Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahoris are all set to celebrate Eidul Azha today by slaughtering sacrificial animals as per the teachings of Islam.

Before slaughtering the animals, people would offer Eid prayers in mosques, imambargahs and open places across the city. Special prayers for the prosperity and integrity of the country would also be offered in the Eid congregations.

Major congregations would be held at Badshahi Mosque, Minhajul Hussain, Data Ganj Bakhsh Masjid, Masjid-e-Shuhada, Wazir Khan Mosque, Minhajul Quran among other places. A heavy contingent of police would be deployed at important worship places as well as government buildings to mitigate any untoward incident.

After offering the prayers, sacrificial animals including cows, camels, lambs and goats would be slaughtered as per religious norms. Eidul Azha is observed every year by Muslims across the world to commemorate the spirit of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) who was ready to sacrifice his son for the willingness of God. According to the Holy Quran, Prophet Ibrahim (AS) in his dream saw that he was slaughtering his son as per God’s wish. Next morning, he informed about the dream to his son, Prophet Ismail (AS), who, being an obedient son, readily agreed to sacrifice his life. When Ibrahim (AS) was about to slaughter his son, God replaced Ismail (AS) with a lamb, which was then slaughtered. Since the inception of Islam, Muslims on every 10th of Zil Haj, according to Islamic calendar, slaughter lambs, goats, cows and camels
to commemorate the great sacrifice.

Meanwhile, after buying sacrificial animals, which could be extremely grueling and hectic, next problem for citizens on Eid is to arrange for an affordable and available butcher for slaughtering their animals. Non-availability of professional butchers has over the years become a massive problem for citizen, as their rates have been increased by almost 100 percent. Taking advantage of the situation, seasonal butchers show up during the Eid days and remain busy in minting easy money by slaughtering the animals, which are not often as per wishes of their customers.

Similarly, the rates of butchers also vary for place-to-place. Highest rates were usually observed in elite areas, including Defence Housing Authority, Gulberg, Model Town and WAPDA Town. Butchers were observed charging Rs 5,000 to 15,000 for lambs, goats, cows and camels in these areas. Butchers in middle class areas including Iqbal Town, Shadman, Sabzazar, Thokar Niaz Baig and Chungi Amar Sidhu areas were charging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 for lambs and goats.