Qurban and The Contrary

In simple, Qurban means sacrifice. Every year during the Islamic month of Dzulhijjah, Moslems all around the world slaughter an animal; it could be sheep, goat, cow or camel. 

The history of this worship comes from the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail after he got a dream about sacrificing his only son. In his devotion to God, Ibrahim finally did it but God changed Ismail into a ram to be sacrificed. Finally both Ibrahim and his son Ismail safe and belong to the obedient servant in God's perspective. This occurrence reflects how as a human we cannot love whatever in this world too much, as all of them are only God's entrusted goods. 

In contrast, some people see this worship as animal cruelty. There is even a campaign to push aside Qurban every year. In the name of animal activists, they considered Qurban as a contradiction to animal rights. In animal personhood, they believe that animal is similar to human where they can also feel happiness, sadness, and pain. On the animal activist side, Qurban is reputed as violent. This is totally wrong, remembering Qurban with its procedure is upholding animal rights. 

In the standard of Islamic teachings, the main principle in slaughtering sacrificial animals is not to torture animals and not to make animals suffer both physically and mentally. Animals should not experience stress, let alone depression during the sacrificial process. Slaughter is carried out using very sharp instruments with one deadly motion towards the throat. The animal must be ensured that it dies with blood flowing away from the main vein in the throat and the main pulse of respiration. Slaughter according to Islamic standards is mercy killing. 

In addition to this, the result of Qurban will be distributed to widowed women, orphaned children, refugees and poor, elderly or disabled people. For the majority of these people, meat is not part of their regular diet. The Qurbani meat allows some families to eat meat after a whole year. Islam is Rahmatan lil 'alamin, as stated in Al-Qur'an Al-Anbiya verse 107, "And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds."