Islam and Animals - Modern Debates

Modern Debates

The ritual method of slaughter as practiced in Islam and Judaism has been decried as inhumane by some animal welfare organisations in the United Kingdom who have stated that it "causes severe suffering to animals." Cattle require up to two minutes to bleed to death when such means are employed, according to the Chairperson of the Farm Animal Welfare Council Judy MacArthur Clark. She adds, "This is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn't suffer is quite ridiculous." Majid Katme of the Muslim Council of Britain disagrees, stating that "t's a sudden and quick haemorrhage. A quick loss of blood pressure and the brain is instantaneously starved of blood and there is no time to start feeling any pain."

A study done by Professor Wilhelm Schulze et al.. at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Germany in 1978 concluded that "he slaughter in the form of ritual cut is, if carried out properly, painless in sheep and calves according to the EEG recordings and the missing defensive actions." This study is cited by the German Constitutional Court in its permitting of dhabiha slaughtering. Muslims and Jews have also argued that in the traditional British methods of slaughter, "animals are sometimes rendered physically immobile, although with full consciousness and sensation. The application of a sharp knife in shechita and dhabh, by contrast, ensures that no pain is felt: the wound inflicted is clean, and the loss of blood causes the animal to lose consciousness within seconds."