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In Sharia, dhabihah (; ), also spelled zabiha, is the prescribed method of slaughter for halal animals (excluding sea animals, which are exempt from this requirement). It consists of a swift, deep incision to the throat with a very sharp knife, cutting the wind pipe, and carotid artery on both sides but leaving the spinal cord intact. The butcher is also required to call upon the name of Allah individually for each animal.Mufti
According to Islamic tradition, the animal is brought to the place of slaughter and laid down gently so as to not injure it. It is sunnah (tradition) but not fard (God's requirement) that the head of the animal be facing the Qibla. The blade must be kept hidden until the very last moment while the jugular of the animal is felt. The conventional method used to slaughter the animal involves cutting the large arteries in the neck along with the esophagus and trachea with one swipe of a non-serrated blade. Care must be taken that the nervous system is not damaged, as this may cause the animal to die before exsanguination has taken place. During the swipe of the blade, the head must not be decapitated, since it is impermissible for the blade to touch the spinal cord. While blood is draining, the animal is not handled until it has died. While this is an acceptable method, the Egyptian Fatwa Committee has agreed that an animal can be rendered insensible to pain via electronarcosis and still be halal.
It is also compulsory that each animal must be slaughtered individually and in seclusion, according to some schools of thought. In a Poultry farming or Slaughterhouse, one animal must not witness another animal being slaughtered as it is makruh.
Within the Shia school (followers of Ayatullah Sistani), slaughter of multiple animals at the same time, using a fully automated slaughterhouse is considered sufficient if specific conditions are met.
This method adheres to Islamic law (it ensures the animal does not die by any of the Haraam methods) and helps to effectively drain blood from the animal. This may be important because the consumption of blood itself is forbidden in Islam; however, it is not clear that bleeding the animal removes all traces of blood from the carcass, so the meat may remain unclean. In fact, it is stated by Islamic authorities that it is only necessary to drain "most" of the blood from the animal.
Halal slaughter requires that the animal dies from the knife cut to the throat, and that pre-slaughter stunning must not kill the animal, precluding the use of bolt-guns, which can cause instant death. In premises that undertake halal slaughter, reversible electrical stunning may be used to non-lethally render animals unconscious for the duration of the slaughter process, thus meeting both animal welfare and halal requirements.
For cattle, halal slaughter often uses head-only electrical stunning, which requires the bovine to be bled within 10 seconds. The use of electronarcosis for larger animals was pronounced to be licit within an Islamic context as early as 1978 by the Egyptian Fatwa Committee.Egyptian Fatwa Committee, 18 December 1978, "The Opinions of the Ulema on the Permissibility of Stunning Animals" , Organic Halal Meat, 1978 Despite the feasibility of stunning within the halal framework, the practice has faced ongoing pushback from some Muslim communities decades on.Sam Jones, 6 March 2014, "Halal, shechita and the politics of animal slaughter". The Guardian. 2014.
However, some other Muslim groups counter allegations of cruelty to animals by referring to animal welfare issues arising from pre-stunning animals before slaughter.
In 2004, the government issued its response to the FAWC's 2003 report in the form of a consultation document, indicating that the government was not intending to adopt the FAWC's recommendation to repeal religious exemptions to the Welfare of Animals Regulations (1995), but that it might consider implementing the labelling of meat originating from animals slaughtered without pre-stunning on a voluntary basis. The RSPCA responded to the government's consultation and urged it to consider the animal welfare implications of allowing continuation of slaughter without pre-stunning, as well as pressing for compulsory labelling of meat from animals slaughtered in this way.
However, in its final response to the FAWC report in March 2005, the government again stated that it would not change the law and that slaughter without pre-stunning would continue to be permitted for Jewish and Muslim groups.
In April 2008, the UK government's Food and Farming minister, Lord Rooker, stated his belief that halal and kosher meat should be labeled when sold, in order for members of the public to have choice over their purchases. Rooker stated that "I object to the method of slaughter ... my choice as a customer is that I would want to buy meat that has been looked after, and slaughtered in the most humane way possible." The RSPCA supported Lord Rooker's views.CIWF Halal and kosher meat should not be slipped in to food chain, says minister
In 2009, the FAWC again advised on ending practices of slaughtering wherein animals were not stunned before their throats were cut, stating that "significant pain and distress" was caused by leaving the spinal cord of the animal intact. However, the council also recognised the difficulties of reconciling scientific matters and those of faith, urging the government to "continue to engage with religious communities" as part of making progress. In response to outreach from The Independent, Massood Khawaja, then-president of the Halal Food Authority, stated that all animals passing through slaughterhouses regulated by its organisation were stunned, in comparison to those regulated to another authority on halal slaughter, the Halal Monitoring Committee. Halal and kosher butchers denied the FAWC's findings of cruelty in slaughter without pre-stunning, and expressed anger over the FAWC recommendation. Halal and Kosher slaughter 'must end' BBC News. 10 June 2003. Retrieved 4 May 2010. Majid Katme of the Muslim Council of Britain also disagreed, stating that "it's a sudden and quick hemorrhage. A quick loss of blood pressure and the brain is instantaneously starved of blood and there is no time to start feeling any pain."Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time, HarperPress, 2006, p.167
However, between 1974 and 1978, Wilhelm Schulze and his colleagues carried out a study at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover University in Germany: "Attempts to Objectify Pain and Consciousness in Conventional (captive bolt pistol stunning) and Ritual (knife) Methods of Slaughtering Sheep and Calves"Schulze W, Schultze-Petzold H, Hazem AS, Gross R. Experiments for the objectification of pain and consciousness during conventional (captive bolt stunning) and religiously mandated ("ritual cutting") slaughter procedures for sheep and calves. Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 1978 Feb 5;85(2):62-6. (English translation by Sahib Mustaqim Bleher) ( German) is reported on Islamic websites The Halal Slaughter Controversy: Do Animal Rights activists protect the sheep or the Butcher? by Sahib Mustaqim Bleher www.mustaqim.co.uk Is Islamic Slaughtering Cruel to Animals? By Dr. Aisha El-Awady, IslamOnline.net 2 February 2003 to have concluded that "the Islamic way of slaughtering is the most humane method of slaughter and that captive bolt stunning, practiced in the West, causes severe pain to the animal." However, recent studies have countered the Schulze study, which is dated and relied on older EEG measurement techniques. Dr. Schulze himself also warned in his report that the stunning technique may not have functioned properly.Andy Coghlan (13 October 2009). "Animals feel the pain of religious slaughter". New Scientist.
For the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Humane Society International, "the animals that are slaughtered according to kosher and halal should be securely restrained, particularly the head and neck, before cutting the throat" as "movements (during slaughter) results in a poor cut, bad bleeding, slow loss of consciousness, if at all, and pain."Guideline for Humane Handling, Transport, and Slaughter of Livestock, Religious or ritual slaughter, "?"http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/X6909E/x6909e00.HTM. "?"
In Europe, the DIALREL project addressed religious slaughter issues by gathering and disseminating information and by encouraging dialogue between the spiritual and scientific communities. DIALREL Website, Encouraging Dialogue on issues of Religious Slaughter Funding for DIALREL was provided by The European Commission, and it began functioning in November 2006. DIALREL produced many fact sheets and ultimately published a final report in 2010, "Report on good and adverse practices – Animal welfare concerns in relation to slaughter practices from the viewpoint of veterinary sciences."
Certain Muslim and Jewish communities expressed frustration with the process of dialogue skewed for non-religious audiences.ASIDCOM (3 March 2010). "Interview with Dr. Joe M. Regenstein: "A live worth living"". ASIDCOM.
Research undertaken in 2010 by Meat & Livestock Australia on animal pain and distress concluded, "technologies available to alleviate such suffering overwhelmingly supports the use of pre-slaughter stunning".
Muslims are divided as to whether or not Jewish slaughter suffices as a replacement for Islamic dhabihah halal. Some claim that Jewish slaughter leaves out the takbīr (saying "allahu akbar" "God) and changes the method of slaughter; thus, their meat is haraam. Others claim that the slaughtering processes are similar enough in practice and in theory to render animals slaughtered by Jewish laws as halal.
Jeremiah J Berman wrote in 1941: "At the present day in most of the Islamic world Muslims purchase Jewish meat, though they will not buy Christian meat. This is true in Istanbul, Beirut, Jerusalem and Mogador. Contemporary Muslims in these cities consider Jewish slaughtering as fulfilling all the requirements of their law, while they regard the slaughtering performed by Christians as done in contravention thereof. In Yemen ... Jewish meat is not acceptable." Berman also reports that Jewish meat slaughtered in Salonica (Thessaloniki) was not acceptable to Muslims.Jeremiah J. Berman, Shehitah (1941)
To be kosher, fit for consumption by those of the Jewish faith, meat must be slaughtered by a Jewish shohet who holds a license from a rabbi and has been examined on the laws of shechitah. This alone means that halal meat is forbidden to those of the Jewish faith. The requirements for the shape of the knife are more severe, the knife must be free from a single nick and the method of cutting is exactly defined. In addition, there is an inspection of the lungs (bedikah) that mammals must pass, which Muslims do not have.
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