I think the ritual slaughter is somewhat gross and unethical. Surely it hurts nobody if the animal is stunned first? Who could possibly object to some simple measures to limit the suffering, like stunning before slitting the throat?
Proposed Bans
United Kingdom
The government of the United Kingdom has never introduced or passed any ban on ritual slaughter.
[edit] Proposals from animal welfare groups
Note: this section is duplicated from the similar "Modern Debates" subsection -- this is an open problem, see talk page
Since the mid-1980s, proposals have repeatedly surfaced from the animal welfare advocacy groups based on animal cruelty concerns.
Most recently, the debate was reignited by the findings of a 2003 report by the UK government funded Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). FAWC, which provides advice to the UK government on livestock animal welfare issues, says that the methods employed in Jewish and Islamic ritual slaughter resulted in "severe suffering to animals" and recommended an end to the current exemptions in British law that permit religious slaughter.[1]
FACW concerned was based on their finding that cattle require up to two minutes to bleed to death when ritual slaughter is employed. Dr Judy MacArthur Clark, chairwomen of FACW, explained it to the BBC: "This is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn't suffer is quite ridiculous."[1]
Compassion in World Farming, a European animal welfare organization, voiced support for FAWC's recommendation: "We believe that the law must be changed to require all animals to be stunned before slaughter."[1]
Peter Jinman, the president of the British Veterinary Association said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that veterinarians respected people's religious beliefs but also urged for respecting animals. He continued "We're looking at what is acceptable in the moral and ethical society we live in."[1]
Roy Saich, a spokesman for the Humanists movement, is quoted as saying:
"There is no imperative for Muslims or Judaists to eat meat produced in this manner [...] There is no reason why they should not simply abstain from eating meat altogether if they do not wish to eat the same meat as the rest of us."[1]
"But for the most part, British Jews believe their government when it stresses that this ban has been proposed with the sole intention of minimizing animal distress. But that doesn’t mean they agree with it."[15]
[edit] Consistent support of bans from anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic groups
The far-right National Front (NF) party, via offering support to the animal welfare groups in their opposition to the ritual slaughter of animals, was able to target Jews and Muslims.[16] An official NF publication at the time announced:
"All the Jews have to do is stop this barbaric and torturous murder of defenceless animals. When they cease the slaughter the NF will cease its campaign. Until then the NF campaign for animal welfare will continue."[16]
Similar support was offered to animal welfare groups in the mid-1990s by the successor to the National Front, the British National Party (BNP). A report on anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom from the Israel-based Stephen Roth Institute detailed the familiar tactics of the BNP:
"On the far right [...] the move by some activists into so-called animal rights and farmers' campaigns against central government, has led to a small but growing movement against shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter). In March 1998 [...] copies of a new BNP journal, British Countryman, were distributed. This contained an article entitled 'Stop the Real Cruelty,' which stated: 'Hundreds of thousands of animals die in terror and agony by having their throats slashed open without humane stunning. Halal and kosher ritual slaughter of fully conscious animals is a barbaric affront to the British tradition of livestock [...] Ritual slaughter is a deliberate torture!'" [17]
Searchlight, an anti-fascist magazine, wrote in February 2003, describing that the BNP again renewed its opposition to Jewish and Islamic ritual slaughter in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks. Searchlight gave this description of the party: "Today's BNP is as Islamophobic as it is antisemitic." [18]
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_ritual_slaughter
I think the ritual slaughter is somewhat gross and unethical. Surely it hurts nobody if the animal is stunned first? Who could possibly object to some simple measures to limit the suffering, like stunning before slitting the throat?
Actually an animal suffers more pain from being stunned then being killed by one swift swipe of a sharp blade. In studies carried out, it proved that in ritual slaughters an animal's brain hardly registered any activity due to pain.
Maybe someone has links relating to those findings.
Hang on, are you saying sedation and stunning causes more pain than slitting a throat? I strongly disagree with that. With large animals it can in fact take as long as a minute before the animal loses consciousness.format_quote Originally Posted by Muslimah_Sis
The whole process is very cruel and that is exactly why virtually all animal rights group are campaigning against this method of slaughter.
its true. the way muslims slaughter the animals is more humane than stunning.format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
see the research for urself
By Dr. Aisha El-Awady
Islam’s stance on what is permissible to eat and what is not is clear. There are strict rules when it comes to meat regarding what is allowed and what is forbidden.
In Surat Al-Maida (The Table) Allah says: "Forbidden to you [for food] are: Al-Maytatah (the dead animals -cattle-beasts not slaughtered), blood, the flesh of swine, and the meat of that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah, or has been slaughtered for idols, etc., or on which Allah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering, and that which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by the goring of horns - and that which has been [partly] eaten by a wild animal - unless you are able to slaughter it [before its death] * and that which is sacrificed (slaughtered) on An*Nusub[ (stone altars). [Forbidden] also is to use arrows seeking luck or decision, [all] that is Fisqun (disobedience of Allah and sin). This day, those who disbelieved have given up all hope of your religion, so fear them not, but fear Me. This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But as for him who is forced by severe hunger, with no inclination to sin [such can eat these above-mentioned meats], then surely, Allah is Oft*Forgiving, Most Merciful."
The Islamic practice of slaughtering animals by means of a sharp cut to the front of the neck has frequently come under attack by some animal rights activists as being a form of animal cruelty, the claim being that it is a painful inhumane method of killing animals. In the West, it is required by law to stun the animals with a shot to the head before the slaughter, supposedly to render the animal unconscious and to prevent it from reviving before it is killed so as not to slow down the movement of the processing line. It is also used to prevent the animal from feeling pain before it dies.
German Research Studies Pain
It therefore may come as a surprise to those who have made such acclimations to learn of the results of a study carried out by Professor Wilhelm Schulze and his colleague Dr. Hazim at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover University in Germany. The study: ‘Attempts to Objectify Pain and Consciousness in Conventional (captive bolt pistol stunning) and Ritual (halal, knife) Methods of Slaughtering Sheep and Calves’ concludes that Islamic slaughtering is the most humane method of slaughter and that captive bolt stunning, practiced in the West, causes severe pain to the animal.
In the study, several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points of the skull of all animals, touching the surface of the brain. The animals were allowed to recover for several weeks. Some animals were then slaughtered by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck cutting the jugular veins and the carotid arteries as well as the trachea and esophagus (Islamic method). Other animals were stunned using a Captive Bolt Pistol (CBP). During the experiment, an electroencephalograph (EEG) and an electrocardiogram (ECG) recorded the condition of the brain and the heart of all animals during the course of slaughter and stunning.The results were as follows:
I – Islamic Method1. The first three seconds from the time of Islamic slaughter as recorded on the EEG did not show any change from the graph before slaughter, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any pain during or immediately after the incision.
2. For the following 3 seconds, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep - unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood gushing out from the body.
3. After the above-mentioned 6 seconds, the EEG recorded zero level, showing no feeling of pain at all.
4. As the brain message (EEG) dropped to zero level, the heart was still pounding and the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action of the spinal cord) driving a maximum amount of blood from the body thus resulting in hygienic meat for the consumer.
II - Western method by C.B.P. Stunning
1. The animals were apparently unconscious soon after stunning.2. EEG showed severe pain immediately after stunning.3. The hearts of animals stunned by C.B.P. stopped beating earlier as compared to those of the animals slaughtered according to the Islamic method resulting in the retention of more blood in the meat. This in turn is unhygienic for the consumer.
Western-Style Slaughtering and Mad Cow’s Disease
Not only is this method of stunning animals before the slaughter severely painful as shown by the previous experiment, but there is also a rising concern that this method may be a factor in the spread of mad cow’s disease from cattle to humans as it was discovered in recent research carried out at Texas A&M University and by Canada’s Food Inspection Agency, that a method called pneumatic stunning (which is the firing of a metal bolt into the cow's brain followed by a pulverizing burst of 150 pounds of air pressure) delivered a force so explosive that it scattered brain tissue throughout the animal. This news is disturbing since the brain tissue and spinal cord are the most infectious parts of an animal with mad cow disease, which causes fatal Swiss cheese like holes in the brain of the infected animal. It is more disturbing to find out that around 30 to 40 percent of American cattle are stunned by pneumatic guns.
Islamic Regulations for the Slaughter
As one can see from the previous studies, Islamic slaughtering of animals is a blessing to both the animal and to humans alike. In order for the slaughtering to be lawful, several measures must be taken by the one performing the deed. This is to ensure the highest benefit to both the animal and the consumer.
In this regard, the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) said: "God calls for mercy in everything, so be merciful when you kill and when you slaughter: sharpen your blade to relieve its pain".
The object used to slaughter the animal should be sharp and used swiftly. The swift cutting of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerves in the brain responsible for pain. Thus the animal does not feel pain. The movements and withering that happen to the animal after the cut is made are not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient in blood. The prophet (peace be upon him) also taught Muslims neither to sharpen the blade of the knife in front of the animal nor to slaughter an animal in front of others of its own kind.
The cut should involve the windpipe (trachea), gullet (esophagus), and the two jugular veins without cutting the spinal cord. This method results in the rapid gush of blood draining most of it from the animal’s body. If the spinal cord is cut, the nerve fibers to the heart might be damaged leading to cardiac arrest thus resulting in stagnation of blood in the blood vessels. The blood must be drained completely before the head is removed. This purifies the meat by removing most of the blood that acts as a medium for microorganisms; meat also remains fresh longer as compared to other methods of slaughtering.
Therefore accusations of animal cruelty should very rightly be focused on those who do not use the Islamic way of slaughtering but prefer to use those methods which cause pain and agony to the animal and could also very well cause harm to those consuming the meat.
Sources:
stunning is not easy on the animal. its extremely painful especially to chickens because they are stunned with high voltage and some of them even die from the shock of the stun.format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
thats putting them through torture before death
Am i the only one who finds this a complete joke?He continued "We're looking at what is acceptable in the moral and ethical society we live in."
it doesnt matter that women prance around naked and the young are encouraged to commit all kinds of obsene acts due to the influence of media, it doesnt matter that the women that hold there shame as a invaluable jewel are looked down upon, this society is moral and ethical?
nice joke, nice !
I Guess the person who made the statement is lacking in sense of humour.format_quote Originally Posted by IbnAbdulHakim
(Let's stay on-topic)
I personally thought that stunning the animal retains their blood, which then clots up. come on, who wants to consume meat with congealed blood?
I don't know about that. My Sicilian great grand mother used to insist on picking her poultry while it was living (to ensure it was healthy) and she attended the slaughter so she could pray over it. She insisted this made all the difference in the world. She didn't live to see the scandal here about chicken coup abuses. To most people, the meat didn't taste any different, but there's another side that some will swear, makes all thedifference in the world... that old saying: You are what you eat... who'd want to consume all that misery?format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
Who knows? Maybe animal abuses would end if humans had to SEE how they impact the other species? And maybe that would lay off my case for not be happy about dinnner time?
Ninth Scribe
He is. But as it is religious issue so there is no point debating.format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
format_quote Originally Posted by amani
She was refering to the ones that stay alive after the stun...format_quote Originally Posted by Joe98
Funny, unless you know how to read between the lines, which I learnt in english and history lessons. Some people need to pay attention during class! Today's children seem to be getting thicker by the day.
Zabah
The ritual slaughter in Islam is termed as Zabah. Literally, the term Zabah means to purify as the purpose of Zabah is to purify the flesh of the animal from flowing blood. In Islam flowing blood is impure and prohibited for consumption. Among other reasons of flowing blood being impure, some are:
a) Flowing blood transfers nutrients to the tissue cells and returns with the waste products of the tissue cells. These waste products are harmful and are removed from the blood through the function of the kidneys.
b) Blood contains organisms which are responsible for various diseases.
c) The presence of flowing blood in flesh causes the flesh to putrefy.
It is therefore necessary to purify the flesh of the animal from the impure flowing blood, by extracting maximum blood.
In Islamic Jurisprudence, Zabah is to cut the neck in order to severe the two jugular veins, the gullet and windpipe. It will suffice if any three of the four blood pipes are severed. The spinal cord should not be severed as it maintains connection between the brain and the body which enables convulsion after slaughtering. Convulsion squeezes out the remaining blood in the body.
The Islamic procedure of Zabah enables maximum extraction of blood, within a close circuit. The purpose of extracting maximum blood has been explained. The purpose of rapid extraction of blood is to avoid blood clots. Both aspects, removing flowing blood as well as avoiding blood clots are equally important to health. To explain this further, I seek refuge in the verse of the Quran:
3)Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine -flesh. And that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the dead through beating, and the strangled, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of ) horns and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which have been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear ME! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion AL-ISLAM. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin; (for him) lo! Allah is forgiving merciful.
4) They ask thee (O Muhammad) what is made lawful for them. Say (all) good things are made lawful for you. And those beasts and birds of prey which ye have trained as hounds are trained, ye reach them that which Allah taught you ; so eat of that which they catch for you and mention Allahs name upon it, and observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is swift to take account (Maaida verse 3 and 4)
Abominable acts in slaying during Zabah
i) It is abominable to first cast the animal down on its side and sharpen the knife afterwards, or to kill one animal in the presence of another.
ii) It is abominable to let the knife reach the spinal marrow or to cut of the head of the animal.
iii) It is abominable to perform Zabah with a dull instrument. The Prophet commanded that knives should be sharpened and should be concealed from the animal to be slain.
The procedure of Zabah and pain
Since the operation of Zabah is on an animal which cannot talk, we have to use our perception of pain to determine whether the animal feels pain in the procedure of Zabah or not. The procedure has four stages
a) cutting the skin
b) wound on the neck
c) bleeding
d) convulsion
1) A person who shaves, probably has the experience of cutting his skin sometime or the other, that is not painful.
2) Since the four blood vessels are cut, the animal becomes unconscious and does not feel pain.
3) Bleeding itself is not painful as can be understood by the contribution of a blood donor.
4) Convulsion is not painful as the animal is unconscious. This can be understood by the example of an epileptic. He does not feel any pain during epilepsy.
The Islamic procedure of Zabah collaborates with its literal meaning of Zabah purification. Purification in consumption is paramount importance for good health. Purification is half of faith.
Last edited by Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн; 11-12-2006 at 09:53 PM.
Animals are not sedated, only stunned.format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
Two reasons for this are costs to sedate, and food laws prohibit administering such a drug prior to slaughter. The drug would end up in the animals tissues and be consumed by the consumer.
This actually depends on whether or not your stunner is set up properly. There is a optimum setting for each type of animal, and this setting will never kill the animal, and there is little pain as the stun is immediate - 'if' it is set up properly. Often they are not. I will say though, that it is rare that the setting would be left to actually kill the animal, this undesirable as the slaughterhouse needs the animal to bleed out. If the setting is killing them, this would be quickly corrected as they lose money if the animal is not bled properly.format_quote Originally Posted by amani
No. This is not true, the animal bleeds very well while stunned.format_quote Originally Posted by Musaafir
I personally thought that stunning the animal retains their blood, which then clots up. come on, who wants to consume meat with congealed blood?
As for the arguement pain in one method or the other. Yes there have been some scientific studies, but it is unlikely they take into consideration all factors. The stun method can be immediate with very little or no pain provided that the stunner is properly set up. This often is not the case, it depends strictly on the technician responsible. As far as the amount of suffering without being stunned, well, it would depend on how sharp the knife, and how skilled the person was holding the knife. I imagine there is some room for error here.
In both cases I can say this. It is in the best interest of those that slaughter animals to keep the animals as calm as possible. Meat that comes from an animal that was excited or fearful at the time it was slaughtered is tough, and does not taste as good. Not to mention it is easier to slaughter the animal if it is calm. They do not suffer anguish as they usually do not know what is going to happen.
Well, I mean, we have been ordered in the Quraan to stay away from 'the meat of the dead animal', and what is under question here is 'Stunning kills the animal'.
If the stunning does not result in the death of the animal, then it is ok. Like Gary has put so nicely.
But Allah knows best.
Last edited by afriend; 11-12-2006 at 10:41 PM.
Having been a farmer. I can say that a stunned animal will get up and run off if it is not properly killed within a minute after stunning.
But, I am not certain of any specific ruling on killing an unconcious animal.
format_quote Originally Posted by Tayyaba
It's just the same in the West.
The issue is how to kill the animal.
-
Which we explained already my friend.
Something to consider. No matter what a non-Muslim thinks of our method of slaughtering animals. Stop and think these thoughts.
It makes it very difficult for some one to kill an animal for any purpose except for food. Sport hunting can not be done in a manner acceptable to Islam. Plus, the slaughtering takes considerable thought and is not simply a sanitized killing to provide meat for taste and not for nourishment. The value of a food animal is appreciated and slaughtering for food is not taken lightly.
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