“When I held the sheep’s neck and ran the knife over it, I did it with delight.”

My name is Mohammad Jawid.

I am a butcher. I have been doing this for about 30 years. I was 10 years old when I started. My father was a butcher. My grandfather was a butcher. And my great grandfather was a butcher. We have been butchers for generations. When I was a child, my father – may he rest in peace – would say, “Go and help the worker.” So the worker helped me saying, “This is the profession of your fathers; I want you to learn too.”

The first time the worker gave me the knife and said, “Say the prayer”, I didn’t have any feelings of fear, but happiness, because I had learned the profession. I felt joy. I had seen blood and was used to it. When they arranged my first sheep for me, they held it tight, and told me “You do the slaughtering”. When I held the sheep’s neck and ran the knife over it, I did it with interest and delight. That same day, I slaughtered about 60 sheep. I was about 11 years old then.

I have four children, two sons and two daughters. If my son is interested in continuing the profession of his fathers, we do not forbid him. And if he says I want to study, learn computer skills, or to become a doctor or an engineer, we don’t forbid him that either. My daughter will not become a butcher. Slaughtering by women is Haraam.

Eid-e-Qurban is a very nice celebration. Especially the Eid prayer time: Every moment of it is meaningful, if one understands it. It’s a celebration of joy. When people do the Hajj and they return, they must do a sacrificial slaughter once a year on the occasion of Eid. The concept of slaughtering an animal is related to Hajjis.

For that reason, as a butcher I am very proud of my job and that I serve people on these three days. Others wear new clothes and go sightseeing, but I serve the people with dirty clothes and knives around my waist.

There’s much demand for the butchers because there are not many of us. The meat of the slaughtered sheep or cow – one part is for the home and the other is for the poor. It is packed in plastic bags and distributed to the doorsteps of the poor people – orphans, widows, etc – in the area. This is part of the duty of a sacrificial slaughter.

In one day, if the customers’ houses are not far from each another, I could possibly slaughter 20 sheep. We start after morning-prayer and work until the sunset. I butcher a sheep in half an hour, for a cow it would be an hour and a half. The rate is 500 Afs for sheep. The rate for cows varies if it’s small, I would charge 2000afs, and if it’s a lot bigger up to 4000Afs.

Those three days make me so exhausted that I can’t move. When I come home and lie down, I don’t have enough energy to move a glass of tea to my mouth. It makes me that tired. It’s physical work and needs to be done quickly in order to catch another customer – that is why it’s so much pressure. Before finishing with one customer, there is another one. These days make me so proud, so happy. I have very nice memories of each and every Eid.

One day I was going to slaughter a cow and it went mad. The cow escaped. We tried to stop it by car but we failed. The cow was completely mad and would hit anyone crossing it on the road. Finally we called the Police. They came and shot the cow with an AK47. We were there, so we quickly blessed it and slaughtered it and didn’t let it to turn Haraam. I was exhausted because we had ran so much, and sad for the people who were hit injured. I was so angry. I took the axe to cut some meat part but it slipped and hit my hand. My hand was badly cut. That was a day to remember.