Selamat Hari Raya Bloodilfitri

May peace be upon you.

First and foremost, to my Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha.

Also to them, and to the rest of you, enjoy the gore.

Hari Raya Aidiladha is an Islamic holiday to commemorate the incident of Prophet Ibrahim(/Abraham) where he was made to sacrifice his son Ismail(/Isaac). As a commemorative gesture, every year Muslims present the sacrifice of cattle in their name.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like some cult blood sacrifice. To begin with, the slaughtering process is done in the Halal way, which is through quickly severing the carotid artery and draining the blood, for a most peaceful death. Secondly, the sacrifice(korban) itself is not to offer the cattle's life to God, but to acquire the meat and distribute some of the meat among family (kinda like oranges on Chinese New Year) and the rest is donated to the needy.

It is a justifiable event and all, but if you're standing in front of the fated sheep, witnessing the knife fall down onto the neck and absorbing the sight of every trickle of blood, one can't help but to flinch a bit.

Not that I have hemophobia of something. Okay, maybe I am a little held back by my relation to the Animal Rights Activist Society. But mass slaughtering of animals for an occasion is a little wrong.

Okay, thinking of the other worst things people do in other crazier occassions and the people that Saddam slaughtered, maybe this one isn't that bad.

Let us end of properly.


In the name of Allah
the Most Merciful and the Most Compassionate

We thank you again for this wonderful day of Aidiladha,
for our health to live this day,
and for continued health to see the next.

In Allah's most precious and Holy name
Amin.