Egypt Trip (part II) – The Eid’s Bull

The third day of our trip must have been the most exciting day of our whole trip.

We woke up early at around 6:30. We prayed the Eid Prayer in the small mosque near the hotel where we shared the joy of the Eid with the other locals there. After that, we split to two groups. Some of us went back to the hotel to rest a bit and continue their sleep, while the rest went to the hosting family's house to give our farewells to "Tutu" (as his owner preferred to call him) before he goes under the knife as the Eid sacrifice for the year.


So get introduced to Tutu; A 2 year old, 350 KG in weight male bull. Alot of years has passed since the last time I witnessed sacrifices being slain in front of me. And this was definitely the first time I see a bull being sacrificed. And there is no way I am gonna miss it.

By the time we arrived, they were already untying the rope that connected the bull to the tree. They were slowly walking it to its final resting place; the sacrificial sanctuary that was in the form the building's parking lot. The car garage, located at the basement of the building, has been cleaned and prepared to be the sacrificial haven for all those sad animals sitting there waiting for their fate.

Since Tutu was the only bull among many sheep, it was decided that it'd go first. The pair of butchers was eagerly waiting to demonstrate their swift slaying skill on their first victim. We kept on cheering as they walked the bull. And I am behind them taking photos.

However, the uneventful happened. The bull refused to succumb to his fate and started retaliating against his capturers. He knocked one of his capturers in the chest. That aided in his escape and he was running freely in the garage.

I was taking this picture before I realized that I was 2 seconds away from being flown by this raging animal.

Instinct instantly kicked in. I jumped sideways (like the way Lara Croft jumps in Tomb Raider games). All those who were cheering moments ago has panicked and haphazardly scattered to hide from the raging bull. The bull circled the garage twice, doing some mild damage to few cars on the way before he managed to find the exit. It kept on running till it reached the main street. It kept running on the sidewalk till no one managed to keep up with its pace.

The problem is that those family friends' house resided in the neighbourhood that was close by to the President's mansion. Our worries has been further escalated when 10 minutes later, news arrived that bull has reached the President's mansion. It had gone past the first park, and the second park. This was sufficient enough to alarm tens of guards patrolling the mansion. If the bull dared to pass by the third and last park leading to the Mansion, the guards would have shot it dead. This will not only mean that we lost the sacrifice but it means that the owner of the bull (the family friend) will be further interrogated by the intelligence agencies and God only knows how will they handle this situation.

The bull in the 2nd park

Luckily, the bull stopped by itself in the 2nd park (looks like bulls even know their limits). This gave us some time to get more people on site to try and capture him.

Yet the outbreak is not over yet. It seems that this short stop at the park was just a pause to catch on its breath. The bull was further raged when more people (especially the Mansion Guards) surrounded the area. the bull started his run once again back to the road he came from. It breezed by me as I was trying to avoid its path.

His 2nd stop was in front of the Air Forces Gate. He went through a narrow gap in the road block set up there. The guards immediately circumvented to block its escape. They immediately covered both exits and were using their sticks to scare the bull. The bull's rage slowly diffused and it was being replaced by grief. It slowly realized that this crowd is on to it and that they will not let it go. for it when It started moaning with its sad voice. I slowly realized that this new sparkling in its eyes is only a reflection of the light on the tear drops that are forming. My heart ached for it. I could no longer be like the rest of the crowds who enjoy videotaping and photoshooting this unforgettable moment.

In front of the Air Forces

The bull was slowly succumbing to its fate and allowing people to drag it. But some idiot decided to cover its head with a bag to prevent it from seeing where it was going. This has raised the fear of the bull and gave an adrenaline injection that prompted it to start running again. Blinded by the cover, it didn't know where it was going. It ended up crossing the highway. What alarmed it to stop was the screeching sound of the cars' tires that had to stop before they knock the bull off. Finally, someone managed to hold the bull off and drag him off the street. Before further actions, they tied the back pair of legs so his running would be restrained. The drama is over.

After stopping the cars on the highway

With the exception of that guy who got knocked in the chest, we were thankful that there were not further accidents. They slowly walked the bull back to building's garage where they managed to knock it on the floor. What really pissed me was the careless butcher.. Usually, you should use a huge knife so that you slay the throat with one or two hits. The purpose is that the animal should die and shouldn't be made to suffer.

However, this idiot butcher used a small knife, like the ones you use to cut fruits, to slay this huge bull. It was devastating to see him cut through his throat like he is cutting a shawerma stick. He kept on cutting but it is not deep enough. So he put his hand inside and started pulling the bull's gut while it was still alive. ( A picture exists but the last thing I need is animal rights people come chasing me)

What a disgusting scene it was. It was not the first time I see animals being slaughtered but it is the first time I feel disturbed by the carelessness in such a sacrifice. The last scene I saw before I walked away was the fountain of boiling blood spilling from the bull's gut

And that's why I decided to become a vegetarian...

7 comments:

7aki Fadi said...

:'( . That is just disturbing

Qwaider قويدر said...

That's why I prefer Kosher slaughter. The animal's throat is slit only once. Otherwise it's no longer considered Kosher (or Jewish Halal)

Large animals are usually killed by stabbing them in the heart (Na7er) it's way more humane than slaughtering like that. This is just sad!
I'm not going to become vegetarian, but someone should tell that butcher that he's disobeying the laws of Islam on slaughtering animals. He needs to be educated on how to do this huge task, the proper way.

La 7awala wala quwwata ella billah

KJ said...

That was sad and disgusting!

The most important thing when you want to slaughter an animal is the butcher needs to sharpen a large knife in front of it. It was discovered that when you do that, the animal calms itself by releasing painkillers because it knows it will die, and the butcher needs to do it quickly so the blood empties as soon as possible.

This butcher just defied all laws. I hope you didn't eat from its meat

asoom said...

ok ummmm the way that the bull was slaughtered kind of defeats the purpose ya3ni, this is an ad7iya but it wasn't even slaughtered the zabi7a way. I can't believe that from that whole crowd noone noone voiced their concern over the butcher's little knife before he started!

Anyway, with shadow of the wind I only got to p.20 and I'm now reading another book until you guys are done-so you're good. But if you only have 50 pages shouldn't you be done in like 2 days and not a whole week?

eshda3wa said...

this post is just toooo graphic for me!

Sam said...

that is is disturbing..poor bull...ya 7aram! this is why i do not care about hala meat..because alot of those so called halal butchers so do not do it by the book...o well..

Hamza said...

7aki Fadi & eshda3wa - you haven't seen the picture of the actual slaughtering yet

qwaider - all of us were disappointed with the butcher & we made sure that he knew that. In fact, none of us are gonna buy from him again or eat from meat that he makes. Thanks and welcome to my blog. ;)

KJ - it was a critical situation since as i said, the butcher was raging and I don't think he was cooling down anytime soon. But I still agree that a bigger and sharper knife should at least have been used.

asoom - we voiced our concerns but considering the trouble the bull gave us, we just wanted to get over with it.

sam - I didn't care about halal meat when I was in Canada. But trust me, Halal meat tastes better and is healthier coz it contains less blood than non-halal meat.