SINGAPORE — No livestock will be imported to Singapore for the Korban ritual this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said in a statement on Monday (June 8).  

Instead, mosques will “facilitate arrangements for Muslims who wish to perform the Korban in Australia, with the meat then chilled and shipped to Singapore”, Muis added.

When asked whether this meant that Singaporeans would be allowed to travel to Australia to perform the ritual in person, or whether the Korban would be done by proxy, a spokesperson from Muis said that this has not been worked out yet.

The council said that mosques will appoint and partner individual vendors who must ensure full compliance to all regulatory requirements for the importation of meat products set by the Singapore Food Agency. 

Mosques will also continue with the practice of distributing a portion of the meat to low-income families within the community, it added.

More details will be released at the end of this month.

The act of Korban is an Islamic ritual that involves slaughtering livestock and distributing the meat to the needy to mark Hari Raya Haji. This year, Hari Raya Haji falls on July 31. 

Muis said that it had to make this move as the pandemic makes the process of importing livestock into Singapore and organising the Korban ritual at the mosques challenging.

“This is especially considering that the situation may remain fluid over the next two months, and the process of importing livestock, distributing the livestock to the mosques and organising the ritual slaughter at the mosques require careful and advanced planning and execution,” it added. 

In the statement, Deputy Mufti Ustaz Mohd Murat Md Aris said: “Protecting the larger community from harm, in the current context, is one of the greatest responsibilities and sacrifices a Muslim may make.”

He added that Singaporean Muslims have been stepping out of their comfort zones by sacrificing the traditional aspects of many religious practices throughout the fasting month of Ramadan and the following months. 

“We choose to delay sending pilgrims for Haj, the fifth pillar of Islam. It is only fitting and in line with the spirit of Korban itself that this modification of practice is also done for the Korban ritual this year, without sacrificing its essence.”

The announcement on this year’s Korban comes after Muis said last month that the annual Haj pilgrimage will be deferred to next year.