Eid-ul-Azha: Time maybe to make a sacrifice for the sacrifice

Angels stop Abraham as he sacrifices Isaac

With Eid-ul-Azha just concluded across the world, I can't help but look back at this Muslim tradition as an enormous waste of resource... particularly when it is set against the number of people in the world and the significantly growing number of animals that that are sacrificed on this one day.

I should say that as part of the Muslim fraternity, my childhood was linked to this tradition (but I'm glad to also say that we were never a rabid follower of this tradition).

You see I can understand the significance of the story behind the day and can even appreciate Abraham's devotion to God that he would willingly (albeit with most likely a father's heavy heart) sacrifice his son.


Press 'play' for podcast of this article.

Alas, can I admit that my devotion would not be strained in the least were I to be put to the same test, because I would not consider it.


I ask too many questions and would not see it as legitimate request from an all-loving God. The way I would see it is how could a loving God as such ask of me something as brutal as sacrificing my own son as a test to my devotion? Frankly, as events did flesh out (no pun intended), He did not – but I would not have given Him the benefit of the doubt. So frail is my devotion in the scale of things.

But lesson learnt. Point taken. As a result that now God in His infinite wisdom will never ask something similar of me (for which I am eternally grateful).

As I understand it, the ritual dictates that the flesh and bones of the sacrificed animal be equally divided into three portions. One for distribution among the destitute, one for distribution among neighbours and friends, and the final third for personal consumption.

It is this aspect that I consider hard to swallow. Millions of animals are sacrificed at the altar of belief across the world on Eid-ul-Azha – which means that a third of those millions are to be distributed to millions of homeless and destitute people. Unfortunately these people have no means of storing the meat; allowing whatever remains after consumption over two or three days to rot.

Why cannot it be that, considering the growing number of people in the world, Eid-ul-Azha is not just a day of sacrifice but moreover becomes a day of commitment by the community to sacrifice an animal throughout the year in turns.

Each day, or each week, only a certain number of animals are sacrificed by the community, such that the third of the meat can be distributed among the poor without fear of overwhelming them or any of it going to waste. Moreover these poor can be provided for again from the next sacrifice, a few days later.

There are seven billion people in the world, of which very conservative guesstimates would put at least a billion muslims slaughtering maybe 300 million animals in 24 hours. That is a lot of meat for one day.

Too utopian? Or perhaps an affront to Islam? Would love to hear your thoughts for an intelligent debate (which means no fatwas or cursing, if you are so inclined).