KARACHI: For those who want to participate in qurbani but not bring home a sacrificial animal, there is the option of joint qurbani. More and more people these days are fulfilling their Eidul Azha obligations this way.

The joint qurbani system started years ago in neighbourhoods and communities where one home would take on the responsibility of sacrificing a large animal, such as a cow or camel, and people could contribute money to buy it while also having the right to bring home their share of the meat after the qurbani.

Then in the mid-1980s, the Edhi Foundation, too, came up with their joint qurbani scheme which also proved to be easy on the pocket as they bought the animals early. Faisal Edhi told Dawn that they had enough cows and goats in stock for the people to buy shares at reasonable rates. “They can also book a complete animal to donate to the poor and if they keep their receipt upon placing the order and present it to the counter, they can also pick up the meat if they would like to do that,” he said. “We also sacrifice camels on demand.” There are 10 shares in a camel, which cost the same as a share of cow and bookings continue till the third day of Eid.

The practice has picked up with several similar drives. At Saylani Welfare International, a cow share is for Rs8,000 while booking a goat costs Rs11,000. A camel share is for Rs110,000. “But for camels, please do your booking right away as there is a shortage of camels. For the rest bookings continue till the last day of Eid and, of course, you may collect the meat from us as well,” said Mohammad Farhan, a Saylani volunteer, adding that this year they would be sacrificing 1,300 cows and 6,000 goats on the first day alone.

‘Please do your booking right away as there is a shortage of camels’

Alamgir Welfare Trust has a computerised collection service where people book months ahead of Eid and are given the time and day when they can collect the meat. The trust has teams for different areas and each team is in charge of some small areas. Male goats were priced Rs12,500 each and female Rs10,500 while a cow cost Rs73,500 with each share for Rs10,500.

Several students from different institutes and universities have joined hands to form societies in Karachi for the same purpose as have many butcher chains and supermarkets. The procedure at Meat One involves visiting an outlet, registering and placing the order and picking it up on a designated day. The butcher cabin has been offering the service for five years now and besides cutting the animals according to a customer’s preference, they distribute the meat among the poor if they are requested to do so by a customer who doesn’t want to take his or her order home.

Hyperstar, too, has jumped on the bandwagon for the past three years now. But they only sacrifice goats. “We only offer this service for mutton,” said a section manager at Hyperstar. “We charge Rs22,499 per animal and this includes the cutting and cleaning part, too, although we get the hides, as we donate them to charities,” he said.

“It is great service for families who do not want to sacrifice animals at home. We have many pets at home that we love dearly and I don’t want my children to go through the trauma of watching us sacrifice the animal they had been playing with and walking around with for the last few days. But being Muslim, I also want to fulfil our Islamic obligation which is where such services come in as a blessing,” Shahid Ali Khan, one customer of sacrificing by proxy told Dawn.

“I think this is better for people like us who are quite sick of butchers and their costly demands,” said Najma Hafeez.

“It’s a win-win situation for both sides. We don’t have to bother with the messy work involved, while also buying the sacrificial animals at a reasonable price. And the businesses or NGOs offering the service may get some meat for the poor while also keeping the hides of these animals for themselves,” said an elderly gentleman, Shaikh Ameer.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2015

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