American Muslim

Revised Posting: Qurbani for the 21st Century

Bismillahir Rehmanir Rahim,

Note: This was originally posted on Jan. 29th, but Dan brought up a good point, which I wanted to address. I talked to a couple of scholars and more learned people than myself and they told me that because of my financial standing I didn't have to perform the animal sacrifice for Eid-ul-Adha. Killing a sheep or goat and distributing the meat to the poor is 'wajab' or required on those who have the financial ability to do so. Now, I am not poor by any means, but also because I am a student and don't have money in savings, I didn't have to do the costlier animal sacrifice. So, I wasn't really shortchanging on the sacrifice. May Allah (SWT) accept the sacrifice I made in Ethiopia; may the meat have been distributed and eaten by those who really needed it insh'allah; and may Allah (SWT) forgive me if I didn't do what I was supposed to do or in the manner it should have been done. Allah knows best.
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When you mention Eid (also spelled Id - not to be confused with Freud's 'id'), most people know that it's the Muslim holiday at the end of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The day, actually called Eid-ul-Fitr, marks the end of the month of fasting, which is obligatory on Muslims who are of the appropriate age and without any medical problems.

However, Muslims also celebrate another Eid, Eid-ul-Adha, in the Islamic month of Hijja. This year, Eid-ul-Adha fell on three days, Dec. 31st 2006 to Jan. 2nd 2007. This is a special day in Islam because it is a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) willingness to sacrifice his son because Allah (SWT) commanded it.

In order to commemorate the would-be sacrifice, Muslims around the world are asked to perform 'udhiya' or a blood sacrifice of an animal (this is known as 'qurbani' in Urdu/Persian). Sacrifice is an important part of Islam and can be interepreted not just in the sacrfice of an animal, but in the sacrifice of denying ourselves food and drink from morning to evening during Ramadan and also fasting on different occasions (I fasted yesterday, for example, on the especially auspicious 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram).

Traditionally, the 'qurbani' was done by the individual themselves and the animal, usually goat or sheep, was killed in the Islamic fashion and the meat was distributed in thirds - a third to the poor; a third to friends and family; and a third to the individual and his or her family. However, the practice of actually going to a farm and slaughtering an animal has changed considerably and many Muslims are simply unable to do this.

Since this was my first Eid-ul-Adha (alhamdulillah), I kind of didn't receive the memo on this event. So, I had to figure out how to take care of an udhiya/qurbani on short notice. I found that doing qurbani in the U.S. was pretty expensive - around $200 for a sheep or goat! Luckily, one of my professor's told me that a lot of Muslims were now doing online qurbani in other countries so that poorer Muslims around the world could receive the meat of the donation. I immediately went online and sure enough, found several websites that aided this effort.

I used www.islamicity.com and their Qurbani "store" which gave you prices of animals in over 50 countries and the ability to pay for a donation and allow the animal to be slaughtered and the meat given to the poor in the proper fashion in another country. I ended up doing my E-qurbani for $52 in Ethiopia!

May Allah (swt) except my sacrifice and may it have been done in an Islamic fashion.