Qurbani, Muhabbat and the Negation of the self: An ethnography of slaughter and consumption by Muslims in Mumbai during Bakri Id

This paper is an analysis of the consumption practices constitutive of Bakri Eid in Mumbai. Every year millions of Muslims around the world gather for Eid ul Adha, the annual animal sacrifice (qurbani) that commemorates the Prophet Abraham’s sacrifice. In South Asia the actual day of qurbani is prefaced by a period of extensive preparation. Muslims purchase goats months or days in advance and nurture and care for them in their housing compounds. In Mumbai, the streets of Dongri and Muhammad Ali Road, the old Muslim quarter of the city, are replete with scenes of intimacy and affection between goats, men and children in the build-up to the event. On the day of Bakri Eid, the scenes transform into carcasses in all stages of process, blood stained clothes and bodies, the exchange of meat and sharing of meals. Typically literature on consumption argues for the marking and making of identities. Studies on Islamic self-making discuss certain Islamic practices as techniques for the cultivation of Muslim ethical selves. Though not mutually exclusive, this paper will focus instead on the negation of identity and self as a powerful and often overlooked aspect of Muslim ethical life that offers a rich ground for understanding Islamic consumption. Sensory engagement of the worshipper with the animal during various stages of the event as a whole urge reflection on the transience of life and the need to recognize and overcome false notions regarding the importance of the self (nafs). The capacity for these practices to elicit these self- negating reflections is provided by the discursive concepts of love (muhabbat), sacrifice (qurbani) and the desire to follow God’s orders (hukm) as they pertain to Bakri Id. Through an ethnography of Bakri Eid in Mumbai this paper contributes to debates on the anthropology of consumption and the self