in ,

Eid-ul-Azha: Four ways to make it more eco-friendly and blissful in Kashmir

Ziraat Times Special by – Aamir Farooq, Anisa Malik, Tasadduq Shaheen

“O children of Adam! … eat and drink: but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.” (Surah 7:31)

This verse from the Holy Quran sums it up all.

On the eve of Eid-ul-Azha, Muslims, across the world, perform sacrifice of a certain permissible livestock to mark the supreme sacrifice offered by Prophet Ibrahim (AS) to obey God’s command about his son Ismael (AS).

Eid-ul-Azha promotes a spirit of sacrifice. It ensures the poor and the vulnerable get food and vital proteins. The festival promotes community bonding of sharing and caring. The practice of sacrifice of animals promotes money circulation from the haves to the haves not, especially to rural livestock rearing communities. It also promotes ecological balance.

However, as human population growth in cities and towns reaches higher levels, many countries are adopting environmentally sustainable and responsible practices on Eid ul Azha to make the festival a source of greater spiritual fulfillment and wellbeing.

The state of affairs in J&K

There is no credible data available about the quantum of sacrifices performed across J&K on Eid. But, nevertheless, the number is huge. In cities, towns and villages in J&K, managing the environmental fallout of unsustainable disposal of animal remains on the eve of the festival is becoming difficult. There are barely any municipal plans and guidelines on how to manage the animal remains on the occasion. Besides, resulting in pollution of soil and water bodies, stray dogs thrive, posing greater risk to citizens, especially children. Municipal corporations, town area committees and community organizations in J&K will have to seriously consider developing such standards and guidelines.

There is a broad consensus today in Jammu and Kashmir that community action would be the best way in making Eid ul Azha more eco-friendly and that community and religious institutions need to mobilise themselves and their resources in defining the Do’s and Dont’s.

What the Holy Quran’s and Ahadith say on environmental protection and conservation

The Holy Quran says:

“It is He who has appointed you viceroys in the earth … that He may try you in what He has given you.” (Surah 6:165)

“O children of Adam! … eat and drink: but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.” (Surah 7:31)

Sayings of the Prophet of Islam (Peace be on him)

God’s Last Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has said: “There is none amongst the Muslims who plants a tree or sows seeds, and then a bird, or a person or an animal eats from it, but is regarded as a charitable gift for him.” (Bukhari).

Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of God (Peace be upon him) forbade that a person relieve himself in a water source or on a path or in a place of shade or in the burrow of a leaving creature.

Islam also forbids cutting or destruction of plants and trees unnecessarily as is evident in the following Hadith:

Abdullah ibn Habashi reported that Prophet Muhammad ( Peace be on him) said: “He who cuts a lote-tree [without justification], Allah will send him to Hellfire.” (Abu Dawud).

The lote-tree grows in the desert and is very much needed in an area which has scarce vegetation. The devastation caused by deforestation in many countries causes soil erosion and kills many of the biodiversity of the earth.

Islam’s approach towards the use of natural resources was emphasised by the Fourth Caliph Hazrat Ali ibn Abi-Talib (RA) who said “Partake of it gladly so long as you are the benefactor, not a despoiler; a cultivator, not a destroyer. All human beings as well as animals and wildlife enjoy the right to share Earth’s resources. Man’s abuse of any resource is prohibited as the juristic principle says ‘What leads to the prohibited is itself prohibited”.

When Abu Musa (RA) was sent to Al-Basrah as the new governor, he addressed the people saying: “I was sent to you by ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab (RA) in order to teach you the Book of your Lord [i.e. the Qur’an], the Sunnah [of your Prophet], and to clean your streets.”

Ziraat Times, in consultation with religious scholars, list four ways we can improve health and hygiene on the festival eve:

1. Planning about eco-friendly disposal of animal remains before the sacrifice

Most people, if not all, before the sacrifice actually seldom plan for respectful and eco-friendly disposal of animal remains. Consequently, their remains are either dumped in the open in public spaces or simply thrown in rivers or even put down public drains. Quite often some people dump animal waste in such a manner that results in seepage of leachate from waste into ground water.

But there are better ways of such disposal. For example, burying some of the waste in pits, using chemicals for speedy decomposition or agreeing on common dumping sites at community level. If done scientifically at the community level, some of the waste, especially the cow dung and the half-digested fodder in cattle stomachs could be used for making fuel, fertiliser and fish feed. We can also spray waste with ‘microbial culture’ for speedy decomposition .

2. NO NO to scattering the animal bones in urban spaces and fields

It is a common practice that animal bones, especially of bigger animals, being scattered in open spaces. In addition of being an environmental hazard, it is bad economics as well. Cattle bones are used for manufacturing capsule caps, so there is a market for them. In South Asia, a kg of raw bones fetch anywhere between Rs 25 to Rs 40.

Not only the bones, even the horns could be put to better use. The horns of cattle are used for making x-ray and cinema films, combs and buttons. Some entrepreneurs would need to pitch in to think of immense business possibilities here.

3. Complete ‘No’ to throwing the animal remains, including genitals in streams and rivers

Again, this is a common practice, but there are better and environmentally sensitive ways of using these materials.

According to the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, the country earned 1.7 crore Takas by exporting different body parts, including genitals, of animals in 2017. Animal genitals, which locals do not usually eat, are popular in many places like China, Thailand and Hong Kong and a huge amount of foreign currency could be earned by exporting them.

If such organs are put into rivers and streams, there is a significant risk of ground water pollution and the spread of epidemics, not only to human but also the aquatic life, including the fish.

4. Better ways of disposal of animal remains in public spaces, fields, etc.

Many ingredients of the animal waste could be put to better use if better planned at community levels.

Mahbub Hasan, a former professor of Dhaka University and also a UNDP consultant, says it was possible to generate 10 megawatts of electricity from 600 tonnes of garbage through the “rapid organic conversion”.

Entrepreneurship initiatives:

There are many entrepreneurship possibilities related to making profitable use of the waste generated on Eid ul Azha. In many cities with significant Muslim populations in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc some startups have developed a system of waste collection, especially the dung and creating rich organic manure from that.

Moreover, with such an approach, the risk of epidemics arising from ground water pollution & the nuisance created by scavengers, especially stray dogs, could be minimised to a large extent.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Loading…

0

May Eid-ul-Zuha strengthen the bonds of brotherhood – LG Manoj Sinha greets people

Rice production under threat for high fertilizer costs, booming demand