Here's the thing I laugh at
Human beings are born with lots of biases. Every human has it. Two of the main ones are
One is called confirmation bias. Which is, if you hold a deep belief and I showed you 10 articles supporting that belief and 10 articles denying that belief, you will only read and absorb the 10 supporting your belief. You will ignore or skim through the ones denying it. It happens with me and it happens with you. We all look for validation of our beliefs. However what has been ingrained in us right from our childhood will always be the right one for us. So please spare me the "has been proven right" thing. Everything can be proven right in some vague way given enough time. For example people can make 100s of excuses why pork should be avoided while beef shouldn't though you have 100s of studies on why beef is bad or pork is good and millions eat pork without any problems
Every human being in history, even the crazy ones will swear on his deathbed that the belief which has been taught to him right from childhood is the correct one and always proven.
The second big bias we all have is called the backfire effect. This effect actually causes people to behave irrationally when presented with negative evidence to their beliefs. So if I showed a flat-earther concrete proof that earth is not flat, instead of changing his mind, it will only make the belief stronger. Again because of this, a human being will only absorve the knowledge he wants to absorb and ignore the ones he doesn't
Why am I speaking about biases here? Because a human being is not a rational person and most things he does is just to convince himself and not others. And he will have his own biases existing. So to an outsider like me, it seems ridiculous that while stealing away the life of an animal, you are concerned about a few seconds of pain. It is like if I kidnap a baby and then tell it's mother that it is ok because I didn't cause it pain when it died. Would the mother be concerned about the few seconds of pain or the baby's life?
Both biases do exist.
But in this case first one holds good, not the second one.
Yes, its true, we think the way we are brought up with. For instance, if a guy is born and brought up with a certain beliefs, and is provided with two sets of facts, half of them supporting his beliefs while half of them denying them, both support and deny his views to an equal effect, he will go for the ones which support him.
For him to change his faith, one must present him with extremely solid facts denying his beliefs to negate the effect of his bias.
Now in my case, since I am a born Muslim, the norms that I have been watching all my life must have created these biases. But that doesn't mean that I have stopped thinking or questioning my own beliefs. And I have got the answers to them whenever I have searched for them even on trying to access them as a neutral (whether I have been successful to think like a neutral or not is a different story)
Yes, my inclination towards my concepts should have helped, but if I find really strong logics which deny my beliefs I would give them a serious thought. Thats why I said second point of yours don't stands here. I am not one of those who feel uneasy when someone contradicts my beliefs. If I am willing to question them myself, others are more than welcome to give me a different point of view.
Now in this case, since according to my views, I am convinced with the fact that sacrificing an animal or taking his life is worth it, the next question is the process of sacrificing, thats what I was discussing. Ofcourse, where the soul of animal goes, can't be scientifically proved, so I have to take the word of the one, whom I trust the most i-e Quran/Sunnat.
Now moving further, the only question remains for me is that the process of doing that, is that right way to do it?
And I was just trying to find the answer of that question.
For someone like you completely unfamiliar with those views, it may sound bizarre that how can I be ok with killing of an animal??
Think it that way. If someone, who has never lied to you or someone whom you trust the most, if that person or a book says that yes, the life of that animal isn't wasted on sacrificing it, would you believe it?
In my case, I do, in your case, I don't know.
Same way, I am an outsider to Hinduism. I found most of the concepts of Hinduism odd. But atleast, I do understand that Hinduism, no matter how odd it is for me is a way of life to many people. So I got to respect their feelings, even if I don't believe on that. Thats how the world moves forward.
What you did wrong was that you didn't realize that according to my set of beliefs, I am comfortable in taking the life of animal, since the cause for doing that is much more greater.
So you termed it as 'hypocrisy', when it isn't meant to be.
Now if I was an atheist, I don't believe in any afterlife or any such thing. For me, killing someone is just a waste of life.
In this case, if I am killing an animal and I show my concern for those few seconds of killing, then yes, you can could have called me hypocrite.
The current scenario is the matter of contrasting beliefs, where I believe in a certain thing while you don't. But then again there would be many such things that you would believe while I wouldn't.
So if everyone start calling each others hypocrite due to clash of ideologies, without respecting each other beliefs, then you can imagine where this intolerance would lead us to.