News © 2006 WN Network
KARACHI (Reuters) - Religious organisations in Pakistan are using the Internet to help Muslims in Western countries buy and sacrifice animals for an annual festival. Eid al-Adha marks the end of the Haj pilgrimage each year to Mecca and is known as the feast of sacrifice.
Animals are available on the Web sites for between $100 (51 pounds) for a goat and $450 for a cow.
Some Islamic groups shun the Internet, however, as Web purchases involve paying interest, which is prohibited under Islamic law.
"On Web sites, normally buyers have to pay interest on purchases made on their credit cards," said Rizwan Edhi of the Edhi trust. "We're better off avoiding any controversy relating to Islamic laws." Full Story
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NB. More on Cyber Worship, i.e., use of Internet for services, products, etc. relating to religion (aka Online religion, Religions online), at
Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives, by Mohamed Taher, Scarecrow Press, 2006.
2 comments:
I find it interesting that the media found time to explain the importance and depth of this holiday -- when it related to when Saddam Hussein would be executed --but otherwise there appeared to be little in the way of coverage and analysis of it. (I also will admit that with the Christmas and New Year's holiday I have not been following the news in much depth this week; I could have missed a few reports.) That being said, there was a story about the holiday and the somewhat large Muslim community in Pittsburgh that appeared in the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette a couple of days ago.
Hi Anthony:
Thanks for this comment.
You are right in saying that you find little about certain significant social issues.
I think media is neither medium (read as balance) nor a true messenger. It is simply in Marshall McLuhan's words "the medium is the message." And, public good lost its track in between. I would say, today, matter and business dominates, rather than social and spiritual perspectives.
We need pathfinders like you and me to do what is otherwise--social good.
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