Ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha festival, the daunting thought grips over the minds of millions of Muslim families in the city and surrounding areas that how much the ‘Qurbani’ costs them more this year? The prices of the cattle are again skyrocketing because of two reasons; first the cow vigilante chasing away the livestock for the heck of it while paving way for the herdsmen and sellers to increase the prices of animals with a gripe that the markets are bereft with the stock. This makes the Muslim families of city feel like a sitting duck.
Every year Muslims around the world perform ‘Qurbani’ or Udhiyah in Arabic denoting to slaughtering an animal – a goat, a sheep, a cow or a camel to reflect Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail for the sake of Allah SWT. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said “A person is not a believer who fills his stomach while his neighbour goes hungry,” (Bukhari).
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This festival tells all about the love and compassion that one can share through sacrificing oneself to fill the lives of others with happiness and prosperity. However, taking advantage of the festival and turning it into profit making opportunity would surely serve no purpose and deprive hundred’s of Muslim families from performing the obligation instead. They might come up with one more excuse this time that the ongoing frequent rains have incurred heavy loss on them while transporting the cattle to the city.
“Creating an artificial scarcity of animals in the market to gain profit is prohibited and completely against the true spirit of Islamic Sharia. Cattle sellers purportedly the ‘Cattle Mafia’ trying to makes much of the occasion taking advantage of the swaggering attitude of few well-off Muslim families while leaving the poor families completed dejected and deprived who are willing to perform the obligation with clear conscience,” said Omer Abubaker Al Mallahi Al Hussaini, Vice President Majma Imaam Shafaii Al-Aalami, Hyderabad.
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“Actually, domestic animals like bulls and buffaloes are usually not at all at risk when it comes to transportation while raining. However, small cattle like sheep and goats do have some health risk as they cannot fend off themselves from the viral disease if assailed with. But this does not mean that every seller would incur a loss while transporting the cattle to the city. People finding only profit in selling cattle at Eid-ul-Adha festival are actually making a mockery of one of the greatest tenant of Islam that teach us rationality and fairness when it comes to dealing with people in the markets,” he contended.
