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For slaughtering poultry to be halal, the following guidelines MUST be met:
1. The name of Allah (SWT) MUST be mentioned at the BEGINNING of the slaughtering. If the poultry is large in number, it suffices to mention Allah (SWT) once, when the first animal is slaughtered. However, it is preferable to mention Allah’s (SWT) name at the beginning of slaughtering EVERY bird.
2. Slaughtering must be done WITHOUT electric stunning or suffocating by gas. It should be known, however, that MOST POULTRY ARE STUNNED BEFORE SLAUGHTERING.
3. Slaughtering MUST be done by hand and with a sharp knife although the slaughterer need not be a Muslim. Slaughtering by the People of the Scripture is halal. Allah (SWT) says,
"Made lawful to you this day are At-Tayyibat [all kinds of Halal (lawful) foods, which Allah has made lawful (meat of slaughtered eatable animals, etc. milk products, fats, vegetables and fruits, etc.)]. The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals, etc.) of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them." (Al-Ma’idah 5:5)
However, poultry slaughtered by OTHER THAN Muslims or the People of the Scripture is haram (not lawful). With regard to slaughtering by hand and with a sharp knife, the Prophet (SAW) said,
"Allah has commanded good performance in every deed … when you slaughter, slaughter well. Sharpen your blade and save your slaughtered animal unnecessary pain." (Muslim)
4. The windpipe or the trachea, the gullet or the esophagus, as well as the blood vessels or the jugular veins, MUST be cut. The ONLY way to save slaughtered animals unnecessary pain is by this method. The Prophet (SAW) is also quoted as saying,
"You can eat the meat of animals whose blood gushes out and the name of Allah is mentioned when they slaughtered." (Muslim)
It is preferred not to cut off the head when you slaughter an animal. However, if it happens by mistake, it is OK.
For every step there is a merit:
· As for mentioning the name of Allah (SWT) at the BEGINNING of slaughtering, Allah (SWT) explains that He is the One Who created these animals and breathed a spirit into them. Accordingly, He is their real Owner, and therefore, ANY dealing with these animals can ONLY be performed with His permission. ALL killing is FORBIDDEN unless the One Who breathed a spirit into them ALLOWS IT to be performed. This means that as the slaughterer mentions the name of Allah (SWT) when he slaughters an animal, he INTENDS to say, "I hereby kill this poultry by the permission of Allah (SWT). He is the One Who allows me to do that."
· Stunning, however, can lead to the bird’s death BEFORE it is slaughtered. If it dies, it is HARAM to eat. If we suppose that is did not die, stunning usually leads to the following:
First: Weakening of the heart. When it is slaughtered, the blood which is supposed to gush out will be VERY LITTLE. Subsequently, MOST of the blood will REMAIN in the veins and this could result in:
1. A SUBSTANTIAL amount of bacteria will remain in the veins and arteries.
2. This meat will stay consumable for a much shorter time, MAXIMUM 10 MONTHS if freezing is direct, fast, and below minus eighteen degrees centigrade, compared to slaughtered poultry WITHOUT stunning which will remain consumable for TWO YEARS.
3. If only refrigerated, it will stay consumable for FEW DAYS AT THE MOST.
4. Stunning results in an increase in the weight of the bird of about 10% of its total weight. This increase does not benefit the consumer because it is clotted blood in the veins and arteries. Cost to consumers may increase by 10% when birds are stunned without any true gain for him.
5. Due to the abundance of bacteria in the blood vessels, the poultry will be less tasteful.
Second: ELECTRIC STUNNING SEVERELY HURTS THE ANIMAL because it causes an immediate nerve shock which causes the bird intense pain. THIS, in effect, IS AN EXTREME TORTURING for this powerless bird. THOSE WHO STUN POULTRY HAVE NO MERCY IN THEIR HEARTS FOR ANIMALS.
Third: Most slaughtering firms who practice stunning in slaughtering poultry make their profits from increase of the weight of blood remaining in their blood vessels. STUNNING IS DONE NOT OUT OF MERCY BUT FOR FINANCIAL GAINS.
The percentage is not fixed, but ranges between 10% to 35 % and sometimes HIGHER than that. This ratio depends on two things:
1. The level of electric voltage used in electrifying the water in which the bird is stunned.
2. The level of the bird’s resistance to electric current in oil. Usually this is very small.
MANY slaughtering firms in the UNITED STATES, Europe, and other countries, USE THIS TECHNIQUE as a substitute for stunning. In brief, the bird passes in a closed tube filled with carbon dioxide. This in many cases leads to its SUFFOCATION. They claim that this approach is preferable to stunning because the meat is more tender. There is no need to comment on this claim because IT IS ONLY A NEW METHOD FOR INCREASING PROFITS because the blood that flows out AFTER slaughtering is very little.
First, using AUTOMATIC TOOLS in slaughtering in this case does not product sought results; this is because slaughtering DOES NOT ALWAYS TAKE PLACE ON THE NECK. It can occur in the chest or the head or slaughtering MAY NOT TAKE PLACE AT ALL. The reason is that the poultry passes over the slaughtering blade while it is suspended from its legs. Therefore, controlling the passage of the neck of the poultry on the slaughtering blade CANNOT BE GUARANTEED. SLAUGHTERING BY HAND IS NOT SUBJECT TO ANY OF THESE POSSIBILITIES.
As mentioned above, it is the stunning which causes the more severe pain. As for slaughtering by hand, the blood gushes out immediately after cutting the jugular veins; the blood gushes out instantly; no blood reaches the brain, and consequently, the poultry becomes unconscious. At the same time, the spinal chord reacts by sending strong pulses which produce successive shaking of all organs of the poultry, and this causes all the blood to flow out. Soon afterwards the pulses of the spinal chord slow down as a result of the paralysis of the brain, and it finally stops sending pulses completely. Accordingly, the poultry ceases to show any reaction which means it died by slaughtering. Thus, it must be known that SLAUGHTERING POULTRY BY HAND SAVES IT FROM FEELING THE PAIN.
YES, this additional cost can be added to the price of poultry. But, PIOUS AND ALLAH (SWT) FEARING MUSLIMS ARE WILLING TO TOLERATE THIS SLIGHT INCREASE IN PRICE WHEN THEY REALIZE THAT THEIR FLESH IS BUILT FROM HALAL, NOT HARAM FOOD.
Allah (SWT) says:
"The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals, etc.) of the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them." (Al-Ma'idah 5:5)
There are two points to be considered in this regard:
First: The above mentioned verse is general; HOWEVER, it was specified in the following verse,
"Forbidden to you (for food) are: Al-Maytata (the dead animals - cattle beast 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)." (Al-Ma’idah 5:3)
Therefore, if a person from the People of the Scripture eats the meat of a suffocated animal or the meat of an animal which dies of itself, then we do not eat from it. We are informed that THE PERCENTAGE OF DEAD BIRDS RESULTING FROM STUNNING AND MACHINE SLAUGHTERING (as is the case in the WEST), MAY REACH 35% OF MORE. This is a very HIGH percentage and MUSLIMS MUST COME UP WITH ALTERNATIVES. MUSLIMS CAN EAT OTHER TYPES OF FOOD OR MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO SLAUGHTER POULTRY THE ISLAMIC WAY. Therefore, EATING THE MEAT OF POULTRY SLAUGHTERED BY MACHINES DOES NOT FALL WITHIN THE PERMISSIBLE LIMITS mentioned in the following verse,
"And why should you not eat of that (meat) on which Allah’s Name has been pronounced (AT THE TIME OF SLAUGHTERING), while He has explained to you in detail what is forbidden to you, except under COMPULSION OF NECESSITY?…" (Al-An’am 6:119)
Accordingly, if there is a LEGITIMATE COMPELLING NEED for eating this kind of meat, you are permissible to do so IF YOU KNOW that had you not eaten from this meat, you WOULD HAVE STARVED. Nonetheless, if a person from the People of the Scripture offers a Muslim poultry that has not been slaughtered by machine or stunning, it is all right for the Muslim to eat from it AFTER invoking the name of Allah (SWT) on it, and there is no need to ask the slaughterer what he said when he slaughtered it. This is what is meant by the following verse,
"…The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals, etc.) of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you…" (Al-Ma’idah 5:5)
Dr. Dallal has been directly involved in this matter. In fact, he personally attended and witnessed poultry slaughtering by machines and stunning. For instance, some of the countries which use machine slaughtering and stunning are: Denmark, Belgium, Turkey, England, Bulgaria, as well as many others.
IN GENERAL, SLAUGHTERING BY THIS METHOD IS THE MAIN METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING USED IN NON-MUSLIM COUNTRIES.
Information From Al Jumuah Magazine Volume 9 / Issue 4 & 5