Every year Muslims around the world celebrate the tenth of Dhul Hijjah as the Eid-ul-Adha – the Festival of Sacrifice. Among the rites of this day, is the slaughtering of a ram [or another animal accepted for that purpose] and the feast is celebrated with a lot of food to be enjoyed.
This has become a time that every household head is expected to buy a ram as big as possible for the purpose of slaughtering. As a wont of human beings, this has become the season of making a lot of profits for businessmen.
So we see the skyrocketing cost of animals at this time of the year. Some people even go to the extent of taking huge loans in order to be able to buy a ram. At the end of the day, these same people find it extremely difficult to repay those loans and as such cause themselves a lot of troubles.
Another feature of the Tobaski feast is the fact that many people see it as a duty to buy a huge ram for their wives. Those who have more than one wife have to buy two for the wives. The problem which many neglect to talk about or remember is the fact that if one buys for the wives, it means one will not be sacrificing.
Again, this should not be seen as a competition as to who has the biggest ram. Thus, some will go in for a ram that is too expensive for them just to display that they are rich or in vogue. Most of the time, these people become so broke after the feast that they can’t even give fish money to their wives. And after all, the Eid itself is just about one hour and one will be left with the problem of paying debts for the rest of the year.
Let us cut our coats according to our cloth.
