KARACHI: For 65-year-old retired government employee Wajid Farid, the Eid holiday is all about the spirit of giving.

While professional butchers can charge anything from $70-140 to slaughter an animal, Farid offers the service for free on the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, traditionally marked by the slaughter of animals, whose meat is shared with family members, friends and the poor.

“It’s been 18 years since I started this job of butchering out of passion,” Farid told Arab News as he cooked food at a small eatery he runs in the Gazdarabad neighborhood near Karachi’s famous M.A. Jinnah Road.

“I don’t take any money from anyone for this and ask them to give this money either to a mosque or to a deserving person in charity.”

Farid’s services are mostly sought by his friends and relatives, but he never hesitates to slaughter the animals of strangers who come to seek his help as Karachi faces a dearth of skilled butchers amid high demand during Eid.

“I am very thankful to Allah that despite my age I am doing this,” he said, crediting the blessings in his life to the mantra of giving rather than getting. “Allah has given me so much courage and strength. I don’t have any kind of illness, nor do my children and wife have any illnesses.”

Farid’s friends and family say they are proud of his charity.

“This is a good deed,” Muhammad Jalal, Farid’s childhood friend, said. “He has been doing this for a long time and he does not take any money from those who avail his services but asks them to donate it to deserving people by paying for their rations, rent, or electricity bills.”