Halal Slaughter- The Greatest Spin Job in History

Hat tip to Steve

Mona Shadia is a writer for the Orange County Register. She has written the below article today on halal slaughter. It has to be the greatest spin job in the history of journalism.

By MONA SHADIA / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

There are certain foods Muslims can’t eat.

And I’ve come to realize that there also are certain rules about those foods — more rules than I want to remember.

Dietary guidelines are a huge deal for practicing Muslims. It’s even more challenging to follow the rules when you don’t know what’s in your food or how it was prepared.

While I don’t follow all the rules, I’m always aware of what I can and can’t eat.

Lately, however, dietary restrictions have been top of mind.

First, my friend Meesh, a traditional Jew, started following stricter kosher guidelines. Then my Islamic studies class at the Islamic Institution of Orange County’s College of Islamic Studies began the first two sessions with discussions on what Muslims can and can’t eat.

What resonated with me in class goes beyond the basics of not eating pork (or anything from a pig), carrion meat, or drinking blood (disgusting) or alcohol.

What stuck with me is the why behind the guidelines, and how they mainly involve the treatment of the animals.

Muslims are allowed to eat meat (sorry, vegetarians), but not just any meat. And the process of turning the animal into meat is what governs what is and isn’t halal.

Aside from invoking the name of God before the animal is slaughtered, the person handling the animal must treat it humanely throughout its life, as well as in the moments before it is slaughtered and during the actual process of ending its life.

What does that mean? The animals must be fed good food that doesn’t hurt them or in any way degrade their meat or milk. The animal cannot be beaten, confined in an uncomfortable position or electrocuted during the slaughtering process (something that’s common in many commercial slaughterhouses).

If the animal dies before it is properly slaughtered, Muslims cannot eat its meat.

Also, during the slaughtering process, the animal should not be allowed to see the knife or whatever device that will end its life. And the blade of that knife must be sharp enough so only one cut is required to end the animal’s life. What’s more, the area where the animal is cut is specifically defined — between the throat and the upper bone of the chest. The belief is that this immediately cuts off circulation, drains the blood and generally produces a swift, relatively painless death.

(By the way, I would never slaughter or kill an animal. I would feel too guilty about it, though I’ve seen it happen in front of me many times growing up.)

Though some might find it gruesome to hear the details of these rules, my reaction was different. I couldn’t help but feel pride that my religion requires such humane methods, and that treating the animal in this fashion results in some spiritual purity.

That Islam requires such steps is just another example of its overall philosophy and humanity.

Though it is hard for me to imagine myself not eating at some of my favorite restaurants because I’m not sure how the animal was treated, and how it might have been slaughtered, I feel like that is what I should be doing — eating halal meat and food. How can I turn my back on those humane methods when they belong to my religion?

So I have a proposal: I call on all of my favorite restaurants, and my future favorite restaurants, to only work with halal or kosher meat. I contend that this would benefit not only Muslims but everyone.

Problem solved.

Mona Shadia was born and raised in Cairo and now lives in Orange County. Her column is about living as a Muslim in America.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7363 or mshadia@ocregister.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is an article from the Daily Mail about how such slaughter is carried out in the UK.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328616/Halal-meat-served-schools-hospitals-pubs-Vets-say-Islamic-slaughter-cruel.html

Update: Here, courtesy of Chris, is a copy of the letter he sent to Ms Shadia along with a graphic video of halal slaughter. (viewer warning).

 Dear Ms. Shadia, 
 
Your article defending halal slaughter is spreading far and wide because 
people are so outraged by your naïve portrayal of a “relatively painless 
death.”  Obviously, you have never actually seen how halal slaughter takes 
place.  It is not painless, and the animals usually drown in their own blood 
while suspended upside down.  Civilized people cannot stomach any support of 
this barbaric practice, and that is why they insist that halal meat be 
properly labeled so they can avoid it.  Before your write any more articles 
praising the virtues of halal meat, I would suggest that you watch the video 
below of how it is actually carried out.  Bon appétit! 
 
  
 

Let me say this as one who eats meat. I am not against the killing of animals for their meat. I just think that the animal should be allowed to live a reasonably full life (ex. veal and suckling pig), be treated and kept in humane and comfortable conditions and die an instant and painless death. I had once been under the impression that we had laws to that effect governing the slaughtering of animals. It is my understanding that Germany still does. While other European countries also do, I hear that they are being ignored in France and Belgium in order to accommodate halal slaughter. The idea of cutting an animal's throat and allowing it to bleed out I find abhorrent. In order to be consistent, if Kosher slaughter does not conform to humane standards (painless and instantaneous) , then I am not comfortable with that as well.

Either we have laws ensuring the humane treatment and killing of animals or we don't. And for Ms Shadia to suggest that we change all animal slaughter to halal for her convenience I find frankly insulting and arrogant.