Inflation and the global rise in prices resulting from the war in Ukraine have weighed on this year’s Eid al-Adha or Feast of Sacrifice, leaving many Muslims in the Middle East unable to buy a lamb or even meat to remember how the Prophet Abraham offered his firstborn son to God.
After two years of limited celebrations due to the pandemic coronavirus and the ensuing economic crisis, this year’s Eid represented a real sacrifice for millions of Muslims in the region.
In some Middle Eastern countries, especially those dependent on meat imports, the population has once once more suffered the consequences of a crisis which has dragged on since 2020 and which has weighed down the festive spirit of the season.
THE SACRIFICE OF THE YEMENIS
“We can’t afford it (the slaughter), we just came to watch and take some pictures with the sheep,” Efe Ghaleb al-Dhamari, a 40-year-old Yemeni man who was walking through a market in Sanaa with his wife and three children.
Al Dhamari se plaint que “prices have gone up a lot” and that he cannot afford to pay the 90,000 Yemeni rials (regarding $150) to slaughter a sheep, which is already one of the most affordable animals.
Mohamed Ali is another Yemeni who left the market empty-handed due to the rising cost of livestock, and he explains to Efe that he will buy two kilos of lamb for his family, which he says many his colleagues will also do so because of the impossibility of buying an animal in this country devastated by a war which began in 2014.
EGYPTIANS TIGHTEN THEIR BELT
In Egypt, the most populous Arab country, the crisis and the collapse of the local currency have forced many to tighten their belts, as is the case of Mohamed Said Rashad, 40, owner of a studio of photography in Cairo.
He told Efe that before the crisis he worked as a volunteer in an association where animals were slaughtered for Eid and where the meat was distributed to the poor, but this year, “participation has dropped considerably” because “there are many difficulties due to the commitments they (people) have in life and their current situation”.
“This year, with the significant increase in prices, I was only able to participate in the slaughter of one lamb, which will affect the amount of meat we will give to the poor, and what will be left for the family. as well,” he said.
Mohamed al Wageh, a 41-year-old butcher, explains that a kilo of lamb previously cost between 60 and 75 Egyptian pounds (regarding 3 to 4 dollars), while this year it has risen to 80 and 105 (between 4, 20 and 5.50 dollars), adding that sales fell by 20% during this holiday.
LEBANON LOSES ITS PARTY SPIRIT
Sitting outside his clothing store in a popular market in Beirut, Ali told Efe that visiting his uncles, offering sweets to loved ones and occasionally killing a goat is now a thing of the past: “We don’t feel of Eid because of the situation,” he said.
Nearly 80% of Lebanese live in poverty due to the impact of the severe economic crisis that started at the end of 2019 in the Mediterranean country, where prices are constantly rising, basic products such as fuel are in short supply and the local currency has lost more than 90% of its value.
“Thank God, at least we have health in our bodies,” Ali said from his chair.
IRAQ CRISES
Mohamed al-Tamimi, a livestock trader in northwest Baghdad, told Efe that he expected to have many customers for the holidays, but that the rise in the price of lamb – which is this year between $150 and $550 – hit his business hard.
According to him, this increase in the price of meat is due to “the absence of control on the part of the government” and the speculation of the sellers, while he also blames “the period of drought which has hit Iraq hard and caused a significant reduction in livestock this year”.
For his part, Raad Shaker, 45, tells Efe from the market that he and his wife were planning to slaughter two lambs this Eid, but that they were surprised by the exorbitant prices.
“It forced us to recalculate and make the decision to buy just one lamb, which cost us 350,000 Iraqi dinars (regarding $239). That’s too high a price for a lot of people,” he says.
