Israel and Hamas agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire in Gaza yesterday, a brief respite from the escalating violence that is testing the capabilities of relief agencies already strained by four years of Syrian war and renewed battles in Iraq.  It’s a half day opportunity to park politics and take humanitarian action. 

We’ve all been smacked around by recent news – regional events of increasing horror. Consider the plane crashes (over 700 dead in July alone); attacks at an Egyptian border crossing (killing 22 border guards) and a Yemeni gas pipeline (7 dead); Boko Haram bombings in Nigeria (80 murdered); ISIS assaults on Iraqi Christians (over 150 fatalities); and the incessant bloodbath of the Syrian war (170 killed last weekend).

No time to crawl under our covers. We are not powerless. Broadcasting our political POV via Hashtag tweets and Facebook postings may raise awareness among our personal followers, but when it comes to human aid (as we learned with our hats-for-Syrians drive) cash is king.  We can fight feelings of helplessness with money, and provide immediate help.

Getting assistance to Gaza has long been problematic, and food security has been a chronic headache due to years of blockade and restrictions on fishing and farming. Import of goods and money (thwarted by closed borders and the combined shenanigans of Hamas, Israel and Egypt) is left largely to international aid organizations.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) issued an appeal for emergency food supplies for the estimated 150,000 people displaced in the past 3 weeks.

Swift response came from two Jordanian organizations – Tkiyet Um Ali (TUA) and the Jordan Hasehmite Charity Organization (JHCO) who, together, provided 15,000 family food rations, which will enable UNRWA to feed 75,000 people for thirteen days. It’s a small dent in the growing mountain of need.

Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services and the agency, which is 97% reliant on voluntary contributions, runs a budget deficit of $69 million. You can pop some cash – now – to UNRWA, or several other non-political, non-religious aid agencies we’ve identified below.  Each makes it simple to donate, resulting in immediate aid at point of need.

UNRWA is providing trauma counseling, food, and emergency bedding.  Click here to help. 

TUA is accepting walk-up donations at their booths in Amman commercial centers including City Mall, City Mall Center, Carrefour City Mall, Safeway, Cosmo, Taj Mall, Mecca Mall, Galleria Mall, Sahara Mall – and in Irbid. Call +962 (0)6 4900900 for more information. Or click here for their English/Arabic website.

Not in Jordan? Donations can also be wired to:

Islamic International Arab Bank, Branch Gardens
Tkiyet Um Ali and Charitable Society for Voluntary Work
Account name: Tkiyet Um Ali
Account number: 1,010 / 000 188 -0/505
Jo05IIBA1010000001010000188505

Medical Aid for Palestine delivers medical care working in partnership with local health providers and hospitals. Click here to help.

Awqaf (Islamic Affairs) Ministry for Gazan orphans (a/k/a Monsara) is a Jordan-based charity that seeks to fulfill essential needs of Gaza’s children. Click here to help.

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has three offices and a field staff on the ground in Gaza identifying injured kids and providing them with critical medical care, and providing displaced families with urgent humanitarian aid. Click here to help.

This list is just a sampler of established agencies with proven experience in aid delivery.  Aware of others?  Please leave details in the comments section. Screw politics. Support people.

Image of UNRWA World Food Program trucks from Shutterstock

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Islamic law is crystal clear that in order for meat to be halal, animals can’t be mutilated, deformed or diseased nor experience discomfort or stress prior to slaughter. Any meat that doesn’t abide by these precepts becomes haram.

Can animals used in the live-export trade, who endure long transport in immeasurably cruel conditions (like by ship from Australia) be considered halal?

The Middle East live-imports most of its sheep from Australia, with tens of thousands of animals crammed onto huge ships each month, constrained in abominable conditions.  Half of all sheep deaths during sea transport are caused by starvation as grass-fed animals don’t recognize the manufactured feed provided on ship, and stop eating. Crammed shipboard conditions raise dehydration levels and promote disease.

Spend some time with the halal ranchers oxymoronically named Mercy Slaughter to get a view of how halal sacrifice ought to be done:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc5BWafzEu4[/youtube]

Qurbani is essential for people with financial means, yet none of my Amman Jordanian friends has ever personally killed an animal.  They’ve witnessed the ceremony as children, but never did the deed. Instead, most urbanites drop some dinar with butchers in exchange for a neatly packed parcel of meat and an assurance that the rest is handed to the needy.

Organizations such as Tkiyet Um Ali are also emerging, offering value (thanks to bulk buying) and organized distribution to the poor. An important side benefit of community-centric sacrifice-sharing is mitigation of problems related to improperly executed halal practices and poor waste management, since animals are slaughtered in Australia and meat shipped frozen to the Middle East.

This modernity is further distancing Muslims from animal slaughter. (Islamic vegetarians must participate in the practice: obligated to pay for an animal sacrifice, and distribute the meat to the needy, but they do not need to consume the food themselves.)

In his book Animals in Islam, Al-Hafiz B. A. Masri quotes Sheik Fardi Wagdi, “There may come a day when Muslims shall have to substitute the rite of animal sacrifice with other methods of giving alms.”

There is a growing movement of Muslims who have declared a fatwa on animal killings, who consider that sacrifice is not obligatory. They call to reform animal transport processes and advocate (in lieu of meat offerings) other means of support for the poor, including the sharing of vegetarian food, and pursuit of public services like educational support of the care of orphans.

“It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him.” (Qu’ran 22:37)

Image of sacrificial animal from Shutterstock

The post Eco and Halal the Islamic Rite of Animal Sacrifice Qurbani appeared first on Green Prophet.