Karachi Chronicle: What am I eating on Eid?

Was the animal I purchased really sacrificed or did the person authorised to do so on my behalf simply pocket the money? This is the question Hajis ask themselves in Makkah. The Haji never sees the animal sacrificed on his behalf, nor does he get the meat. All he gets is a chit and is told the time when the sacrifice will take place and to pray at that time.
That chit simply is not a satisfactory replacement for the sacrificial animal, and doubt keeps bothering the Haji. But the authorities cannot help it. With millions of persons performing Hajj it is simply impossible to allow personal involvement in the sacrifice.
That was Makkah. In Karachi too, the trend of simply paying some welfare agency or religious trust to do the sacrifice for you has become the vogue. In some cases your share of the meat is sent to you, but by and large it is said to be distributed to the poor and needy and the orphans. The pious front of these agencies and trusts is no guarantee of their honesty. We have seen too often how Zakat and Ushr collection was misspent by the authorities. Doubt of the so-called pious has now taken a firm root, and has spread to all the people who advertise that they will do the sacrifice for you. Proxy sacrifice has also destroyed the solemnity of the ritual.
Personally, I love Eid-ul- Azha because it is such a meaty festival. I demand all my favourite dishes, kidney and liver masala with paratha; chops seasoned with salt pepper and lemon and, on basi-Eid Paya. This year I am invited nowhere to have these delicious favourite dishes. Perhaps everyone in the family simply paid an agency to do their sacrifice duty. But I am still hoping for a last-minute invitation.
It is not that Karachiites have become so westernised as to give up sacrifice, but the cost of a sacrificial animal is simply exorbitant. Most people in the middle-class who could afford to purchase at least one goat cannot do so with prices ranging from fifteen thousand to an impossible-to-believe thirty thousand. It is simply incredible, but I am assured it is a fact. People are now forced to prefer to buy a share in the animal rather than go to the market to choose and haggle with the sellers. I can understand buying a share in a bull but it is ridiculous to buy a share in a goat. Yet that is what many people have been reduced to doing.
The Eid dinner is no longer made with sacrificial meat. The meat is purchased, as normally, from the butcher, usually a day in advance of the festival, so that the meal can be prepared overnight. That means an extra expenditure. Conversely, it is possible that those who buy meat for Eid from the butcher do not buy a share in a sacrificial animal, but only pretend they have done so. Proxy sacrifice is encouraging falsehood.
Inflation has many faces but I never believed I would see the day when animal sacrifice would be affected by it. The solemnity of this pious duty has disappeared and, who knows, at this rate other duties could also be done by proxy some day. I haven't worked it out yet. Neither have the welfare agencies and religious trusts. But give them time and they will com up with some bright ideas.
Even before the proxy sacrifice trend set in, some anti-sacrifice people said the meat on the hoof sold before Eid is not healthy. Just look at the filth in the market. Just look at those flies in the nostril and eyes of the animal, the beast is just skin and bones, you can see the ribs sticking out, and so forth. Ghastly descriptions are related of festering sores and runny tummy. Unless you are a diehard meat eater, such stories are enough to turn you vegetarian.
Really! Some people put on such airs to avoid sacrificing as if the meat they buy from the butcher comes from any better source. The same herders and farmers who sell in the Eid cattle bazaar, sell to the butcher. Animal farming is still very primitive. There is nothing on the lines of chicken farms from where standard quality chicken is available. It revolutionised our eating habit. At weddings, especially, the Biryani and Qorma began to be made exclusively of chicken meat as it was healthier than lamb or beef.
Animal farming continues to be a traditional sort of enterprise. There are just one or two meat selling companies where one can get prime quality meat, but they are expensive. But if you ask me, it is better to buy good meat than meat whose quality is doubtful. We need to set up animal farms like those in Australia and Argentina. We have good breeds in sheep as well as cows. Pakistan could increase meat export if proper attention is paid to developing this industry. Nevertheless, a question still remains; what am I eating on Eid?