HALAL AND HEALTHY
What is required for Islamic (Halal, Zabiha) slaughter?
The requirements for zabiha or halal slaughter are to cut the animal so
it bleeds, that bleeding results in the loss of life, and to invoke the
name of God at the time of cutting. The four schools of thought have
different opinions on the number of passages that should be cut but as
long as the cut results in bleeding that results in the loss of life,
all four schools of thought accept the slaughter as halal.
Traditionally,
slaughter was a manual process, with an individual administering the
cut. This is still the case today for large animals such as cattle and
sheep, though a few processing plants have introduced more automation
into the process. Automation has been used in the commercial poultry
industry for some time due to the large volume of chicken being
processed. The automation involves the use of an automated knife to do
the cutting. This has been termed ‘machine slaughter’ while the
traditional method has been termed ‘hand slaughter’.
The question of machine slaughter has been discussed among the Islamic
Scholars and some have concluded it is an acceptable means of
slaughtering poultry while others have concluded it is not. So there is
not a consensus on this issue. However the fact that Islamic scholars
have concluded it is acceptable is sufficient to consider it halal.
All
four schools of thought require slaughter to cause bleeding that
results in the loss of life. This is the minimum requirement. The four
schools have different requirements for the number of passages that
should be cut but as long as the cut results in bleeding which results
in the loss of life, all four schools accept the slaughter as halal.
Many present day scholars around the world as well as the Islamic Fiqh
Council have stated that machine slaughter is halal. Of course, the
animal must be alive at the time it is cut.
Again,
the major requirement for halal slaughter is that the cut cause
bleeding which results in the loss of life of the chicken. Just as with
slaughter using a hand held knife, the knife (or blade) must be sharp,
it should cut the throat causing bleeding which results in the loss of
life, and Tasmiyyah must be performed.
In
the machine slaughter process, the cut is made in the proper area, the
minimum required passages are all cut, and the blood is drained. On this
basis, IFANCA accepts machine slaughter of poultry under IFANCA
supervision. In IFANCA supervised machine slaughter, Muslim slaughter
men must be present, reciting the name of Allah (Tasmiyyah) continuously
on the birds passing by the knife, and slaughtering any birds missed by
the knife. (It is not uncommon that some birds will be missed by the
mechanical process.) The entire process is under the control of Muslims
and further processing does not take place until the bird is lifeless.
This
method may not appeal to everyone and that is okay. Anyone who does not
feel comfortable with this method of Zabiha halal slaughter is free to
avoid it. However, no one should accuse it of being unacceptable
Islamically as it meets the minimum requirements for Zabiha and it has
been deemed acceptable by respected Islamic scholars (e.g., Shaikh
Muzammil Siddiqui, Shaikh Iqbal Nadvi, and many others) and Islamic
Councils (e.g., Islamic Fiqh Council, Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI),
Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), Islamic Religious
Council of Singapore (MUIS), and many others).
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