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Animals sacrificed for Islam’s annual ritual
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Ready for consumption: A man arranges meat in small portions to be distributed to local people in the Serua area of South Tangerang, Banten, on Monday. Millions of Muslims in Indonesia and around the world sacrificed goats and cattle as part of the celebrations of the Idul Adha festival on Monday. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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n the yard of Al-Muhajirin Mosque in Jatibening, Bekasi, West Java, people of many ages gathered and passed the time on Monday by watching goats and cattle being ritually killed by five slaughtermen.
The men were well equipped for the job in hand with knives and ropes. “Bismillah [In the name of God],” said one as he began the slitting of a goat’s throat.
Beginning at 10 a.m. and proceeding for five hours, 27 cattle and 23 goats donated by devotees to the mosque were ritually despatched as qurban, sacrificial animals whose meat is then distributed to the poor.
By the end of the work, carried out under the watchful gaze of passers-by dropping into the mosque, the men were drenched in the animals’ blood.
Most people might shrink from such a task, but it is routine work for the slaughtermen celebrating Idul Adha, the Islamic Day of Sacrifice.
Idul Adha is held annually to commemorate the Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of submission to God.
After the slaughtering process, the qurban meat was parceled up in readiness to be distributed among the less well-off members of the community.
One of the slaughtermen, Endang Fitroh, 39, said he was well accustomed to the job as it was after all his daily employment.
“I work at a slaughterhouse in East Jakarta. This [slaughtering] is a piece of cake for me,” he chuckled as he refreshed himself with a glass of cold water.
Endang said that for qurban slaughtering he was paid by the mosque, but declined to elaborate on the specific amount. “What is more important is that I also contribute to charity.”
The importance of doing the job properly is one of the reasons why many mosques across Greater Jakarta hire professional slaughtermen to kill and butcher the animals. Islam lays down very specific rules for the slaughtering process, which must be complied with.
Jinul, a 42-year-old hired by At-Tin Mosque in East Jakarta to slaughter the qurban animals, said he had to learn all the rules of ritual slaughter so as to prevent him from making any mistake during the important slaughtering process.
“First, I have to slit the animals’ throats. This is important so they do not feel excessive pain,” he said, adding that after slitting the animal’s throat, it should be laid on the ground to allow all the blood to drain away before the butchering of the carcass begins according to Islamic teaching.
“So it might look easy, but actually the process is complicated,” he said.
Unlike Endang, Jinul said that he did not work in a slaughterhouse, nor did he do the work on a regular basis.
“I am actually a laborer renovating this mosque,” he went on, “The mosque asked me to do this, maybe because I looked strong.”
Meanwhile, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo celebrated Idul Adha in Serang, Banten, and prayed at Ats-Tsaurah Grand Mosque.
Accompanied by the presidential chief of staff Teten Masduki, Banten Governor Rano Karno and Serang Mayor Tubagus Haerul Jaman, Jokowi handed over a bull to be sacrificed and distributed to the poor.
Jokowi donated a bull to each province through their respective local administrations.
The President had also donated a 1.5-ton bull to Southeast Asia’s largest mosque, Istiqlal, in Central
Jakarta. (adt)
