BorealFAREWELL POSTINGSThe Agony of HalalApril 22 202 The moral progress [of a nation] can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Gandhi Halal meat is meat from an animal that has been tortured to death. Anonymous Today, the Globe and Mail had an article about “Canada's small scale goat farming industry is struggling to keep up with increasing demand,” mainly from the Muslim communities. It reminded me of a cause dear to my heart about which I posted and reproduced in a number of my books. Farewell Postings may be my last opportunity to again make a case against the gratuitous brutality that is ritual slaughter and why it has no place in a civilized society. Unlike the brutality prescribed for transgressors and unbelievers, all the Koran has to say about animal slaughter is that you must pronounce God’s name over an animal you intend to kill—except at the Hajj where He expects you to decorate it beforehand 2:173 He has only forbidden you [to eat] carrion, blood, pork and that over which (when slaughtered) any name other than that of Allah is invoked. But he who is constrained (constrained to eat those forbidden things) without intending to disobey or transgress, will commit no sin. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 5:97 Allah has made the Ka’ba, the Sacred House, a foundation of religion for all mankind, together with the Sacred Month and the sacrificial offerings and their garlands, so that you may know that Allah knows what is in the heavens and on the earth, and that Allah knows everything very well. The ritual slaughter of animals by pilgrims at the Hajj is today largely outsourced and the decorating beforehand of the animal to be tortured to death has largely been abandoned. Usually, the post office is where you send mail or pay your bills. In Saudi Arabia during the hajj, it’s where you pay for your animal sacrifice. It costs 460 riyals, or about $120, to have a sheep slaughtered. The sacrifice, known as the hadi, is incumbent on all pilgrims, who must donate at least two-thirds of the meat to the poor. Modern pilgrims usually have a slaughterhouse near Mecca do this for them, via the local post office. How do you know your animal was sacrificed? By text message, of course. New York Times, Postcards from the Hajj, Diaa Hadid, Sept 10, 2016 How it’s actually done at the Hajj: [In] sweaty slaughterhouse on the edge of Mecca: Men in stained robes hauled flailing sheep into the building. One man dragged his prey by its leg, and another carried one of the animals on his back. New York Times, Postcards from the Hajj, Diaa Hadid, Sept 10, 2016 For the cruelty to animals, like the brutality that is the stoning of those to whom they have been compared, we have to look to the example of Muhammad. Narrated Zaid bin Jubair: I saw Ibn Umar passing by a man who had made his Badana (sacrifice) sit to slaughter it. Ibn Umar said, "Slaughter it while it is standing with one leg tied up as is the tradition of Muhammad." Bukhari 26.771 Narrated Anas: The Prophet slaughtered seven Budn (camel) with his own hands while the camels were standing. He also sacrificed two horned rams (black and white in color) at Medina. Bukhari 26.772 Narrated Abaya bin Rifaa: My grandfather asked (the Prophet), "We hope (or are afraid) that we may meet the enemy tomorrow and we have no knives. Can we slaughter our animals with canes?" Allah's Apostle replied, "If the instrument used for killing causes the animal to bleed profusely and if Allah's Name is mentioned on killing it, then eat its meat (i.e. it is lawful) but don't use a tooth or a nail and I am telling you the reason: A tooth is a bone (and slaughtering with a bone is forbidden), and a nail is the slaughtering instrument of the Ethiopians." Bukhari 52.309 The time it takes for some animal slaughtered as Muhammad demonstrated to die while experiencing excruciating pain may not be unlike that experienced by a woman or girl being stoned to death. HOW MUCH PAIN AND SUFFERING?In its March 8, 2012 edition, Le Point, the popular mainstream French (France) weekly published excerpts from a confidential government report prepared by Le Conseil général de alimentation, de l’agriculture et des espaces ruraux on La protection animale en abattoir; la question particulière de l’abattoir rituel (Animal Protection In Slaughterhouses: The Question of Ritual Slaughter, my translation). The excerpts reveals that during 2010, 2,068,439 cattle, 382,460 calves, 2,568,444 sheep and 35,713 goats were ritually slaughtered i.e. the animal was not rendered unconscious before being bled to death. Rendering an animal unconscious is both the beginning and the end of its suffering when conventional methods are used. In the ritual slaughter of an animal, unconsciousness comes much later. During this period, which varies among types of animals, the animal, in a conscious state, will be subjected to many painful procedures, some related to the incision made by the person performing the sacrifice, others by the stop and go (“saccadé”) nature of the ritual. The longest time reported for an animal to die while fully conscious was six minutes for cattle, almost twice that time for calves at eleven minutes, and five minutes for sheep. No time was available for goats or camels. Under the heading Intensité et durée de la douleur: souffrance (Intensity and duration of the pain: suffering), the report goes on to describe the type of pain an animal that is not stunned* prior to bleeding experiences. It’s not for the squeamish. Again, the translation is mine, as are explanatory comments surrounded by round brackets (). The pain that a conscious animal experiences at the time of its throat being slit is assumed to be intense… To be able to compare different method of slaughter as to the amount of pain they cause, we must take into account the visible signs that permit us to gage the intensity of the pain experienced by the conscious animals… The amount of pain will vary depending on the type of animal. A slit throat is in itself painful: • The incision provokes a nociceptive reaction (“pain caused by stimulation of peripheral nerve fibers that respond only to stimuli approaching or exceeding harmful intensity” Wiki) causing extreme pain; • the contraction of the muscle at the point of the incision has to be extremely painful; • blood will fill the lungs provoking a sensation of drowning... The length of time it takes for an animal (that has not been stunned) to become unconscious is a result of many factors: • the constriction of the arteries compensates for the loss of blood and causes an increase in the heart rate; • where cattle is concerned, the vertebral arteries are not cut when the incision is done …; different anastomosis (channels) between the vertebral and cervical arteries allow the vertebral arteries to continue bringing blood to the brain even after the carotid artery has been cut; • other factors may contribute to the time an animal remains conscious e.g. a clot in the carotid artery... Rendering an animal unconscious is both the beginning and the end of its suffering when conventional methods are used. In the ritual slaughter of an animal, unconsciousness comes much later. During this period, which varies among types of animals, the animal, in a conscious state, will be subjected to many painful procedures, some related to the incision made by the person performing the sacrifice, others by the stop and go (“saccadé”) nature of the ritual. ---- * Modern, non-ritual slaughtering methods use what is commonly referred to as a captive bolt pistol to render the animal unconscious “to prevent the pain and suffering of the animal during the bleeding (exsanguination) process (which is itself necessary to prevent meat spoilage) during butchering. The principle behind captive bolt stunning is a forceful strike on the forehead using a bolt to induce unconsciousness.” Wiki.
|