Sacrifice or Show-off? The social stigma regarding animal sacrifice

'My cow is big, 'No, no, mine is bigger!'- these conversations are pretty laughable, right? This is a regular scenario in the streets of cities and towns, which shall rather be filled with sacrificial tunes. Instead, an unhealthy competition to buy more expensive and healthier animals exists between the bourgeoisie. This happens due to many social and psychological reasons; let me state them clearly.

The ritual of Qurbani originated with the Prophet Ibrahim, who was supposed to sacrifice his favourite possession for the sake of Allah.

When Ismail(As) was taken to be sacrificed, Allah saved him. We learned this story from childhood. The incident taught us about the significance of intention.

A sacrificial mindset is that people, out of love and fear for the almighty, give what they love most, in the form of an animal accepted in Islamic scripture. But rarely do the people of our society understand the essence of Qurbani. According to scripture, the flesh, blood, or price of an animal does not reach Allah, but the motive of the person does. Moreover, many people form an emotional bond with the intended animals. Nowadays, it's very rare, as people are even moving farther away from human emotional attachment to animals. This also spoils the theme of qurbani, as Allah wants us to sacrifice our liked possession. Only giving qurbani for the sake of ritual is not acceptable.  

Children are affected by these behaviours as they learn from their elders.

Why do we see that competition?

The core reason people compete to buy large animals is that they want to show off their wealth and gain respect.

And, people do not always get the chance to showcase how much money they have. So, they choose Eid al-Azha to display their wealth. When they buy big animals, they think that people will value them more.

In reality, those people are also morally grounded and have no genuine intention. This creates a toxic cycle, which enables people to insult other people who cannot buy large animals.

Another important aspect of showing off is the insecurity people possess. When living in a society brings constant comparison, competition and toxicity, people tend to fit in with it by any means.

To avoid humiliation, people buy beyond their means. Suppose a middle-class man cannot afford to buy an animal worth 1 lakh taka. But his friends or his little son urged him to buy a healthy animal. Under that pressure, he ends up buying one. This type of social stigma creates constant pressure on the general people, and Qurbani becomes a burden.

In this unhealthy competition, people derive from the trueness of Eid, and we see many animals being abused and tortured in this show-off competition. One should buy an animal according to one's financial and social ability, not to impress society but to show devotion to their almighty.