http://www.care2.com/greenliving/factory-farming-vs-islamic-law-2.html
Factory Farming vs. Islamic Law
By Maura R. O'Connor, EnlightenNext
The conflict between factory farming practices and Islamic law is leading many Muslims to eat more vegetables.
For the vast majority of Muslims, eating meat has always been an unquestionable God-given right. The Qur’an states, “Eat of that which Allah hath bestowed on you as food lawful and good, and keep your duty to Allah in Whom ye are believers.” Indeed, some Muslim leaders and scholars have argued that because Allah allows animals to be consumed by humans, it is actually prohibited to make an ethical decision not to eat them. “You cannot make what is halal (’lawful’) into haram (’unlawful’),” they say. But interestingly, the spread of factory farming across the globe in recent years has caused many Muslims to make the unorthodox decision to become vegetarians and inflamed debates about Islamic dietary laws among scholars and religious leaders.
Islamic law says that in order for meat to be considered halal, very specific procedures must be followed. Muhammad forbade “the beating or the branding of animals” and also forbade “cutting off animals’ tails and other mutilations.” A person must recite the name of Allah over the animal before it is killed, and the animal’s throat must be cut in order to ensure a quick and relatively painless death. Factory farms, which employ all varieties of inhumane methods for raising and slaughtering animals, do not comply with these standards. Furthermore, Muslims are not permitted to eat carnivorous animals, yet many factory farms feed animal remains to livestock.
Websites addressing this conflict between factory farming and Islam are numerous, and some go into rather gruesome detail in order to determine what is or is not lawful. “Is it permissible to give animals an electric shock before slaughter, and is it permissible to eat them?” one concerned Muslim asked on islamonline.com. A mufti, or interpreter of Islamic law, responded, “Indeed, giving an animal a high-voltage electric shock is a severe torture for it. However, if the electric charge is low so that it does not torment the animal, then it is all right to use it. In addition, if the animal is still alive after the electric shock, it can be slaughtered and eaten. But if it dies from the shock and then has the throat slit, it is impermissible to eat it.”
Pro-vegetarian Muslim websites include islamicconcerns.com, which provides free “vegetarian starter kits” and lists pro-vegetarian fatwas (Islamic legal pronouncements). PETA has also created a website that deals with religious faith and vegetarianism and includes a lengthy section devoted to Islam. These websites argue that beyond the technical violations of Islamic dietary laws, factory farms, with their intense cruelty to animals, contradict fundamental Islamic principles. “The beautiful religion of Islam has always viewed animals as a special part of God’s creation,” islamicconcerns.com says. “The Qur’an, the Hadith, and the history of Islamic civilization offer many examples of kindness, mercy, and compassion for animals.” Perhaps the current surge in Muslim vegetarianism is the next chapter in that history. And of course eating veggies is not without its benefits in the afterlife–even Muhammad supposedly said, “For [charity shown to] each creature which has a wet heart [i.e., is alive], there is a reward.”
What Muslim Dietary Laws Say
1. It is haram (unlawful) to beat, mutilate, or brand animals.
2. An animal must be killed by slitting its throat with a knife, severing the windpipe, gullet, and the two jugular veins without actually severing the head. The Prophet said, “Allah has prescribed goodness (ihsan) in everything. When you sacrifice, sacrifice well. Let you sharpen your knife and make it easy for the animal to be slaughtered.”
3. Muslims are strictly forbidden to eat the flesh of carnivorous animals.
4. The name of Allah must be invoked over each animal before it is killed.
What Factory Farms Do
1. Animals in factory farms are extremely overcrowded and therefore prone to stress related behaviors, including cannibalism and fighting. Preventive measures such as debeaking young chickens, dehorning cows and castrating them without the use of anesthetics, and lopping off turkey’s toes are industry standards. Incidents of cruel beatings and torture of animals by factory farm employees are also widespread.
2. Cows and other animals in factory farms are killed using electric shocks to cause grand mal seizures and paralysis so that their throats can be easily cut. A second method is called “captive bolt stunning,” in which a “gun” is set against the animal’s head and a metal rod is shot into the brain. Reports indicate that ineffective slaughter methods in factory farms often lead to conscious animals being dismembered in the production lines.
3. In factory farms, animals that are natural herbivores are fed slaughterhouse waste, including fat, blood, meat, and bone meal. Sheep are fed chicken byproducts, and dairy cows are given feed with ground pork bones in it. “Animal cannibalism” is also common, with cows being fed the blood and meat of other cattle as protein supplements (this practice can result in the spread of mad cow disease if brain tissue is consumed).
4. Unless they are Muslim-operated, this law is never observed in factory farms. However, even those Muslim factory farms that claim to produce lawful meat recently came under scrutiny when it became known that some of them recite the name of Allah only once at the beginning of the day to serve as a single blessing for the thousands of animals to be killed.
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79 comments
add your comment »Dear Catherine
You said" and, does what i read mean that if an authority of islam tells everyone that allah wants them to kill their children, they would simply do it. no questions asked? i just can't imagine most mothers would kill their kids. i have a feeling they would rather take a punishment. i suppose they would question whether or not the authority truly speaks for allah. but if allah somehow told everyone himself, everyone would do it?"
Dr. Jamal Badawi ,Profession Member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and the Fiqh Council of North America says :Abraham (Ibrahim) was commanded to sacrifice his son Isma’eel (Ishmael). The command came in the form of a dream, which is a legitimate means of revelation only for Prophets. The command was not evil; it was a test from Allah of the obedience and willingness to sacrifice for His sake by both Ibrahim and his son (both were prophets). Allah never intended that Isma’eel will be sacrificed since the ram substituted for him. As such, that story cannot come from Satan. It is a great and dramatized lesson of submission, obedience, sacrifice, and love of Allah.
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Dear Catherine
You're saying"however, i also read that even at the hands of a master, 62% of calves develop occlusions which prevent the brain from shutting down, thereby leaving the animals conscious while dying".
The swift cutting of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerve of the brain responsible for pain. Thus the animal does not feel pain. While dying, the animal appears to struggle, writhe, shake and kick, not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient in blood and due to the flow of blood out of the body.
You're also saying Catherine" it is interesting to think of the word 'sacrifice'. by sacrificing an animal, people don't actually sacrifice much at all. it's the animal itself doing the sacrificing. i'd like to see people have to give up something truly dear to them."but,Catherine, when you sacrifice with an animal ,which we all love , you're already sacrificing something that is dear to you ,also this animal costs money and we all love money,right?!but the main reason for our sacrifice is to get closer to Allah or God .
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i've read more at various websites and am impressed that islam does consider the intuition and panic of animals. the knife is not allowed to be sharpened in front of the animal and other animals are not allowed to be present.
however, i also read that even at the hands of a master, 62% of calves develop occlusions which prevent the brain from shutting down, thereby leaving the animals conscious while dying.
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i wouldn't argue that one method is less painful than another. i'm not sure i believe that unchanged eeg readings provide proof that there is no pain experienced at all. it makes me wonder how people who have had their throats slit(and lived) felt. animals do experience fear. they have intuition that causes them to panic. either way, it's not in my nature to take any life without absolute necessity.
it is interesting to think of the word 'sacrifice'. by sacrificing an animal, people don't actually sacrifice much at all. it's the animal itself doing the sacrificing. i'd like to see people have to give up something truly dear to them.
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Dear Catherine
you saying"so people (like me) who cannot bring themselves to hurt an animal could not follow islam)".
Is Islamic Slaughtering Cruel to Animals?
To answer this important question Catherine.It may come as a surprise to learn of the results of a study carried out by Professor Wilhelm Schulze and his colleague Dr. Hazim at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover University in Germany. The study: ‘Attempts to Objectify Pain and Consciousness in Conventional (captive bolt pistol stunning) and Ritual (halal, knife) Methods of Slaughtering Sheep and Calves’ concludes that Islamic slaughtering is the most humane method of slaughter and that captive bolt stunning, practiced in the West, causes severe pain to the animal.read it more on:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&pagename=Zone-English-HealthScience%2FHSELayout&cid=1157365866876
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Dear Catherine you're saying(it states it is an obligatory duty, so people (like me) who cannot bring themselves to hurt an animal could not follow islam).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) offered sacrifices, as did his companions (may Allaah be pleased with them). And he said that sacrifice is the way of the Muslims.Hence the Muslims are unanimously agreed that it is prescribed in Islam, as was narrated by more than one of the scholars. But they differed as to whether it is Sunnah mu’akkadah (a confirmed Sunnah) or it is obligatory and it is not permissible to omit it.
The majority of scholars are of the view that it is Sunnah mu’akkadah. This is the view of al-Shaafa’i, Maalik and Ahmad according to his most well-known view. Others were of the view that it is obligatory. This is the view of Abu Haneefah and one of the views narrated from Ahmad. This was also the view favoured by Ibn Taymiyah who said: “This is one of the views narrated in the madhhab of Maalik, or it appears to be the view of Maalik.”. From Risaalat Ahkaam al-Udhiyah wa’l-Dhakaah by Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him). Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Udhiyah is Sunnah mu’akkadah for the one who is able to do it, so a person should offer the sacrifice on behalf of himself and the members of his household.” Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 2/661.
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it states it is an obligatory duty, so people (like me) who cannot bring themselves to hurt an animal could not follow islam.
and, does what i read mean that if an authority of islam tells everyone that allah wants them to kill their children, they would simply do it. no questions asked? i just can't imagine most mothers would kill their kids. i have a feeling they would rather take a punishment. i suppose they would question whether or not the authority truly speaks for allah. but if allah somehow told everyone himself, everyone would do it?
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Hi Catherine
The following post gives a pretty good perspective of this sacrifice
http://islam.about.com/od/hajj/a/adha.htm
http://www.albalagh.net/general/zulhijjah.shtml#Qurbani
The main object is not to shed blood or take life of an animal, but to submit oneself to Allah Almighty following the exampe of His dear prophet Abraham (peace be upon him)
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It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right. [22:37]
The literal translation would be this: God will not take/receive its meat , and nor its blood, and but He takes/receives the fear and obedience from you, as/like that He manipulated/subjugated it for you to greaten/magnify God on what He guided you, and announce good news (to) the good doers. [22:37]
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@Catherine - From Quran: "It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right." [22:37]
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