Why animal sacrifice dey hapun for religion

Di Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha - or Festival of Sacrifice - dey start on Saturday, to remember prophet Ibrahim willingness to sacrifice im son Ibrahim, wey dey known as Abraham for Christianity and Judaism.

Di belief be say Prophet Ibrahim bin get one dream wey e take as message from Allah, say make e sacrifice im son Ismail as act of obedience. Wen im tell im son di mesaage, Ismail bin gree and ask im papa to obey di command. As Ibrahim wan kill im son, Allah bin stop am and give am one ‘ram’ (sheep) to sacrifice instead.

Muslims around di world for ritual dey sacrifice different types of livestock. Traditionally, di act dey compulsory if pesin get di moni wey pass im or her need.

So, what about oda major religions? How sacrificing animal be for Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity?

Judaism

Di history of Islam get plenti tins wey look alike wit Judaism and Christianity.

Jewish scriptures get different sacrifices, each wit im own times and places, Rabbi Gary Somers, head of academic services for Leo Baeck College for UK tok.

“Nowadays, we no dey practice dis sacrifices sake of say di temple wia dis rituals dey shele no longer exist. Instead, we dey remember dis sacrifices through prayer,” e tok.

Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson na di Vice President of di American Jewish University and Abner & Roslyn Goldstine Dean Chair of Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.

“Wi di destruction of di Second Temple by di Romans, animal sacrifice no longer dey allowed for Judaism. Many believe say e don permanently dey banned, while odas believe say afta di coming of di Messiah, dem go bring am back,” e explain.

Di temple dey tok about di Temple Mount, wia di Al-Aqsa Mosque currently dey stand, di Old Town of Jerusalem.

Jews dey pray say make dem rebuild di temple, wit believe say once e dey rebuilt, e fit return to di practice of animal sacrifices.

While most Jews no dey practice animal sacrifice sake of no temple, some groups for Jerusalem, like di Samaritans, still dey perform sacrifices during Passover. Odas fit donate di moni wey reach di cost of one sacrificial animal.

Weda one sheep, buffalo, cow, or goat, di sacrificed animal gatz dey religiously okay, or ‘kosher’. Dr Artson expand: “Only kosher animals dey allowed for slaughter, dem dey burn some of dem on di altar, dem dey give some of dem to di families of di priests, and celebrants and dia families dey chop some of dem” to describe di history.

Even though direct sacrifices no common, meat consumption dey important for many festivals. Jewish rituals for animal sacrifice dey different and vary according to di purpose of di sacrifice.

Earlier, three pilgrimage festivals of Judaism - Pessah (Passover), Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - get significance as events of animal sacrifice.

Rabbi Gary Somers, head of academic services for Leo Baeck College for di UK, explain say oda festivals like Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) also involve animal sacrifice.

Di tori of Prophet Abraham sacrifice also dey for Jewish scriptures. However, di command to carry out animal sacrifices bin come later and dey slightly different for Jews.

Christianity

Christianity get im roots for Judaism, and di Jewish scriptures get much in common wit di Old Testament of di Bible.

“Books from di Old Testament, especially Leviticus 17, and Deuteronomy, detail how animal sacrifices suppose dey conducted - dem dey do am for morning and evening and during various festivals,” Dr Proshanto T Rebeiro, wey be di pastor of Kafrul Catholic Church for Dhaka tok.

For dat time, animal sacrifices dey carried out wit hope of repentance and forgiveness for negative tins.

But dat custom no longer dey religiously practised sake of di death of Jesus Christ as e show for di ultimate sacrifice. Christians see Jesus as di ‘Lamb of God’.

Although no religious provision dey for sacrifice, for many cases “if pesin make one vow or give promise to God, animal sacrifice dey follow for different way”.

Apart from di Jewish connection, Tradition of animal sacrifice for Christianity in di name of di Creator bin no dey, Dr Reberio note.

However, no restriction on meat wey pesin fit chop. For many kontris, e dey traditional to eat lamb during di Jewish festival of Passover, and Ribeiro note say during im time for Italy, to chop lamb bifor Easter dey feel almost compulsory.

Hovewer, for Christianity no custom of Korban - di Jewish tradition of animal sacrifice for religious purposes.

Hinduism

Although different tok-tok dey for di topic of animal sacrifice for Hinduism, one section of Hindus bin dey practise am.

For example, for many parts of India or Bangladesh, dem dey sacrifice animals for religious rituals, including festivals like Durga Puja and Kali Puja.

“Different ancient Hindu scriptures, like Ramayana [and] Mahabharata, and holy books, [like] Puranas, dey refer to dis animal sacrifice," Dr Kushal Baran Chakraborty, Assistant professor of di Sanskrit Department of Chittagong University (Bangladesh) tok.

"For Rigveda, one of di ancient religious texts of Hinduism, den tok say di animals wey dem sacrifice dey get liberation [and] free from bondage,” e point.

Animal sacrifices dey believed to dey common for di Vedic era, between 1500 and 500 BC. Di meat dey offered to di gods and den dem go chop am for feast. However, different opinions dey on di practice of animal sacrifice among experts for modern India.

Animal sacrifice still be practice for some of di ancient temples, Dr Chakraborty tok. E list temples like Dhakeshwari for Bangladesh, and Tripura Sundari, Kamakhya and Kalighat Kali for India.

However, Dr Rohini Dharmapal, anoda expert on Hinduism, tok say she no know about widespread animal sacrifice for modern India.

Dr Chakraborty note say modern practice of animal sacrifice for Hinduism most times dey emphasise self-satisfaction, competition, or indulgence rather dan di spiritual significance of di sacrifice. E feel say dis dey bring down di sacredness.

Groups for India don willingly stop animal sacrifice for various temples and advocate for ban on di killing of animals for religious purposes.

Sri Lanka and Nepal don ban animal sacrifice by Hindus. But pipo no dey stick to di ban .