Nor
are children spared the blood and gore.
Boys
"are traditionally required to observe the ritual slaughter" says
Nkrumah. "It is a familiar scene, year in, year out -- children darting
forward and back excitedly, jumping up and down. Their blood is up, their
adrenaline soaring."
For years French actress Brigitte Bardot has campaigned against Eid sacrifice
methods in which French laws for animals to be stunned or electrically
anesthetized before being killed and having their blood drained are largely
ignored.
But not all believers sacrifice animals anymore.
"I have been a proud, meat-eating Muslim all my life but the details of the slaughter spelt out in the English language make my stomach churn," wrote writer and filmmaker Parvez Sharma on the Huffington Post website in an article subtitled No Eid For Me.
"First a knee-deep hole is dug. The animal to be killed for qurban (sacrifice) is blindfolded with a piece of cloth," read an email Sharma received about proper Eid slaughtering techniques. "It is made to lie on its left side with its face and throat towards the qibla. Its throat is brought near the hole. The ankles of its front legs are fastened together with one of its hind legs. The takbir of 'Iyd is said three times. Next the following words are said: 'Bismillahi Allahu akbar.' Then, if the animal is not a camel, its throat is cut at any place. While saying 'Bismillahi,' the 'h' must be articulated with due stress and aspiration."
"What about the 'h' in "hate?" Sharma says he asked himself upon reading the message again.
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