No Qurban Slaughter, IPB University Lecturer Shares Eid-ul-Adha Story in Reading City, UK

As Muslims, no matter what country we live in, the celebration of Islamic holidays is always a special moment to be celebrated. This is also felt by IPB University lecturers who are studying abroad.

Asri Sulistiawati SKPm, MSi, an IPB University lecturer from the Department of Science and Communication for Community Development (SKPM), Faculty of Human Ecology (Fema), shared her Eid al-Adha moment in Reading City, United Kingdom (UK).

“This year is my second year celebrating Eid-ul-Adha here,” said the lecturer who is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at Reading University. “Last year, I prayed Eid in a big field called Central Park and was a little surprised because many people attended Eid prayers there,” she said.

Reading is one of the cities in the UK that has many Muslim communities. There are Muslim communities from Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and other Muslim countries. There are also many mosques, Islamic schools, and even Arabic schools in the city.

She continued, “But this year because I prayed Eid at the Muslim Center and it happened to coincide with the holiday time, so those who attended Eid prayer were not as crowded as when I was in Central Park.”

Asri said that the difference between Eid-ul-Adha in the UK and Indonesia is that there is no slaughtering of sacrificial animals in the UK.

“The regulations in the UK are strict. Slaughtering cannot be done carelessly. Meat sellers must also be certified and register in advance.” she explained.

However, UK Muslims can still perform qurban by transferring it to other Muslim countries such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and others. Mosques in the UK provide applications so that Muslims who want to perform qurban can choose to distribute their qurban to other countries.

Although there was no slaughtering of sacrificial animals, Asri was still able to celebrate with the Indonesian Student Association or Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia (PPI). “We can still eat satay, but by buying our own meat, not qurban meat,” she added.

Lastly, she gave a message, “May our worship continue to be strengthened and smooth wherever we are. Especially for those who are away from their families, let alone abroad, it must be a different struggle,” she hoped. (Fatin/Rz) (IAAS/HLF).