Has Wolf in Sheepskin Snuck Into Turkey's Eid Al-Adha?
For the first time in 14 years, Turks can donate the hides of the 2.5 million livestock they sacrifice during Eid al-Adha, causing secularists to fear Islamist charities will have a $50 million payday.
While walking to the supermarket, I noticed the man crossing the path of those who were leaving my local mosque after the night prayer. The 50-something man with a round-trimmed beard was asking them whether they would be sacrificing a ram or a calf on Oct. 15, the beginning of the four-day Eid al-Adha, the Islamic festival of the sacrifice.
The bearded man was trying to convince others to donate the hide of the sacrificed animal to his charity, explaining, “We’re building a new mosque in the adjacent neighborhood. May God bless you if you can help build it.” He held a thick stub of receipts in case anyone opted to donate cash.
What the bearded man did that night had once been illegal. The government recently legalized it with probably the most overlooked article in the latest democratization package, which pleased mostly the AKP’s conservative base, as Al-Monitor contributor Semih Idiz pointed out.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sept. 30, “We’re abolishing the restrictions on collecting donations for charities. The Turkish Aeronautical Association was the sole authority to collect the hides of sacrificed animals, as well as zakat al-fitr [Islamic alms for the poor]. We’re ending this practice.”
