How New Technology Is Changing Eid Celebrations

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On Friday, Muslims around the world

will buy a sacrificial animal, have it slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law, and divide up the meat between their family, their relatives, and the poor. The ritual slaughter is among the central traditions of a joyous feast called Eid al-Adha, the larger of the two annual festivals in Islam, which marks the end of the annual hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. In Islamic tradition, the ritual slaughter honors Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son in the name of God, although God at the last moment gave Abraham a ram to sacrifice instead.
In some countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan, celebrants will head to bustling outdoor markets to buy a choice animal—usually a sheep, but people also sacrifice goats, cows, and even camels—directly from the farmer who raised it, and have it slaughtered on the spot. But elsewhere in the Muslim world, the supply chain isn’t so straightforward. Many countries in the Middle East import the majority of their Eid livestock from places like Somalia, India, Romania, and as far as Australia. Some 12,500 Syrian sheep will even be airlifted from Lebanon to Qatar, owing to an ongoing political standoff between Qatar and several Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia, which has shut down the only roads into Qatar.