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My aunt called me the other day asking if I wanted her help to buy a goat to kill on Idul Adha or the Day of Sacrifice for Moslems. She already bought a cow worth seven million rupiahs as a sacrifice to be slaughtered on that day on behalf of her household. The meat, she said, would be distributed to the less fortunate living near her area.

I asked her where she was keeping the cow in the meantime, and she said the poor animal was already tethered in the backyard waiting for the fateful day. And no, she did not give her a name. It’s not a pet but a sacrificial animal.

I then suggested rather than buying a goat for slaughter, she could buy lots of fruits, vegetables and other healthy food for the same amount of money and give them to her needy neighbours instead of goat meat that would most likely end up as ‘sate kambing’ or meat goulash? I reminded her of my reservations about eating meat let alone encouraging people to consume the stuff. It’s not good for the health or the environment.

Besides, I always shudder whenever I see those sorry-looking goats on sale, tethered at the sides of the road munching at goodness knows what unhealthy stuff on the ground as they await their judgment day under the knife. Or the sight of the poor cows with sad eyes being transported on the back of trucks: it is as if they know what bloody fate lies ahead of them.

My aunt told me not to be silly. The whole Idul Adha Day is not about healthy food and charity but it’s a symbol of sacrifice when once upon a time in the dawn of religion when God (who was a lot more severe and demanding in those days) wanted Abraham to prove his devotion to him by sacrificing the one thing that he loved most, which was his son. Abraham, despite his anguish, was obedient and prepared to sacrifice his son (Ismael or Isaac, depending on the Moslem or the Christian version of the story) on the altar whereupon God, satisfied with Abraham’s obedience, swapped the boy for a lamb.

If the gesture is symbolic, I suggested we could always make the offerings shaped like a goat. What kind of sacrifice would it be without an animal being killed, my aunt explained patiently. You need to shed blood. Moslems need to make a sacrifice on sacrificial day. What kind of sacrifice would it be with fruits and vegetables?

Out of curiosity I asked if she believed Abraham and his son ate the sacrificial lamb or gave it away to the poor. And why was she slaughtering a cow when God substituted Abraham’s son for a lamb (or was it a goat?). Where did the cow idea come from? Why not just stick to the goat? Especially if a lot of the cows in this country are actually imported from abroad. Why are we enriching foreign cattle farmers in this sacrifice thing?

She said she got a cow because she was well-off enough to be able to afford it and the amount of meat she could give away is a lot more than a goat’s. Which brought me to two other points.

First, if the important thing is to shed blood and you could basically sacrifice any animal depending on what you could afford, then why stop at goats and cows? How about sacrificing chickens, ducks and fish as well particularly by those who cannot afford to buy the bigger animals? The cheapest price of a goat these days by the way is around one million rupiah, the equivalent of a monthly minimum wage. That way, all religious faithful could perform some sort of animal sacrifice and shed blood. Otherwise, the sacrificial act is a religious ritual that is a privilege of only those who could afford it, changing the meaning of the sacrifice to alms (or in this case, meat) for the poor.

The second point is, where is the real element of sacrifice if what you’re doing is not a big deal? I argued that I thought the whole point of Abraham’s sacrifice is to show a love for the almighty that is far greater than the love he has for his son: Thus his willingness to sacrifice his son, his most precious thing in his life. What sort of sacrifice is it in buying a cow or goat you could readily afford and distributing the meat in plastic bags to people who are not really in desperate need for animal protein?

The way I see it, the only sacrifice here is made by the poor cow that has to have its throat slit open and blood drained while still very much alive and scared out of its wits.

By this time my aunt was beginning to lose her patience. Well, are you going to get a goat or not? She asked.
All right, I said, but only because I’m sacrificing my principles. Which I suppose are most precious to me.

(Desi Anwar: First published in The Jakarta Globe)