As Suriname prepares to mark Ied-al-Adha, the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice, on Wednesday, severe economic pressure driven by skyrocketing livestock prices has forced the Muslim community to rethink traditional ritual practices, according to a top local Muslim association leader.
Michel Soebhan, chairman of the Surinaamse Moeslim Associatie (SMA), the Surinamese Muslim Association, says the 2026 celebration offers a literal lesson in the core meaning of the holiday: that communities must sacrifice personal wants, desires and appetites to build a stable, prosperous future for coming generations.
The sharp uptick in prices for sacrificial livestock — including cattle, sheep and goats — has triggered a dramatic drop in the number of ritual animal sacrifices this year. But Soebhan emphasized in an interview with local outlet Starnieuws that this shift does not erase the core spiritual meaning of the holiday. Instead, he says, it highlights the values the feast was designed to teach.
“If you do not have the financial means to offer an animal sacrifice, the ritual is not obligatory,” Soebhan explained. “In that case, the celebration only requires prayer.” He noted that the Feast of Sacrifice is ultimately centered on two core values: communal solidarity and personal self-discipline. “The holiday does not only teach us to sacrifice animals. It teaches us to sacrifice our own excessive desires and adjust our unsustainable lifestyles,” he added.
Current economic conditions in Suriname have forced households across the country to make major changes to their spending, and Soebhan says the holiday’s rituals naturally align with this new reality. “We must adjust our lifestyles to match our actual financial capacity, and stop demanding things we cannot afford,” he said.
Touching on Suriname’s long-standing macroeconomic challenges, including years of high national debt, expansive subsidies and strained social services, Soebhan argued that the public must come to terms with the fact that many luxurious habits the population has grown accustomed to are no longer affordable. “We have to embrace sacrifice,” he said. “The Feast of Sacrifice teaches us that we can overcome any crisis by making thoughtful sacrifices for the common good.”
The scale of the price increase is staggering when compared to just a few years ago. Where the SMA once facilitated 50 to 60 cattle sacrifices annually, only around five cattle will be sacrificed this Wednesday. A 150-kilogram slaughter bull that cost between 600 and 700 euros just a few years ago rose to 1,400 to 1,500 euros last year, and has now jumped to 2,500 euros in 2026.
Sheep and goats have seen similarly dramatic price hikes that put them out of reach for most ordinary families. A small sheep yielding approximately 10 kilograms of meat now costs 12,500 Surinamese dollars, while larger sheep can cost between 15,000 and 20,000 SRD. “Most people simply cannot afford that anymore,” Soebhan said.
The decline in sacrifices has also ended a long-standing community tradition of distributing meat to vulnerable groups. For a decade, the SMA delivered donated sacrificial meat door-to-door to community members and local social institutions, with around 10 local social services receiving 10 kilograms of meat each annually from the association’s stock of donated offerings.
Soebhan repeatedly reiterated that animal sacrifice — known as Qurbani in Islamic tradition — is never an obligatory practice for those facing financial hardship. “Religious teaching is clear: if you have the means, you can share meat and offer sacrifice to support the poor. If you do not have the means, you are not required to participate in the animal sacrifice, and the celebration through prayer alone is still complete,” he said. He added that he still expects a small number of last-minute sacrifices to be arranged on the day of the holiday itself by community members who have the means to participate.
As in previous years, the official celebration will open with the Ied-namaaz holiday prayer at the National Iedgah Suriname, the SMA Center located at 91 Livorno Road. The day’s program will kick off at 8:00 a.m. local time, with the prayer service scheduled to begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.