Eid-Al-Adha has always been about catching sight of sheep everywhere on the streets of Cairo at least one week before the feast. Blood rivers fill the streets when the sacrifices are slaughtered on the first day, right after the Eid prayers. This is unhealthy, inhumane and sadly the exact opposite of how the rituals are supposed to be performed. Muslims were asked to sacrifice animals in the feast according to certain rules which many seem to have forgotton, such as animals (sheep, cows,  and camels) are not supposed to slaughtered in front of each other and the knife should be very sharp so the animals won’t be hurt.

Two days ago, Cairo Governor Galal Saeed placed a new fine of 5000 EGP on anyone who sacrifices their cattle or sheep on the street, definitely a long-awaited respected move. People have been used to butchering the sacrifices on roof tops, in balconies, back yards and garages. Sometimes, they even butcher the animals themselves without prior knowledge of  the right way to do so. The new rule should guarantee that the animals are slaughtered the ‘right’ way.

However, lots of butchers were not prepared for this law. They have small shops which won’t accomodate all the animals that are going to be slaughtered. They think the ban should not be reinforced on the first day of Eid.

In general, the initial reaction to passing this law has unanimously been “akheeran hanekhlas men el araf da!!” People are finally relieved that they won’t need to witness the infamous blood floods on the streets or have their buildings smelling terribly offensive for the rest of the Eid.

We really hope that this new ban will be enforced so that this Eid and future Eids will be more humane and clean, and the blood filled streets will be a memory of the past.