Eid ul Adha is an auspicious occasion where muslims world over are sacrificing the animals in memory of the Prophet Ibrahim ( A.S). It is a boon for the agriculture economy, as millions of the cattle, sheep, camel etc are sacrificed world over. The people associated with raising such animals are waiting for these days. So that they could sell their livestock at good rates. So all people associated with raising animals get benefitted from this sacrificing tradition of muslims which has started with prophet Abraham (A.S). We will leave it for the historians and islamic scholars to enlighten us about Eid ul Adha. We would be talking about Eid ul Adha from the environmental angle.

The sacrificing of animals generates millions of hides of the animals. Unfortunately, In Kashmir and some other places, there are hardly any takers of the hides. Earlier, hides were fetching good amount of money from the market. As these are used to make leather products, furnishing items, jackets etc. Due to some reasons, the demand of hides have decreased drastically. The people are now made to look for the ways to dispose off the hides in such a way that they are not eaten away by the dogs or nor thrown somewhere like a trash, as it wouldn't be fitting to do that with the hide of a sacrificial animal, in particular. Such practices which degrade the animals are strictly prohibited. But some people don't listen to it.
Many people are throwing these hides into the water bodies. Such practices should be strictly avoided. As our water bodies already have much organic load. Increasing the organic load further, will be very harmful for the water bodies. It would lead to reduction in dissolved oxygen content of the water body to the extent that the water body would start decomposing the organic wastes anaerobically. Which would results in the generation of foul smelling gas like Hydrogen sulphide, methane etc. Over course of time these water bodies would start stinking. The same water body which was attracting us towards it, with its pristine beauty, diverse fauna and flora would now act as a repellant for us. So in no case, we should dump the hides of our sacrificial animals in the water bodies.
Dumping the skin of sacrificial animal on the land would be akin to dis-honouring the animal. Further, it would become a nuisance for the public residing near by. It would attract the stray dogs and other animals which might become problem for the residents of the area particularly kids. Besides, it would become breeding ground for different pathogens and vectors. Which would cause diseases in humans. Sometimes, to the extent of becoming the epidemics. It would go against the principle of cleanliness, on which Islam has emphasized much. The sayings of hadith is, " Cleanliness is half of the faith"
The better option in case of no demand from any industry is to give honourable burial to the skin of dead animal. As it part of the body of sacrificial animal. The burial would lead to its decomposition over time and the important nutrients present in the skin would be taken out by the decomposers. These will get mixed up with the soil and will be available for the plants. The fertility of the soil will enhance. The nutrient substances would be taken up by the plants. Hence it will be part of the nutrient cycling, which is a must for the ecosystem to sustain. There is a lesson for humans, like in nature there must be least or no wastes at all. Wastes from one system must be an input for other system. Otherwise we would be overwhelmed by the wastes in the future. The least we could do is to imitate, how the nature works. It would help us a lot in modifying the human ecosystems
Like other festivals, In Eid times, we are dumping large amount of non biodegradable wastes ( polythene, plastics) into the environment, leading to environmental pollution. Besides, we are also dumping lot of noise into the environment by use of public address systems, fire crackers etc. causing lot of inconvenience to the general public. It might cause permanent hearing loss to the people. Our joy should not result in lifelong disability to anyone. It would go against the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), “Whoever harms [others], Allah will harm him, and whoever causes hardship [to others] Allah will cause hardship to him”
Let our Eid or other festivals be environmentally benign. There shouldn't be wastes generated which are not assimilated in nature. The foods consumed should be eco-friendly from the production to transportation to consumption. The use of public address systems, fire crackers etc should be regulated.
The tail point is no festival or celebrations should be a way to degrade the environment. We must look for ways of celebrating the festivals which are eco-friendly. As damage done in days to the environment could not be undone by the years of work. The damage could be permanent scar to the environment, with which we are to live. So preventing the damage to the environment would be in our best interests.

Email:----------------bhat.manzoor2008@gmail.com