather than the form.
The ritual of Qurbani continues all over the muslim world in one form or the other, but the administration and methodology has undergone change according to social/environmental requirements. Muslim countries like Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, KSA, gulf states etc have adopted the concept of Collective Qurbani on the government level which makes the ritual more practical and easy on the environment. In Pakistan unfortunately there has been no effort from the government to regulate the ritual, thereby every individual slaughters his own animal causing massive environmental mess and pollution.
There is a dire need for a grand Ijma and Ijtihad of Muslims to address this issue and make this ‘ritual of sacrifice’ more practical .. CN report, 14 May 2025
7 thoughts on “Need to make the animal sacrifice ritual more practicable”
Well said !
A very good clarification and practical advice for the people who are sacrificing animals. I am also of the opinion that we all must understand whether sacrificing an animal is optional or obligatory
Many people buy the sacrificial animal with ill gotten money like bribe money, theft money, selling adulterated and counterfeit food stuff and fake medicine money, which are all haraam and they know it. They do the ritual as a show off more than in religious spirit. It is ironical that on Eid day people would not say the Fajr prayers which is Farz but would be impatient to slaughter the animal which is optional.
Our mullahs have snuffed out ijitihad from our Faith even though the Qur’an refers to it. Today in Pakistan Qurbani has commercial value as farmers raise animals for sale at enhanced prices and the spirit behind this concept is dead. . Qurbani is not about cutting the throats of animals but to forego self interest in Allah’s cause
It should be once in a lifetime to follow the Sunnah of Hazrat Ibrahim AS. Haj is also Farz on those who can afford only, but only once in a life time.
An Ijtihad on the issue is direly needed.
As Qurbani and Haj are closely related, I think Qurbani should be recommended (sunnah) for those on whom Haj is compulsory. In Pakistan those who cannot afford Qurbani with halal money, anyway use the proverbial method of ‘beg borrow or steal’ to do the Qurbani just so that the other people do not consider them poor. Spirit of sacrifice is totally absent in the whole process. Religious scholars can best consider this and give Fatwa accordingly.