But God who asked for Ishmael replaced him with a ram, which of course was slaughtered as a sacrifice to the Almighty Allah. This happened in the ages but today, ram is not only slaughtered, it is taken to the battlefield before the Sallah day.
This is one of the periods I love. It is the time children are happy and ready to go to a field with you to see ram fight. At ram market today, there are sizes of these animals and they are classified according to their fitness and age.
I have followed a Muslim brother to a ram market in Gbagada, Lagos State. He was to buy two rams. You are allowed to pick the size of ram you like, depending on how fat your pocket is. There were rams that sold as high as N200, 000 and those as low as N30, 000.
He chose two big rams and was ready to pay N75, 000 for each. However, the negotiation changed when a bigger ram was brought into the market. The ram seller took this special white, strong and beautiful ram to a separate place. It stood alone, very attractive.
How much is this ram, my friend had asked? N250, 000, the ram seller replied. But before my friend could inquire further, our northern friend spoke in heavy Yoruba Language, “Se Iwo Fe Fi Ja Ni”.
He queried if my friend wanted to use the ram for a game? No, my friend had replied. “We are buying for Sallah.”
I learnt that healthy rams are the best quality for Eid-el-Kabir and any ram with a disability cannot be killed for the festival. It is not acceptable. But at the ram market, the healthier, bigger and fitter rams are separated for those who need them for a game.
They are costlier and can be used to make money. However, children take rams, bought for Sallah celebration to the field for a fight and thereby injuring them. Some of these rams are put on a bet in an unorganized competition few days to “Ileya” festival.
In his view, a Muslim cleric, Sulaimon Abdukareem, a Muslim told our correspondent that it is unfair to turn Sallah ram into a sports ram. To him, the ram can die in the process. “In this case, the purpose of buying the ram has been defeated. We preach against this and warn parents to stop their children from taking the rams to a battlefield.”
Abdulkareem explained that it is cruel to engage animals in battle. But in his opinion, Mr Tairu Badru said that rams could be used for sports like horses and bulls.
Badru who organizes ramming competition regularly in Lagos said that the contest is not done during Ileya. “We have ramming competition to make money. We only source for quality players during the Sallah festival and prepare them for a game in the future,” he said.
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