The Covid-19 pandemic has upended all facets of life, including religion.

For Muslims, the recent Hari Raya Puasa holiday was disrupted as it fell during the Circuit Breaker period and families could not make their traditional visits.

Now preparations are underway for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidiladha or Hari Raya Haji, and the Korban ritual which is traditionally performed in mosques.

Korban ritual will be affected by Covid-19

Due to the Covid-19 situation, Muslims here will not be able to perform the Korban in local mosques this year, according to a press release by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) on June 8.

This is because the process of importing livestock in Singapore, distributing it to the various mosques and organising the ritual slaughter requires careful advance planning, while the situation in Singapore remains fluid due to Covid-19 uncertainties.

Mosques will therefore help Singaporeans who wish to perform the Korban by liaising with approved vendors in Australia.

These vendors must ensure full compliance with all regulatory requirements for the import meat products set by the Singapore Food Agency.

The meat from the slaughtered animals will be chilled and shipped to Singapore. Mosques will still distribution a portion of the meat to needy families here.

These arrangements will allow Muslims here to observe the ritual while safeguarding public health.

Essence of the practice

According to Deputy Mufti Ustaz Mohd Murat Md Aris, the essence of the practice of Korban is that Muslims make sacrifices in submission to God's will.

"Protecting the larger community from harm, in the current context, is one of the greatest responsibilities and sacrifices a Muslim may make."

As Singaporean Muslims have already had to sacrifice aspects of other religious traditions, such as delaying the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, "It is only fitting and in line with the spirit of Korban itself that this modification of practice, is also done for the Korban ritual this year, without sacrificing its essence."

More details will be released at the end of June 2020.

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Top image by Wengang Zhai via Unsplash.