RELIGIOUS METHOD OF ANIMAL SLAUGHTER/DHABH AND THE MYTH OF PAIN AND CRUELTY?
The RELIGIOUS method of
animal slaughter(DHABH) is the direct method which is done without the use of any type of
stunning .
It is the same
method which was adopted and practiced by all the prophets of
GOD(peace be upon them).
ESPECIALLY BY:
-Abraham,the father
of the prophets
-Moses for the
Jews(Kosher)
-Jesus for the
Christians(Kosher)
-And finally
by the prophet Muhammad for the Muslims(Halal)
No doubt the act of
slaughter is a motive and frightening view to watch:A knife doing the cut in
the neck,blood coming out,convulsions and contractions...then
death!
Public at
large has thought over the years that this act of cutting is
"painful and cruel to the animal"
But this was a
mere SUBJECTIVE feeling which was not based
on any OBJECTIVE evidence or fact.
-Till now,there is no
single scientific medical evidence in the whole world which has prooved
that the divine method of animal slaughter does cause pain to the animal and is
cruel when it is done properly and professionally.We offer a
challenge to all to bring us one authentic study?
It is mere illusion and
delusion.
-The animal ,after the
proper cut,keeps still and does not move at all,one can see that clearly:a gap
between the cut and the start of the normal physiological
convulsions and contractions !
If the cut does cause
pain,so why the animal keeps still for a while after the cut?
It is only later, these
physiological contractions and convulsions do occur
when the brain has been deprived from blood, and in order to bring blood
quickly to the dying brain(Haemorrhagic shock/instantaneous
"ANAESTHESIA").
To the lay public,
these contractions and convulsions are because of "pain" felt by
the animal after the cut,but this is not true and there is no evidence for
that.
-In a German research
studies on pain,professor Wilhelm Schulze and his colleague Dr Hazim at the
school of Veterinary Medicine,Hannover university in Germany ,have prooved
through EEG(Electric recording of the brain) comparative medical studies
that the animal does not feel "pain" when the cut is
done properly.
And evidences of
"pain" were noticed when stunning has been used,according to the EEG
records.
The study is called:
"ATTEMPTS TO
OBJECTIFY PAIN AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN CONVENTIONAL(Captive bolt pistol stunning
and ritual(halal) methods of slaughtering sheep and calves"
The conclusion of the
study was:
THE ISLAMIC
SLAUGHTERING OF ANIMAL IS THE MOST HUMANE METHOD OF SLAUGHTER AND THAT THE
CAPTIVE BOLT STUNNING PRACTICED IN THE WEST,causes severe pain to the animal.
-We all know that
electricity,which is used in stunning,is used frequently in the torture
of people in prisons as it causes pain
Surely every one of us
is scad to touch electricity,because of the pain and the burn resulting
after.
Electricity is used
widely in the stunning of sheep and to the poultry in their electrified
water bath!
Unfortunately these
innocent animals can not complaint or speak up!
-Doctors who give
ECT(Electro convulsive therapy) as a treatment to some psychiatric
patients in hospitals as in depression,do it only after giving general
anaesthesia first and before applying the electricity to the patient,as it is
painful!
-There are today in
many official and government reports a lot of evidences about the pain
and suffering affecting the animals following the use of stunning:Failure of
stunning,re-stun,animal conscious and paralysed,unable to walk,burns,broken
bones etc...
Apart from the cruelty
and stress caused by the electric rod, the repeated pushing beating
and pinching of the animals in order to move it towards the
slaughter's site???(all these types of cruely are not allowed in Islam)
-Many States in the US
have banned the Captive bolt pistol for cattle due to the risk of BSE.
The EU had a
similar decision on the same method.
-The Farm Animal
Welfare Council(FAWC) in Britain,has concluded in their scientific studies that
:THERE IS NO EVIDENCEOF PAIN IN RELIGIOUS SLAUGHTER and that IT IS DIFFICULT TO
MEASURE PAIN AND DISTRESS DURING THE SLAUGHTER PROCESS IN AN OBJECTIVE
SCIENTIFIC MANNER....(FAWC: Report on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at
slaughter or killing:Part 1:Red Meat Animals,June 2003/section 194).
-Religious slaughter
was considered HUMANE by the US Congress(1958)
-New medical studies
suggest that ENDORPHINS secretions(natural pain killers in the animal
body,as in human too) do occur with the cut,to avoid also the animal
from feeling any "pain".
We have to
remember also that the threshold to feel pain in the animal is different
from man.
FROM AN
ISLAMIC/RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW:
-New medical studies
from the University of Damascus in Syria,have prooved that the mentioning of
the NAME OF GOD(ALLAH )/TASMIAH on the conscious living hearing animal at time
of slaughter, do ACT AS A SEDATIVE/TRANQUILLISER to both: man and
animal,and will purify too the meat from germs and
bacteria.(Fascinating)
This interesting
medical discovery was repeated many times,and it gave the same result!
This was signed
by over 25 Professors and doctors in the University.(there are DVD about it in
both English and Arabic and a book in Arabic about this discovery)
-It is prohibited in
Islam to inflict or cause any pain to any animal.
(Please see
separate the Superior rights of the animal in Islam).
-In Islam,every
animal is to be handled individually,by a human(familiar),without causing
any stress and to give food and water to the animal before and avoiding the
animal the sight of any slaughter or blood or sharpening of the knife and
to keep the animal in a comfortable position.(ALL THESE ARE BASED IN THE
ISLAMIC TEACHINGS)
We do admit,as in every
community,that some Muslims do not pratice the proper animal welfare and care
at time of slaughter or before and it is in our plan to educate and train
all for the best welfare and care to the animal before and during the act
of slaughter.To educate all about all Hygiene regulations too.
We are fully with all
the technologies of today before and after the slaughter and with the
technology for best appropriate knife to use.
Muslims also will be
happy to follow all the regulations and the laws of the land and EEC,but
without been interfered with their permanent sacred religious act of
slaughter,and without the use of any stunning.
-Surely GOD the Creator
and all his prophets in Judaism,Christianity and Islam,can not be all cruel to
the billion of slaughtered animals over the centuries.
GOD is called
: the most Compassionate,the most Merciful and Muhammad,called the mercy
to all the creation(man and animals).
-Muslims(and
Jews) are ordered clearly in their holy Scriptures to follow their
prophets in the act of animal slaughter
All Muslims have
been warned by the prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) not to change at
all the divine sacred act of animal slaughter.
-Many people in
the west do not realise that it is forbidden in Islam and for
Muslims to:
Eat any meat which came
from an animal who has died before the cut,consume any blood
inside the meat,cause any type of pain and cruelty to any animal,change the
natural healthy chemical formula of the meat(not TAYYIB),eat some meat which is
risky to health ,eat any contaminated meat with any porcine
substances...
Unfortunately many of
the scientific medical reports on stunning have shown all these forbidden and
undesirable outcomes but in different percentages ,when stunning have
been used in one way or another.
Even if one doubtful
about the presence of any of these outcomes,in Islam we are requested to avoid
it all.
Muslims and Jews and
others should have the RELIGIOUS and the HUMAN RIGHTS to practice their
religions especially in issues of food meat and diet, especially when it
is for their own consumption .
SOME WEBSITES AGAINST STUNNING:
Dr A.Majid
Katme(MBBCh,DPM)
Muslim Spokesman on
Halal meat and Food(Islamic Medical Association/UK)
Tel no: 0044 7944 240
622
E-mail address: akatme@hotmail.com