KARACHI CHRONICLE: Halal sacrifice

It is said that every sixth person of the 180 million Pakistanis purchased animals for sacrifice during Eid-ul-Azha. In Karachi over a million animals were sacrificed, which means this city lead all other cities in the performance of the piety. This requires a great big WOW, when you try to figure how much was spent to buy animals, how much will be earned from the sale of hides and skins. The figure goes into billions of rupees, I am told.
The question is, where does the money come for the purchase of animals and then for the purchase of hides and skins? A bull cost over one lakh while a goat cost anything from 4,500 to six thousand. Cow hides this year were marketed at 3,000 per piece, goat skins were marketed at between Rs 350 to Rs 500 per piece.
According to the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) around 30 percent of the industry's demand for hides and skins is met from three days of Eid-ul-Azha. The tanners are expected to spend something in the region of eight and a half billion on purchase of hides and skins.
I am not an economists, but neither are most ordinary folk. However, it is astonishing for all of us that animal sacrifice is not only a sacred duty or piety, but also big business. According to a friend, who tried to explain the complexities of Economy, it seems the money flow both ways during Eid-ul-Azha is an indicator of real wealth and that we are really not a poor country.
He said there is far more undocumented wealth which is not available to the government. Government can budget only legitimate money resources, such as revenue from taxation. If all the undocumented wealth was brought under the tax net, then Pakistan might walk into the developed world almost overnight.
Unfortunately, he said, the bulk of money is like the hidden treasure of Alibaba and 40 thieves. Obviously, my friend was attempting to explain things simplistically, but I did not agree with his Alibaba and 40 thieves analogy. As far as we know the wealth is not hidden in some cave. We know where it is, for instance, in the pocket of politicians, feudals and chieftains, in the grasp of land and drug mafia. They flaunt their wealth for all to see. The bulk of such wealth is here, and not in the Swiss banks.
A question that arose in the light of Eid-ul-Azha is how many people bought sacrificial animals with money earned in a wholesome halal manner. My friend believes in Karachi only some people in the middle-class. He believes the majority of traders do not pay tax, their wealth is undeclared, never audited etc. Therefore in the eyes of the law their profits are not wholly halal.
This brought back memories of the Karachi Press Club's (KPC) chowkidar, the late Gul Saeed. When he was going for Hajj he asked me for a loan. He said he would repay it monthly from his halal wages. Gul Saeed worked as a loader on the docks and part-time at the KPC as a chowkidar. His earning barely supported his family. Gul Saeed had a lot of wealth but he had made it from the sale of contrabanned booze; so he didn't want to spend it on Hajj. At least the fellow could distinguish between haram and halal money. I wonder if the traders can distinguish how much is legitimate profit.
My friend pinpointed traders, but truth is that they are certainly not the only people who sacrificed animals this Eid. What about the land and drug mafia, what about the police who are notorious for taking bhatta, what about officialdom taking money under the table? All of them must have purchased animals and sacrificed. Did they think about halal and haram? Police, especially, did not do halal sacrifice. A common complaint of livestock sellers in Karachi was that police not only demanded bhatta but would take away any goat they fancied. What then is the moral worth of sacrificing an animal got by literal theft?
This year more people sacrificed than they did last year. Every year there is a significant increase in the number of persons performing the sacrifice. The cause is said to be rising religiosity. Another reason is said to be the people living and working abroad. They prefer to have their sacrifice done in Pakistan, because such facility many not be available in the foreign country, or that it is too sanitisaed, or simply because they want to share with home folk including family and the poor. Hence affordability cannot be factored in the sale and purchase of sacrificial animals.
This year it is a mystery who benefited from the sale of hides and skins. There was no news during the three days of Eid of political party workers jostling rivals, fighting and even shooting each other for the right to collect hides and skins. Also it is early days to estimate how much was made by the social welfare organisations.