Muslims in Indonesia are accustomed to sacrificing cattle or goats during Eid al-Adha. However, the people of Kudus, Central Java, have a tradition of sacrificing a buffalo. This turns out to have a long history.
Quoted from a scientific article entitled Social Construction of the Cultural Heritage of Sunan Kudus, the tradition of sacrificing buffalo for Eid al-Adha was started by Sunan Kudus. At that time, the Kudus community had a strong Hindu-style Javanese culture that believed in and held sacred the cow as a sacred animal. Sunan Kudus then used this to spread Islam to the Kudus community.
Reporting from the sociologyagama.uin-suka.ac.id page, before spreading the teachings of Islam, Sunan Kudus appealed to the local community not to slaughter cows as a form of tolerance for Hindus. He also tethered a cow in front of the mosque to attract sympathy. In fact, it is said that he did not eat beef.
This was then followed by the followers and disciples of Sunan Kudus which in the end, the tradition of not slaughtering cows was formed as a form of respect and appreciation for the Hindu community.
This is then firmly held by the Kudus community. They choose to slaughter a buffalo instead of a cow during Eid al-Adha. They believe that if the saints violate this, they will get a curse or disaster. (Source: national.tempo.co)
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