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Originally Posted by Naimul_Hd
Actually, being a non muslim, you have raised a very good question.
In Indonesia, many people now a days give the money to charity instead of Qurbani. The reasons are that, over the last decade, many disasters struck Indonesia. Fatal earthquakes in Sumatra. Flash flood in Sinjai and Papua, Yogyakarta quake and Merapi volcano, tsunamis, hot mud flood in Sidoarjo. Adding to that, the rise of food price and economic crisis have lessen the capability of many of brothers and sisters in sustaining their lives. They need financial help than any other things. For this reason, there are many muslim charity org who take the responsibility of taking Qurbani money and distribute to people who need it. However, the question is, is it permissible in Islam ?
Charity instead of Qurbani ?
According to scholars, for every human being who believes in Allah, there are two distinct spheres of interaction in which relationships come into existence. The first sphere covers a person's relationship with Allah, while the second one constitutes a person's relationship with his fellow human beings.
Islam has prescribed specific forms of worship of which one form cannot replace the other, since each has its own purpose and objective. Animal Sacrifice is one such form of worship. It has an underlying philosophy which must be well be appreciated in order to do it in letter and spirit. Just as salat cannot replace zakat and vice versa, animal sacrifice also cannot be replaced by zakat or charity. What animal sacrifce induces in a person, zakat or salat or hajj do not.
But if you ask me, I know that Qurbani is Wajib and saving a life is farz, so if you have to chose between saving one's life and slaughtering animal, I will go with the latter. For example, if my brother is dying of any diseases and he has no money for better treatment, I have to take care of him first and then if I am still capable of doing qurbani then I have to do qurbani.
Unfortunately, the way we muslims celebrate Eid Ul Adha is not right. We often forget about the true essence of it. Now-a-days, people celebrate it to show off their wealth and social status which is totally against Islamic value. So, if you ask me, its becoming a symbolic gesture of social status. Moreover, people go to Gorur hut one day before the Eid which I think not good too. Cause, i heard that (no genuine source), you need to have that animal at least few days earlier so that you can feed it, care for it and you develop affection towards it. So, you slaughter it, you should feel for it that is totally absent in today's Eid Ul Adha. Having said that, there are still many people who try to avoid such show off kurbani thing.
ps: please don't take my comment personally. No offense to anyone.
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