The Islamic (Halal) Method of Slaughter

Islamic law requires that animals intended for human consumption be slain in a certain manner. The conditions for Halal slaughter can be summerised as follows:
1. The animal to be slaughtered must be from the categories which are permitted for Muslims to eat.
2. The animal must be alive at the time of slaughter.
3. No electric shock, bullet or any other means should be used before slaughtering. Using any such method may lead to the death of the animal before it is cut. Islam prohibits Muslims from eating any meat coming from an animal which is dead before slaughter. Muslims are also advised to avoid eating anything doubtful.
4. The animal must be slaughtered by the use of a sharp knife. The knife must not kill due to its weight. If it kills due to the impact the meat may not be permissible.
5. The windpipe (throat), food-tract (oesophagus) and the two jugular veins must be cut.
6. The slaughtering must be done in one stroke without lifting the knife. The knife should not be placed and lifted when slaughtering the animal.
7. Slaughtering must be done by a sane adult Muslim. Animals slaughtered by apostates, idol worshippers, atheists etc. are not permissible. Animals slaughtered (not stunned) by the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) may be accepted with certain conditions which are difficult to be fulfilled nowadays.
8. The name of Allah must be invoked (mentioned) at the time of slaughtering by saying: Bismillah; wa Allahu akbar. (In the Name of Allah; Allah is the Greatest.)
9. If at the time of slaughtering the name of anyone else other than Allah is invoked (i.e. animal sacrificed for him/her), then the meat becomes Haram "unlawful."
10. If a Muslim forgets to invoke the name of Allah at the time of slaughtering, the meat will remain Halal. However, if he intentionally does not invoke the name of Allah, the meat becomes Haram.
11. The head of the animal must not be cut off during slaughtering but later after the animal is completely dead, even the knife should not go deep into the spinal cord.
12. Skinning or cutting any part of the animal is not allowed before the animal is completely dead.
13. Slaughtering must be made in the neck from the front (chest) to the back.
14. The slaughtering must be done manually not by a machine as one of the conditions is the intention which is not found in a machine.

15. The slaughtering should not be done on a production line where pigs are slaughtered. Any instrument used for slaughtering pigs should not be used in the Halal slaughtering.
Customary and Desirable Practices When Slaughtering:
1. Water should be offered to the animal before slaughter, and it should not be slaughtered when hungry.
2. The knife should be hidden from the animal, and slaughtering should be done out of sight of other animals waiting to be slaughtered.
3. Animals should be killed in a comfortable way. Unnecessary suffering to them must be avoided.
4. The knife should be re-sharpened before slaughter.
Storage, Processing and Transport of Halal Meat:
1. Meat chilled or frozen for export to Muslims should be stored in separate cold stores where pork or other non-Halal meat is stored.
2. Meat minced or processed or processed for Muslims should not be minced in the same machines used to mince pork or other non-Halal meat.
Why Stunning Animals Prior to Slaughter Cannot be Accepted by Muslims?
Much of the current debate surrounding the issue of religious and "humane" slaughter focuses on the supposed barbarity of the former and the assumed decency of the latter. Both methods deserve closer inspection to assess the claims of both camps.
The Common Stunning Techniques are:
* The Captive Bolt Pistol - for cattle, calves and goats.
* Carbon Dioxide (CO2) / Chemical Strangulation - for pigs.
* Electrical Stunning - for sheep.
* Electrified Water Bath - for poultry.
Scientific and medical research proves that stunning animals prior to slaughter is CRUEL and PAINFUL as many animals remain conscious and paralysed due to improper stunning, re-stunning, bone shattering, suffocation, strangulation, bruising, depressed skull fracture, etc. (Grandin, Blackmore, Schulze, and other researchers.)
It should be borne in mind that electricity is widely used around the world for torturing human beings (in prisons and detention centres), so how can we say with certainty that an animal stunned using electricity feels no pain?
In fact, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) in the U.K. in its June 2003 report stated clearly: "IT IS DIFFICULT TO MEASURE PAIN AND DISTRESS DURING THE SLAUGHTER PROCESS IN AN OBJECTIVE SCIENTIFIC MANNER." (No. 194, Page 34)
So why then religious slaughter is criticised as painful and cruel to animals, when the FAWC itself has got no objective scientific evidence to prove its assumption that the animal in religious slaughter "Feels significant pain and distress"?
The fact is that there is little or no pain in the religious slaughter (Schulze, Horder, Hill, Sir Evans, Burrow, Levinger, Bell, Openshaw, Hayhurst, etc).