Vegetarianism Scientific And Spiritual Basis

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

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Extracts from Author's letter (published in The Times of India, May 5, 1998).
"A True Sacrifice" "I fully endorse Mr. R. Hoosein's views (April 20) suggesting that the ritual of animal sacrifice be replaced with that of donating a sum equivalent to the price of the animal to be sacrificed to any charitable organisation. I would say that such a gesture will be the single most important step in bringing the Muslim community closer to all other major religious communities in India especially the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists wherein killing of innocent animals in the name of religion is considered inhuman". Animal Sacrifice or Blood Orgy? Once again, Muslims around the world have "sacrificed” millions of animals in a three day period during the month of Eid-ul-Adha to please God.
Sacrifice inherently means that you part with something that is very close to your heart and experience a certain degree of pain during the process.
Abraham proceeded to sacrifice his son who was very close to his heart and with whom had great attachment.
This act of Abraham can be seen as a spirit of true sacrifice.
Today, if I say that I sacrificed an old sofa for a greater cause, I will be laughed at, since the sofa doesn't mean much to me. However, this hypothetical act of mine is not much different from someone slitting the throat of a goat to please God and call it a sacrifice, since the person has had no attachment to the goat except a few bucks that he would soon forget.
I am just wondering if that is what God had in his mind when he asked us to follow a path in remembrance of Abraham's devotion to God. Today what we do on the streets of Karachi during the Eid-ul Adha is a mockery of Abraham's devotion to God.
It is beyond my comprehension that our God, whom we regard as compassionate and merciful finds pleasure watching a helpless camel with one of his front legs tied off the ground and two of his hind legs so closely tied together that he becomes incapable of using those legs independently. And apart from that, his jaws are tied with a rope that he cannot even brawl. And then, a pious looking person sticks a knife into the camel's throat. The camel bleeds for tens of minutes and suffers excruciating pain until he dies.
By Syed Rizvi! (Source - www.islamveg.com)
Syed Rizvi is a physicist by profession and is the Founder and President of Engineers and Scientists for Animal Rights. Syed lives in Silicon Valley, California.
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