MINA: Thanks to computer technology and SMS messaging, Muslims at the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca were able today to make their Eid al-Adha sacrifice without getting blood on their hands.
The more than 1.8 million pilgrims from around the world participating in the hajj had the option of computerised coupons to order a sacrifice on the Muslim holidays marking the end of the hajj – without even seeing the beast.
Many among the world’s more than 1.5 billion Muslims themselves pick up a knife and kill sheep or other animals to mark the Al-Adha feast, Islam’s holiest.
“If each pilgrim himself sacrificed a sheep, there wouldn’t be enough space,” said Rabie Saleh, a Sudanese in line at a Saudi post office at Mina’s Jamarat Bridge, where pilgrims symbolically stoned the devil in the last major hajj rite.
The Eid al-Adha ritual commemorates Prophet Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son, before he was replaced by a lamb, and symbolises the believers’ submission to God.
The meat is shared out, especially among the needy. (AGENCIES)
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