Saudis Sending Mutton to Muslims
Saudi Arabia is sending sacrificial meat to Islamic countries to distribute to refugees after the slaughter of nearly two million lambs near Mecca on Tuesday as part of the annual Muslim pilgrimage.
The official Saudi Press Agency said that trucks carrying 6,000 lamb carcasses left Thursday for Jordan for distribution among Palestinian refugees.
So far, 52 trucks carrying 31,200 carcasses have gone to Jordan, the agency said. A special plane left for Pakistan on Thursday to deliver 2,800 carcasses for Afghan refugees, it added.
Each pilgrim is required to sacrifice a lamb for Id al Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice). In the past, the meat often went to waste, but Saudi authorites and the Jidda-based Islamic Development Bank now organize deliveries to refugees.
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