AGI – Millions of Muslims worldwide ctoday celebrate the anniversary ofEid Al-Adha, one of the most important holidays in the Islamic world. Known as “Festival of Sacrifice”, is the day on which we commemorate the anecdote from the Koran in which the prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) agrees to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail), in an act of reverence towards God. Abraham’s act of faith and obedience were sufficient to convince the divinity, and to spare the life of the young Ishmael, whose body was replaced, a moment before the sacrifice, with a ram that was slaughtered by Abraham himself.
A gesture that is repeated in today’s commemorations, characterized precisely by sacrifice of an animal, a goat, sheep, cow or mutton, the meat of which is then distributed to family members, relatives, neighbors, friends and the poor within the community. For the Islamic religion, it is the moment in which the richest make their resources available to allow the slaughter of animals whose meat is given to the poor.
– THE SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS, BETWEEN TRADITION AND RESTRICTIONS
In past centuries the ‘Festa del Sacrificio’ represented the moment in which the most important families affirmed their influence on the community; today the sacrifice of these animals constitutes a ritual that millions of families do not give up, even if in recent years there are several countries in which this act has been regulated. The Islamic ritual in fact involves cutting the animal’s throat, letting all the blood out and then removing the skin and starting the slaughter. A procedure that is not simple and often controversial from a hygienic point of view which continues to take place in the countryside and rural areas, but which has been subject to restrictions in cities.
Restrictions that served both to limit the actual torrents of blood that flowed in the streets, but also to avoid thousands of injuries to people who are unable to immobilize or even slaughter animals that can weigh several tens of kilos. In Turkey the government has prohibited ‘do-it-yourself’ slaughter, which is mostly carried out on authorized farms and breeding facilities located on the outskirts of cities, where families then go to collect the chopped meat. However, it is obligatory to say that, even in Türkiye, many do not give up homemade slaughter. The traditional ritual in which all family members participate often takes place in courtyards, garages, open spaces, in an attempt to avoid sanctions from the police and the municipality.
The slaughtering follows a precise ritual, which always continues the same in rural areas, villages and mountain pastures both in Turkey and throughout the Islamic world. The older man cuts the throat of the animal, which in the meantime has been immobilized and made to fall on its side, he waits for the blood to flow and for the esophagus to no longer exhale air and then the whole family slowly goes into action . The older ones participate in the peeling and cutting of the individual pieces, the smaller ones bring the pieces already cut to the women, who wash them in large plastic bowls. After washing, which is particularly thorough in the intestine part, the women cut the meat into increasingly smaller pieces, suitable for cooking. Some of it is used for the soup, especially the pieces of meat from the head and the legs and hooves. The rest is steamed, in small pieces which are then served with white rice and distributed equally.
– THE FESTIVAL OF SACRIFICE FINAL ACT OF THE PILGRIMAGE
The Feast of Sacrifice coincides with the final act of the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, and more precisely to Mecca, called Hajii. Considered one of the 5 pillars of the Islamic faith together with the profession of faith, daily prayers, the payment of the tax to be redistributed among the needy and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, this year the hajii has already attracted more people to Saudi Arabia of 1.8 million faithful. The pilgrimage involves a 5-day ritual and falls in the second week of the lunar month of Dhul Hijja, twelfth and last of the Islamic calendar. A journey that begins with dressing, so to speak ‘ihram’ and ends with a symbolic throwing of stones towards some rock pillars representing the devil.
‘Ihram’ is a term that indicates the act of taking off one’s clothes and possessions and dressing in simple white tunics strictly without seams, a symbol on the one hand of humility and purity, on the other of equality and unity among all faithful. A journey that for many begins even before leaving for Mecca. In fact, it is usual for the faithful to go to relatives, especially the elderly or those with health problems, to collect the prayers they want to be brought to the sacred places of Islam. Those making the journey for the first time, perhaps after a long period dedicated to saving the necessary money, visit friends or relatives who have made the pilgrimage and assumed the title of ‘hajii’ to ask for advice on the journey or on how to cope with the scorching heat which this year reached 47 degrees. Once in the sacred places, the pilgrims spend three days in the places where the prophet Muhammad, according to tradition, received revelations from God and began to preach, making proselytes through sermons whose content was then fixed in the Koran.
Pilgrims go to the Kaba, the oldest building in the history of Islam, around which the “tawaf”, a procession that revolves around the enormous black cube. A rotation that the individual Muslim completes 7 times, counterclockwise, before giving way to another believer and keeping the ritual in progress for days. The ‘tawaf’ is repeated, with a final turn always counterclockwise, by the pilgrims before abandoning the sacred places. In these days the pilgrims travel between the towns of Safa and Marwa 7 times back and forth, stopping on Mount Arafat. On the slopes of this bare promontory, every year, hundreds of thousands of faithful flock to pray and atone for their sins.
– THE STONEING OF THE ‘DEVIL’
The ritual of stoning the rocks representing the devil also takes place here. These rock pillars are located at a sacred site in Mecca known as Mina, the same spot where Muslims believe the prophet Abraham agreed to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Here each pilgrim throws seven stones at each of the three pillars and can then rest in a multi-storey complex that has replaced the ancient caravanserais. The stoning of the symbol of evil constitutes one of the final rites of the Hajii, the banishment of the devil and temptations. The stones are in fact collected at a site known as Muzdalifa, where pilgrims spend the night after gathering to pray on Mount Arafat.
– THE KAABA, THE HOLIEST SANCTUARY OF ISLAM
To close the Hajii is the last ritual tour around the Kaaba, the holiest shrine in Islam. The Kaaba is not considered a place to be venerated in itself, but the final destination of the journey, the point towards which every single prayer of every single Muslim in every corner of the world is directed. In Islamic tradition it is said that the original Kaaba was destroyed by the universal flood, but some pieces of the ‘black stone’ that constituted it were saved. Abraham managed to find the same stone among the rocks of a mountain and, helped by his son Ishmael, was able to extract it to reconstruct the damaged building. According to the Islamic narrative, the prophet Muhammad also took part in one of the restorations, and once he conquered Mecca he destroyed all the other pagan idols present in the Kaaba and made it a symbol of Islam. Last year, like this year, almost 2 million faithful reached the sacred places of Islam in Saudi Arabia, however before the pandemic the numbers were much higher and the number of pilgrims exceeded 2.5 million. Numbers that find justification in the fact that the pilgrimage constitutes a journey that “every Muslim must complete at least once in their life”. An obligation from which only those who are physically unable to reach the sacred places are exempt.
