In a bid to make customs in Islam compatible to changing times and more scientific, Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal (MSM) and Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmula Samiti (MANS) joined hands to organise blood donations camps across the State, instead of sacrificing animals, on the occasion of Eid-Ul-Adha on Wednesday.
“We work towards pragmatism and scientific temper. For us, social health is more important than religion or beliefs. The blood donation camp is an attempt to instil scientific temper into the minds of Muslim community members and to connect through the blood relation beyond religion and caste,” Dr. Shamsuddin Tamboli, president of MSM, said.
MSM has been holding blood donation camps for over a decade on Eid-Ul-Adha, while appealing to Muslims to not give kurbani (sacrifice) of an animal bought from the market but instead do something which will help society.
“Customs and rituals of a particular period may be appropriate for that time. But we believe that those should be changed as time changes,” he said, adding that such efforts were not against the religion but instead helped evolve it.
Blood donation camps that began in Pune, Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Gondvale, Latur, Karad, Phaltan, and parts of Mumbai on Wednesday will continue over the next one week.
MANS too has been supporting in this endeavour. “Opportune positive scrutiny of a religion is our way of functioning. Despite the progressive heritage of Maharashtra, scrutiny of Islam is difficult due to lack of progressive voices within. We don’t want people to be atheists, but support scientific scrutiny of religious beliefs,” said Dr. Hamid Dabholkar of MANS.
Dr. Dabholkar said that the blood donation camps were a step towards making a religion human-oriented than god-oriented. “People voluntarily came forward when we announced these camps. We see this as a small but significant change in the Muslim community and hope to continue this exercise despite opponents,” he said.
