Vegetarianism Scientific And Spiritual Basis

Author(s): Jashwant B Mehta
Publisher: Jashwant B Mehta

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and 'Peta' that vigorous efforts are made to stop this inhuman activity in the name of religion.
In this regard, especially concerning the Bakri Id festival, an article published in the Times of India, dated. April13, 1998 India's leading newspaper written by Firoz Bakht Ahmed is reproduced below.
"Offering the sacrifice of the self"
Eid-ul-Azha, which was celebrated last week, is also known as Eid-eQurban. The Urdu word qurban, meaning sacrifice, comes from the Arabic qurb, meaning closeness to God. This festival of sacrifice is intended to bring human beings and God closer to each other. It is also known as Eiduz-Zuha or Bakri Eid, the latter term having been coined in northern India, indicating the goat sacrifice. The true sacrifice that is offered on this occasion is not that of the symbolic goat, ram, camel or sheep, but that of one's own self. Qurbani is one of the major religious activities in Islam, and to sacrifice one's comforts and resources for those less fortunate is the basic essence of this festival. This sacrifice is also known as the Sunnat-eIbrahimi, as the tradition is traced back to the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham in the Bible). Indeed, Ibrahim belongs to three religious traditions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Each of these traditions reveres him as its ancestor; but each has a distinct understanding of what he stands for. Ibrahim was almost 90 and childless. After sustained prayers, God listened to him and blessed him with a child: Ismail. As the child grew, Ibrahim saw a dream in which Allah asked him to offer sacrifice. He sacrificed his favourite camel. But the dream came to him again. He then sacrificed all his camels. But the dream still repeated itself. Then Ibrahim understood that God wanted the sacrifice of that which he held dearest, his son Ismail. It was a near-impossible test of faith, but Ibrahim took his son away after the child had been bathed by his mother Hajra.
Earlier, too, Ibrahim has been tested by God and left his devoted and pious wife and baby Ismail in an arid wasteland that had no water. The child has felt thirsty, but there was not a drop of water between the two hillocks of Safa and Marwa. She searched everywhere, without success; at length, to her amazement, she saw that a ceaseless spring of water has appeared, gushing with such force that Hajra had to say "Zam, Zam" (stop, stop). The water of this spring is as holy to Muslims as the water of the Ganga is to Hindus. Safa and Marwa became symbolic in the sense that the Haj pilgrims have to circumambulate these two hillocks.
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