Isn’t Animal Sacrifice Cruel?

“Why did God encourage animal sacrifice in the Old Testament? Isn’t that cruel & outdated?”

To many people today, particularly Hindus, animal sacrifice seems too cruel and unreasonable to be a part of God’s teachings. Before we explain, let us remember two things:

  1. Jesus’ followers are not taught to sacrifice animals, and there is no record that Jesus ever did so.

The Meaning of Sacrifice


According to Sunni law, giving Qurbani is wajib (ﺐﺠﺍﻮ) not obligatory (fardh); among Shias offering qurbani is only wajib for people doing Hajj at Mecca, and few people practice it otherwise. So there are different opinions about Qurbani.…