HALAL! The most humane method of animal slaughter!
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Halal: The most humane slaughter
By Syed Ashraf Ali published 3 years ago
Original Article Source: The New Nation, Dhaka
The
great festival of Eid-ul Adha, popularly known in this subcontinent as
Bakrid, is celebrated by the Muslims all over the world on the tenth of
Dhul-Hijja every year through sacrifices and prayers in memory of the
glorious sacrifice of the prophets Ibrahim Khalilullah and Ismail
Zabihullah (peace be upon them).
Millions
of cattle are slaughtered on this auspicious day with a view to
receiving the Divine Mercy through benevolence, Samaritanism, patience
and constancy. This noble effort is, however, condemned by many ignorant
non-Muslims, shrouded by total ignorance about the significance and
sublime essence of Qurbani, as an act of wanton cruelty. What is more,
the Islamic practice of slaughter or sacrifice by slitting the throat
with a sharp knife has come under attack by some animal rights activists
as being an inhuman form of cruelty to animals.
It is
claimed that the slaughtering of an animal with a knife is the most
painful and tortuous method of killing. Nothing can be farther from the
truth. It has been established beyond any shadow of doubt, through
impartial scientific experiments conducted in non-Muslim countries, that
the Islamic method of slaughtering with a knife is the least painful
and thus the most humane method of killing an animal.
An
animal is being stunned in a slaughterhouse in BrazilIn most of the
Western countries, it is required by law to stun the animals with a shot
in the head before the slaughter. It is done with a view to rendering
the animal unconscious and thereby preventing it from reviving before it
is killed so as not to slow down the movement of the processing line.
It is also used from a humanitarian point of view. It is presumed that
this stunning prevents the animal from feeling pain before it dies. But
research conducted in a non-Muslim country like Germany has come out
with very surprising findings which nail to the counter the allegations
against the Islamic method of slaughtering with a knife.
The
intensive research conducted at the School of Veterinary Medicine,
Hanover University in Germany was headed by Professor Wilhelm Schulze.
He was assisted by Dr. Hazim. The study was named: "Attempts to
objectify pain and consciousness in conventional (captive bolt pistol
stunning) and ritual (Islamic method of cutting with knife) methods of
slaughtering sheep and calves."
The
results were most unexpected to the non-Muslim Westerners. The claim
that the CBPS (Capital Bolt Pistol Stunning) method was least painful
and most humane dashed to the ground. The findings testified to the fact
that the slaughter of an animal with a sharp knife is the least painful
and most humane of all methods of killing.
In the
study several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points of
the skulls of all animals under experiment, touching the surface of the
brain. The animals were allowed to recover for several weeks.
Some
animals were then slaughtered, according to the Islamic method, by
making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck cutting the
jugular vein and the carotid arteries as well as the trachea and
esophagus. Other animals were stunned with the aid of a 'Captive Bolt
Pistol' (CBP).
During
the experiment an electroencephalograph (EEG) and an electrocardiogram
(ECG) recorded the condition of the brains and the hearts of all the
animals during the course of slaughter and stunning.
The results were as follows:
Slaughtering with a knife (The Islamic Method)
1. The
first 3 seconds from the time of the slaughter (in the Islamic Method)
as recorded on the EEG did not show any change from the graph before
slaughter, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any recognisable
pain during or after the incision.
2.
During the following 3 second, the EEG recorded a condition of deep
sleep-unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood
gushing out of the body. The sudden and profuse bleeding from the
incision on the neck causes a shock resulting in a state of
unconsciousness due to severe shortage of blood supply to the vital
centers located in the brain.
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 out a maximum amount of blood from the body, thus
resulting in hygienic meat for the consumers.
Captive Bolt Pistol (CBP) Stunning Method
1. The animals were apparently unconscious soon after stunning.
2. But EEG showed severe pain immediately after stunning.
3. The
hearts of animals stunned by CBP 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.
CBP Method and mad cow disease (MCD)
The
Western method of stunning animals with a shot in the head is not only
severely painful, as shown by the above experiment, but it is also
alarmingly unhygienic. There is rising concern (based on the findings of
some researches) that the method may be a factor in the spread of Mad
Cow disease (MCD) from cattle to human beings.
Two
independent researches carried out recently at the Texas A & M
University and by Canada's Food Inspection Agency discovered that a
method called Pneumatic Stunning (in which a metal bolt is fired into
the cow's brain and followed by a pulverising burst of 150 pounds of air
pressure) delivered a force so explosive that it scattered brain tissue
throughout the animal's body. The findings are really disturbing since
brain tissue and spinal cord are the most infectious parts of an animal
with Mad Cow Disease which causes Swiss cheese like holes in the brain
of the infected animal. It is all the more alarming because 30 to 40 per
cent of the American cattle are stunned by pneumatic guns before the
slaughter.
As for
the most modern method of electric stunning being practiced in many
developed countries, the Meat Inspection Branch of the United States
Department of Agriculture came to the following conclusion in 1953: "The
use of electric stunning methods by plants which operate under federal
meat inspection has not been permitted as a result of experiments which
were conducted several years ago at the University of Chicago. These
experiments indicated that electric stunning in hogs resulted in certain
changes in the tissues which could not be differentiated by gross
examination from similar changes produced by disease."
In 1955
the Danish Ministry of Justice issued a circular, which said, "Stunning
with electricity causes extravasations in meat, sanguinary intestines
and fracture in the spinal column, pelvis and the shoulder blades
through shock. The blood in the meat makes it more susceptible to
putrefaction and has a detrimental effect upon its taste. The properties
of the meat which would co-operate with the salt in extracting the
blood traces are interfered within the animal undergoing shock
convulsions prior to slaughter."
In 1954
British regulations were amended and electric stunning was prohibited,
"the reason being that stunning seriously affected the quality of
British bacon."
It was
also observed: "Electric stunning hastens the onset of putrefaction in
meat. The explanation of the phenomenon lies in the high lactic acid
level following electric shocks prior to bleeding. High lactic acid
alters the bacterial resistance of meat."
If the
head of the animal is severed by one sharp blow through guillotining or
Bali at the sacrificial post, there will be sudden contraction of
voluntary muscles, which will expel important nutrient fluids and, as in
electric shock, some lactic acid will also form. What is more, since
the heart will stop suddenly, there will not be sufficient bleeding
which is needed for better and healthier meat.
It is
evident from the above-mentioned studies that the Islamic slaughter of
animals is a blessing to both the animal and the person who consumes it.
It may, however, be mentioned in this connection that the Islamic
method insists on several measures to make the slaughter lawful.
This is done to ensure maximum benefit to both the animal and the consumer.
The
holy Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) emphatic declaration in this
regard should be mentioned first. The holy Prophet (pbuh) said: "Allah
calls for mercy in everything, so be merciful when you kill and when you
slaughter: sharpen your blade to relieve its pain."
According
to a tradition transmitted by Muslim, the Apostle of Allah (pbuh)
ordered a horned ram with black legs, a black belly and black round the
eyes, and it was brought to him to be sacrificed. He told Bibi Ayesha
Siddiqua (RA) to get the knife, and then told her to sharpen it with a
stone. When she had done so he took it, then taking the ram he placed it
on the ground and cut its throat.
The
Islamic method indeed demands that the knife to be used for slaughtering
animals must be sharp and used swiftly. The swift cut of vessels of the
neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerves in the brain
responsible for pain. Thus the slaughtered animal feels no pain.
It may
be mentioned in this connection that the movements and withering of the
different limbs of the animal after the incision is made are not due to
pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient
in blood. The convulsions are due to the contraction of the muscles in
response to the lack of oxygen in the brain cells.
The
muscles, by these contractions, squeeze out blood from the blood vessels
in the tissues to pour it into the central circulation system to be
sent to the brain, but this is lost on the way (due to cutting of big
vessels in the neck) and the brain cells consequently keep on sending
messages to the muscles to wring out blood, until the animal dies.
Convulsions
thus occur when the animal becomes unconscious. And because the
slaughtered animal becomes unconscious for massive hemorrhage, it does
not feel pain while bleeding.
The
holy Prophet's (pbuh) kindness to the animals extended to such an extent
that he also instructed the Muslims neither to sharpen the blade of the
knife in front of the animals nor to slaughter an animal in front of
others of its own kind. It is unfortunate that very few Muslims today
abide by this noble and unparalleled instruction of the last and
greatest Prophet.
While
offering Qurbani on Eid-ul-Azha most of the Muslims unfortunately,
ignore the above-mentioned humane instruction of the Apostle of God
(phub) and recklessly slaughter camels and cows and lambs right in front
of other animals. We not only fight shy of the holy Prophet's unique
instruction but also very easily forget that the animals feel and suffer
in the same way as the humans do.
Lastly,
the Islamic method also insists that the cut should involve the
windpipe (trachea), gullet (esophagus), and the two jugular veins
without cutting the spinal cord. This method results in rapid gush of
blood draining most of it from the animal's body. If the spinal cord is
cut, the nerve fibres 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 from the
body. As most of the blood, which acts as medium of microorganisms, is
removed the meat becomes purified and also remains fresh for a longer
period as compared to the meat obtained through other methods of
slaughtering like gullotining or decapitation, CBPS and electric
stunning.
The
Islamic method of slaughter is, therefore, not only the most humane and
least painful but also the most hygienic of all the methods of killing
animals.
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