Introduction

In Islam, there are some foods which a Muslim is allowed to eat and other foods which a Muslim is prohibited from eating. Meat is only Halal (“permissible”) for a Muslim if certain rules are followed. The most important of these when it comes to meat being Halal is that the animal is slaughtered in a set prescribed manner, which includes pronouncing the name of God while cutting the neck of the animal. Recently however a significant number of Muslims are having doubts about eating meat which is from an animal which was stunned before being slaughtered. Doubts have arisen over whether stunning means the meat is not Halal for a Muslim to eat.

There are organisations which help a Muslim know what meat is Halal and what meat is not, by ensuring that the Butchers, amongst others, are complying with the Islamic rules. Hence when a Muslim wishes to buy some food, he or she can search the packaging for a certified “Halal” logo with the name of the organisation that has checked, and thus be assured that the meat is Halal because he or she trusts that company. The criteria or checklist that a Butchers must pass before being certified to produce Halal meat is mostly agreed upon by various organisations, however there may be differences between different organisations. Hence although one organisation might declare that a certain Butchers produces Halal meat, the same Butchers might not pass the criteria of another organisation.

Doubts have arisen over whether stunning the animal before slaughtering means the meat is no longer Halal. So naturally this is a point of difference between some organisations. The most prominent organisation in Britain which only certifies Butchers, who do not stun the animal pre-slaughter, are HMC (“Halal Monitoring Committee”). Incidentally, the doubt over stunning seems to have mainly been caused by HMC.

Stunning will now be examined to determine its permissibility.

Is stunning permissible?

The most important thing to establish first is the opinions of the Ulema (scholars) on the issue of stunning.

Mainstream Sunnis

The famous Al-Azhar University in Egypt has declared that according to the four Sunni madhabs (schools of jurisprudence) of Sunni Islam, stunning before slaughter is halal. They established this ruling by asking scholars of each of the four Sunni madhabs (schools of jurisprudence) to investigate.

The famous Muslim World League (who let it be noted are one of the main organisations who calculate prayer times for Muslims) who in a joint meeting with the WHO (World Health Organisation) said: “Pre-slaughter stunning by electric shock, if proven to lessen the animal’s suffering, is lawful, provided that it is carried out with the weakest electric current that directly renders the animal unconscious, and that it neither leads to the animal’s death nor renders its meat harmful to the consumer.”

The Council for Legal Verdicts at Dar al-Mustafa for Islamic Studies in Yemen have ruled that the meat of animal which is stunned before slaughter is Halal as long as the animal is alive at the time of slaughter. (source: http://www.organic-halal-meat.com/article/fatwa-stunning-yemen.php)

Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, has said:

“As for stunning the animal, it does not make the animal dead, for it is intended only to knock the animal unconscious so that it does not feel pain and it is brought under control. This itself does not render the animal impure and unlawful unless it is dead before slaughter. My own experience with the slaughterhouses is that they do not make use of animals that are already dead before slaughter. Inspectors, who are appointed by the government (in countries such as Canada), do make sure that this is not the case.”

There are many more Sunni Ulema who have ruled that the meat of an animal which was stunned before slaughter is permissible.

See http://www.organic-halal-meat.com/article/fatwa-stunning.php for some more and for the sources of the above.

Wahabbis

Wahabbis/Salafies permit stunning. The proof for this is that IslamQA.com (the biggest online site for fatwas ((rulings)) by Wahabbis) has said that it is permissible. Their fatwa describes the manner so well that it is worth reproducing in full:

If the matter is as described, that the butcher slaughters the an’aam animal (camel, cow, sheep or goat) as soon as it falls to the ground after receiving an electric shock, if that is done when it is still alive, then it is permissible to eat it. But if he slaughters it after it has died then it is not permissible to eat it. This comes under the ruling on animals killed by a violent blow, which Allaah has forbidden unless they are properly slaughtered before they die. The slaughter does not count unless it is proven that the animal showed signs of life such as moving a leg or if blood flowed (at the time of slaughter) and so on, which indicates that it was still alive until the slaughtering was over. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Forbidden to you (for food) are: Al-Maitah (the dead animals — cattle — beast not slaughtered), blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which Allaah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering (that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allaah, or has been slaughtered for idols) and that which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by the goring of horns — and that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal — unless you are able to slaughter it (before its death)” [al-Maa'idah 5:3]

An’aam animals that have been exposed to a fatal blow are permissible so long as they are slaughtered properly before they die, otherwise it is not permissible to eat them. (source: http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/14308)

Shia

Ayatollah Sistani, arguably the most prominent living Shi’i scholar, has ruled that stunning is permissible.

Question: “If Chicken is stunned with an electric charge before they are slaughtered, are they still halal? Is this accepted as halal slaughter?”

Answer from Najaf.org: “As long as the chicken is alive when it get slaughtered according to the islamic laws so it moves after slaughtering even its eye, then it is halal.”

Another scholar, ayatollah Milani, has also ruled that stunning is permissible.

Question: “If Chicken is stunned with an electric charge before they are slaughtered, are they still halal? Is this accepted as halal slaughter?”

Answer: “The electric charge must not lead to the death of chicken before slaughtering.”

Conclusion

The Ulema (scholars) from the prominent sects and groups have ruled that the meat of an animal that was stunned is Halal. They point out that if stunning kills the animal then the meat is not Halal. This is logical since, as was noted in the introduction, one of the essential conditions for meat to be Halal is that the animal is slaughtered in the Islamic prescribed method; hence if the animal is killed by stunning, and not the Islamic method, then the meat is obviously not Halal. Therefore the Ulema have ruled that the meat of an animal that was stunned is Halal, as long as it is killed by the prescribed method and not by the stunning. Even if the stunning will cause the animal to die, then the meat is still halal as long as the animal is still alive at the time of slaughter; (see the fatwa of IslamQA for proof).

The HMC attempt to dispute this but provide no fatawa (rulings) by scholars except a couple of links to unknown scholars whose reasoning is flawed, based on faulty assumptions about stunning, and contradicts well-known scholars and groups listed above who have based their answer on the Quran and Sunnah. Furthermore, weight is added to the rulings of the Ulema, because different Ulema from different sects and groups have a consensus on this issue.

What is stunning? Does it kill?

After some Muslims learn that the Ulema have ruled that stunning is permissible, they insist on their position that the meat is not Halal. They do this by arguing that stunning kills the animal. By arguing this, they display their ignorance of what stunning actually is. Stunning comes from the word ‘stun’, meaning to shock, daze, immobilise something, or to deprive something of its strength. It is not meant to cause death. Stunning is simply making the animal immobile or unconscious before the animal is slaughtered for the purpose of reducing or removing the pain the animal feels at the time of slaughter. Hence to claim generally that animals die from stunning is false and displays ignorance of what stunning is. A significant number of governments of various countries require or recommend stunning for the sake of lessening the pain of the animal feels when it is later slaughter.

HMC attempt to dispute this by implying that many animals die from stunning “on many occasions”, but they give no reliable evidence. They also claim this is verified by “research”, but they neither quote the actual reference nor reference it. The articles they link to on their site are devoid of actual fact, and contain many assumptions and false implications.

Even if stunning does result in the occasional death of an animal, organisations do (or should) remove the dead animals and separate them from the animals which were stunned and were still alive at the time of slaughtering. For example, HFA (“Halal Food Authority), another very prominent organisation in Britain, state that: “one has to be reminded that HFA has always maintained “no stunning to kill”…Halal Food Authority allows controlled electric stun-with-minuscule amperage, with official Veterinary Surgeon validating that the animal or the birds do not die prior to slaughtering.” (http://www.halalfoodauthority.co.uk/FAQs.html)

HMC also link to, or say in, articles that say stunning is unhealthy, that organisations don’t remove animals which were killed by the stunning, and describe “horror” stories of stunning being very inhumane. Such words are false, and have been proven false by people who have visited certified slaughterhouses to see for themselves. Some of these accounts are available on the internet and can be found using a search engine, such as google. Furthermore if stunning was actually was as unhealthy and as painful as they have implied or said or linked to, then the governments of various countries, including Muslim countries like Malaysia, would not have recommended or required it.

Conclusion

Stunning is used to lessen the pain the animal feels when it is later slaughtered. Stunning is not killing and, if performed with a correct method, should not lead to death. The Ulema say that as long as the animal is not killed by the stunning, then the meat of a stunned animal is Halal. Even if the stunning is fatal to the animal, then as long as the animal is actually killed by the Islamic method, then the meat remains permissible; (the Quran itself says this). If any animal does die from the stunning, then it should be removed. A Muslim should make sure that the organisation which certified the meat has this policy. There will still be some who insist that stunning is Halal despite all the evidence to the contrary. Ironically these same people will often be people of little knowledge.

HMC are greatly profiting by claiming that the meat of stunned animals is not Halal, since they are one of the few organisations that only certify non-stunned animals, and are causing a lot of Muslims to doubt whether it is Halal, and thus they only eat from HMC-certified places.

In conclusion, to put it simply, meat from stunned animals is Halal. HMC and some Muslims should stop saying it isn’t.

©2012 Path of Islam. All Rights Reserved.

Once there was a community of Muslims who were small in number yet large in iman and strong in action. So much so that, the kufaar [non-believers] could not defeat them in battle even though they had the Muslims out numbered.One day a young man from the kufaar pretended to enter into Islam and he went to the big sheik [learned man] in one part of the city and listened to his teaching of the Quran. The subject happened to be on the chapter of the Quran called Al Kahaf (the Cave, #18].

When the sheik completed his talk he offered a chance for the brothers present to ask some questions. When it came the turn of the kafar, he asked the sheik the question:

“Sir, in the story of the ‘sleepers’ in the cave, there is mention of a dog. And I was wondering if I might inquire as to what color the dog might have been? I hope you don’t mind my asking, especially if it is something that maybe you don’t know the answer to.”

Immediately the sheik says to the young man, “That’s no problem at all, everyone should know that the dog was YELLOW.”

The young man said, “Are you sure? I mean, could it have been another color?”

“No.” replied the old sheik, “It was definitely YELLOW.” Once again the young man thanked him and when on his way.

The next night the young kafr man went to the other side of town and sat in another gathering of knowledge and they too were discussing different things about verses in the Quran.

So when it came time for the teacher to give each person attending, the opportunity to ask a question, the kafr man raised his hand and then asked the question, “In the chapter about the “Cave”, the sleepers are mentioned in different numbers but each time there is a reference to their dog as being counted along with them. Now I was wondering whether or not anyone of knowledge has ever made any reference to what the color the dog might have been?”

The sheik immediately said, “Yes! The dog in this story in the Quran was BLACK.”

The young kafar man was pleased and continued, “Sir, are you quite certain that the color of the dog mentioned in the story was BLACK?”

“Young man,” he quickly replied, “I’ll stake my reputation on that as a fact.”

“Thank you, sir.” Said the young man.

The next night the kafar posing as a Muslim went back to the first sheik and then when it came time for the questions and answers he raised his hand and asked, “Sheik, may Allah reward you for all your effort and knowledge and for sharing it with us. Could you maybe remind me about the answer to the question the other night about the color of the dog in the cave in Surah Al-Kahaf?” (Holy Quran: Chapter 18).

The sheik said, “There is no doubt whatsoever amongst the great scholars of Islam on this question. The dog was YELLOW. And anyone who says other than this has no knowledge.”

With that the young man spoke up again and said, “Sir, what would you say if someone else said that he would stake his reputation of being a scholar in Islam on the fact that the dog is not yellow, but rather that the dog is most certainly BLACK?”

The sheik quickly replied, “Then his reputation is not that of a scholar but one of a fool.”

Now the next time the kafr man went to the sheik that was upholding the idea of the dog being BLACK, he told the sheik that the sheik on the other side of town was calling him names and saying that he had no knowledge of Islam and that for sure that the dog was YELLOW. The old sheik became angry and shouted, “You tell him, that I said he is the one without knowledge. I’m the one who graduated from the greatest of schools of Islam, while he is but a fool.”

The plan was working. Before long the community was divided into two groups. Each group was claiming that their sheik was the one with the correct answer.

Fighting broke out in the streets and the Muslims began attacking each other all over the city. Everyone became involved to the extent that there was not a single person who was excluded from this terrible situation. Screaming, shouting, hitting and fighting were everywhere.

And then it happened. The kafr went back out to his people and told them, “Let us go to fight them now. You will now find them most easy to defeat.”

And that is exactly what they did.

©2012 Path of Islam. All Rights Reserved.