Eid-ul-Azha: When will Bangladesh adopt a smart slaughtering system?

As Eid-ul-Azha approaches, inexperienced butchers armed with sharp knives are preparing to slaughter animals. This will take place in almost every home, backyard, and roadside across the country.

After the morning prayers conclude at mosques or Eidgah, the Muslims of Bangladesh rush home to celebrate the first day of Eid-ul-Azha by performing an animal sacrifice. This practice commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to the Almighty.

In every district of Bangladesh, including Dhaka, the capital city, slaughtering takes place in almost every home, backyard, and roadside, causing rivers of blood to flow into the drainage systems.

In recent years, the local government ministry of Bangladesh has instructed all city corporations and municipalities to allocate dedicated places with trained Imams and butchers to assist with the process of slaughtering Qurbani animals in a coordinated manner.

However, the people of Bangladesh are very reluctant to follow these instructions. They prefer to slaughter Qurbani animals near their homes, including in the parking spaces of residential buildings in Dhaka and other big cities, creating a huge mess on Eid day every year.

Like the previous year, this year, in a coordination meeting with relevant ministries and departments, the Prime Minister's Office has instructed the local government ministry and Dhaka North and South City Corporations to allocate specific places for slaughtering animals to ensure a quick and well-maintained process.

While speaking with the Dhaka Tribune, officials who were present at the meeting said that due to the nonresponsive attitude of the general public and worshippers, the city corporations and other local government bodies are struggling to make proper preparations for allocating slaughtering places.

Despite the general public's reluctance, every city corporation and municipality in the country has made some minimal preparations to provide local slaughterhouses.

While talking with the Dhaka Tribune, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Md Tazul Islam said: “We want to introduce fixed slaughter spaces and slaughterhouses to perform Qurbani across the country, but we are not getting much cooperation from the countrymen as people of Bangladesh are traditionally used to slaughtering animals beside their residences.”

The minister added: “People are very reluctant and need to act cooperatively to become familiar with a central slaughtering system like in some other Muslim-majority countries. Slowly but gradually, we are moving to introduce a clean and hygienic slaughtering system.”

In 2015, a total of 2,936 places were specifically designated for the slaughter of sacrificial animals in 11 city corporation areas of the country.

In the same year, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) dedicated more than a thousand places across the capital and urged city dwellers, stating that legal action would be taken against anyone who disobeyed the instructions of the City Corporation and sacrificed animals on roads, roadsides, or beside canals or paths.

However, that initiative did not attract much attention from the people of Dhaka or other districts of Bangladesh.

While talking with the Dhaka Tribune, officials from the DNCC and DSCC said that every year they make arrangements at the ward level to ensure clean and safe slaughter practices.

Chief Executive Officer of DNCC Mir Khairul Alam told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday: “We have allocated at least three places in every ward of DNCC for slaughtering purposes this year. We are raising awareness among the people through TV commercials so that they become motivated to use our dedicated places for slaughtering animals.”

Asaduzzaman Asad, councillor of DSCC Ward 21, said: “Every year, I allocate specific places for slaughtering animals during Qurbani Eid in my ward, but people are not interested in this practice.”

Giving an example, Asad, who is the councillor of the Dhaka University area, said: “I allocated an abandoned basketball ground outside Surjasen Hall of Dhaka University, but the people living in the Dhaka University quarters prefer to sacrifice animals on the ground floor of their dormitories. The residents of Priyo Prangon, a condominium in Paribag, usually choose the roads just outside their homes instead of using the dedicated slaughtering place in Paribag.”

Officials involved in the process said that some people find bringing animals to City Corporation-designated slaughtering places a hassle, so they perform Qurbani at more convenient locations. Some also claim that processing the meat with family members after the animals are slaughtered is a joyful practice, which is why they choose their homes or yards as the most convenient place.

However, the method of performing this ritual is evolving, even in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some other Middle Eastern countries where Muslims are the majority.

Mecca Municipality, which oversees Islam's holiest site, allows worshippers to order an animal sacrifice remotely through online platforms and registered restaurants authorized to take orders for sacrificing animals during the Eid season. 

Approved restaurants or online platforms must apply for a free permit, demonstrating high hygiene standards and ensuring the animals are disease-free before Eid. They also charge customers a certain fee for the slaughter, with the cleaned meat then available for collection. Many Saudis are adapting to and approving of the new system.

In Turkey, animal rights campaigners are celebrating progress in their efforts to convince religious leaders, butchers, and slaughterhouses of the merits of stunning animals before ritual slaughter. Livestock warehouses across Turkey offer their customers the opportunity to inspect the animals to be slaughtered in honour of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael before Eid.

In Bangladesh, a private meat-producing company has started an online animal booking and slaughtering system remotely in recent years. However, that company receives many more orders for selling animals than for slaughtering them.