Eid ul Azha Observance in Pakistan Transfers Billions of Dollars From Urban to Rural Population
An often overlooked benefit of buying and sacrificing millions of animals during Eid ul Azha celebration is the massive transfer of wealth from relatively rich urban population to the comparatively poor village population. In other words, it helps create jobs and redistribute wealth to alleviate poverty in a similar way as zakat, taxes and sadaqa (charity) do. Here's a blog post I wrote last year (2016) on this subject and I am reproducing it below: Pakistanis are spending about $3.5 billion on Eid ul Azha this year, according to analysts. This includes $2.8 billion worth of livestock and another $700 million on clothes, shoes, jewelry and various services . This amount represent a huge transfer of wealth from urban to rural population in the country. Animal Sacrifice: Eid al Adha commemorates the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his most beloved son Ismail (Ismael) when asked to do so by God. It follows...