Eid-ul-Azha brings business for butchers, blacksmiths

ISLAMABAD: Eid-ul-Azha, one of two major Islamic celebrations, brings good business for butchers and blacksmiths, who because of their monopoly, charge the public at their will for their services.

For blacksmiths, the days before Eid is the time for lucrative earnings as the sale of their hand-made knives and choppersincreases manifold while people also get sharpened the old ones.

Before Eid day, when the people remain busy in buying sacrificial animals, they also try to remain in touch with butchers to get time for slaughtering the animals on Eid days. The butchers remain in high demand till the third day of Eid.

The event of performing `Qurbani' - the religious obligation and Sunnah of Holy Prophet Hazrat Ibrahim (AS), is a unique way of distributing meat of scarificial animals among relatives, friends and poor besides enjoying scrumptious dishes.

"Finding a butcher during the Eid days is a difficult task and for this reason, most of the people prefer to sacrifice animals themselves to follow the Sunnah and avoid inconvenience," said AdnanAhmed, a butcher at a local market.

"The days of Eid-ul-Azha bring unusual income for us as we get sufficient business as compared to other days of the year," he said.

Shareef Hussain, a blacksmith, said that knives of various sizes are prepared before Eid as their sale increases manifold.

The utensils used for Bar-B-Q provide an income opportunity to their owners as people arrange parties and family get-togethers till one week after Eid, he added.

During the Eid days, the knife sellers also roam around on bicycles to sell their products and also sharpen the old knives.

"We are earning enough income by providing this service to the people before and during Eid-ul-Azha days", a knive sharpener Aslam Shah said. (APP)