MINA, 12 February 2003 — In commemoration of the Prophet Ibrahim’s readiness to sacrifice his only son to Allah, tens of thousands of sheep, cows and camels were sacrificed by pilgrims in Mina yesterday. They lined up for hours in the midday heat to purchase their offering.
Muhamed Iqbal Noor of Pakistan told Arab News, “I threw my money in with two other pilgrims, and we were able to make a sacrifice of one cow.”
The slaughter traditionally begins on the third day of Haj. The sacrificial offering is obligatory to those performing the Mutamati and Qiran method of Haj but not to the Ifrad method. Other pilgrims offer sacrifice as a voluntary act.
Some pilgrims were victimized by 10 organizations selling fraudulent slaughter vouchers.
“It is disgraceful that someone should make use of Haj to defraud pilgrims,” one of the victims, Ubadiwe Alintah of Nigeria, told Arab News.
“I lost SR350 when I bought a coupon from a man I thought was associated with the company selling the purchase vouchers. Alhamdulillah, I am able to afford another SR350 to buy a real voucher, but what about those who can’t?”
The slaughterhouse at Mina is dubbed the “Modern Slaughterhouse” because it is equipped with machinery and conveyor belts to dissect and package the meat.
The actual killing is done with a single stroke of a knife. This is the Halal method of killing animals, which is supposed to be quick and painless.
Once dead, the animals are put on a conveyor belt system.
Thousands of animals are paraded in front of the workers to be bled, skinned, gutted and then dissected.
The meat from the offering is then packaged, frozen and shipped to various destinations in the Kingdom and abroad, where it is needed to feed the poor.
The sacrificial slaughter continues for two more days.
