What is common to Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, a British soldier on London
street, the Jews of Hebron in 1929 and the Fogel family in Itamar? They
all were butchered. They were not simply stabbed to death, but were
killed by an act designed to decapitate them or to cause
them fatal bleeding by severing their carotid artery. Another common
denominator: all were slaughtered by Moslems. An endless list of Moslem
girls and women can be added to them, those who were similarly
slaughtered by their brothers, fathers or other relatives for “violating
the family honor”. A question that arises automatically is where does
this Moslem tendency to this kind of slaughter come from?
The answer is simple: Slaughter is a routine, widespread practice among many Moslem families.
Many children see how their fathers slaughter sheep when celebrating an
important event, and the whole family is present at the sacrificial
slaughter during Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, when the
slaughter is part of the holiday ritual.
In
modern societies, the slaughter of animals for meat consumption
takes place in slaughterhouses, far from the eyes of the public and
children, who generally get their meat free of blood and hair and ready
for cooking or eating. This sterile arrangement spares the public the
sight of the slaughter, the blood and the accompanying cries. In the
West, many of those who witnessed animal slaughter become vegetarian.
In
many Islamic societies, slaughter generally occurs at home, in front
of the children, and is part of the routine of life. They are
immunized against the sight of slaughter, are not moved by the blood
dripping from the animal’s neck and are not frightened by its snorts and
struggles. In many cases, the children hold the legs of the lamb in
order to immobilize it during slaughter; they sense very well its
frantic reactions as the knife so painfully slices through its neck. The
presence and participation of the children in the act of slaughter
immunizes them emotionally against its influence; when they are older
they perform the custom of sacrifice with their own hands and knives,
and in front of their own children.
The
emotional immunity to the act of slaughter allows a Moslem to utilize
it whenever he feels he must employ radical methods to rid himself of
someone. The slaughter of sheep during the Festival of Sacrifice is
accompanied by the recitation of “In the name of Allah, the
Compassionate, the Merciful”, and the butchering of girls who do not
behave properly is conducted as a kind of execution ceremony. The
slaughterer feels that he is doing something important and worthy,
acting in a way to which he is inured since early childhood.
In
western societies, slaughter seems barbaric, while members of
Moslem societies view it as proper and commendable when carried out
within the proper context. Therefore, slaughtering a Jew, a Christian,
or anyone seen as an enemy, is not considered unusual in traditional
Islamic societies. This is what professional jargon calls “a cultural
difference”.
Mordechai Kedar is the director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (under formation), Bar Ilan University, Israel.
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