By Olakunle Olafioye
It is another Sallah holidays beginning from today, when Muslims in the country will join the other faithful across the world to mark this year’s Eld-el-Kabir. The celebration marks the end of Muslims’ pilgrimage to the holy land of Mecca.
An estimated two million people had been converging on the holy land in Saudi Arabia in the past few weeks for the Hajj rites, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Eld-el-Kabir, popularly referred to as Sallah festival, is the second of two Muslim major festivities celebrated globally each year.
The celebration is commemorated to honour the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, Isma’il as an act of total submission to God’s command.
Countless other adherents of the faith who could not make it to the holy land, according to Islamic injunction, are required to offer sacrifices as their own token.
The festivity which is marked with funfair and merry-making in several parts of the world, including Nigeria is signposted by the slaughtering of animals like rams, goats, camels among others.
But for most faithful in Nigeria, the worsening hardship in the land has threatened more than ever to take shine off the usual celebration which the occasion is known for.
Many families who have made it obligatory to slaughter rams in marking the festivity have been either constrained to skip the ritual this year or settled for what they can afford to celebrate the occasion.
Sunday Sun correspondent who visited some ram markets in Lagos and parts of Ogun State reports that low turnout of prospective ram buyers and lamentation of low patronage combined to give vent to the economic hardship in the country.
Findings showed that prices of small, average and big rams at these markets ranged between N180,000, N250,000 and N400,000.
While some of the buyers expressed their frustration and dissatisfaction with the high cost of the rams, sellers blamed the development on a number of factors ranging from insecurity in parts of the northern states of the country where the rams are bought and high cost of transporting the animals down to the other parts of the country.
“I have been to two ram markets in town, but couldn’t buy any because of the high cost, that is why I came here hoping it would be better,” a prospective buyer was overheard in a discussion with a seller at Ijako, Ogun State.
At a ram market located in between Meiran and Ijaiye along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, a buyer who simply identified himself as Ramon told Sunday Sun that he was there to purchase a big ram, but ended up with a small one because he could not afford his choice due to high price.
He said that the ram would be supplemented with either fish or cow meat, which he equally noted had become very costly.
“I could not believe the prices they were charging on big rams here. I priced one for N380,000 and another one N400,000. I decided to buy this for N200,000. We will possibly support it with cow meat or fish,” he said.
Besides the prohibitive prices of rams, prices of other basic food items which are largely consumed during the festivity, including rice, pepper, palm oil and other ingredients are also a source of constraints and restraints during this year’s celebration.
“As much as we like to celebrate Salah, we are conscious of the time we are in economically. Moderation must be the watchword. If you have been buying a bag of rice in the past for the celebration, you have to cut it down to half a bag. By this time last year, a bag of rice was less than N50,000. But now it ranges between N76,000 and N85,000. This same goes for other items like groundnut oil, palm oil and pepper,” Mrs Muinat Lawal,” said.
Another major feature of this yearly celebration is that the occasion often unites people as family members, friends and well-wishers come together to commemorate the occasion.
Sunday Sun, however, gathered that many people were hampered by the prohibitive cost of transportation from travelling to visit and to enjoy the festivity with their family members and friends.
A Muslim cleric, Ustaz Idris Abdukarim, urged Muslims not to consider the celebration as an occasion for merry-making only, but also for sober reflection and rededication of themselves to the service of God and humanity.
He also tasked rich Muslims to remember the poor among them in a critical period such as this in Nigeria.
“This is a time we need to show love to the poor among us. Everybody is crying over the hardship in the country. A lot of people do not even know or have what to eat as their next meal. But the Almighty Allah has decided to spare some people from the excruciating pang of this hardship. For this second category of people, they must see it as their duty to extend hands of fellowship to the less privileged people in their families and in their neighborhood,” he admonished.
Another Muslim cleric, Alhaji Yusuf Owolabi admonished Muslim faithful against ostentatious display during the festivity, saying that Islam and the hardship in the country do not support such lifestyle.
He also warned them against borrowing for the celebration, admonishing them to make do with only what they can afford.
His words: “My advice is that they should go for what they can afford. Their utmost desire and motive should be to please Allah alone; desperation and ostentatious living are not ways to please Allah.”
Owolabi noted that though slaughtering of animals like rams, camels is an essential element of the celebration he, however, noted that it was not compulsory that all Muslims should observe the ritual.
“The exception is if you are blessed by God to have the financial resources of buying a ram for the celebration, you are obligated to do so. But for those who do not have the means it is not mandatory,” he said.
Also, a cleric explained that ram sacrifice during Salah celebration signifies the end of the Muslims pilgrimage to the holy land of Mecca, adding that those who were not privileged to go for Hajj were required to offer sacrifices as their own token.
He, therefore, admonished faithful who cannot afford to buy rams to focus on the spiritual significance of the celebration, saying, “the most important thing is the praises we offer on Eid. For instance, on the eve of the Eid-el-Kabir, we are expected to fast from sunrise to sunset to mark the day of Arafat. This is the most important aspect of the celebration.”