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Fatwa from Al-Azhar pertaining to Halal slaughter
of animals and the live transport of animals in Islam
Azhar Sheikh Imam
Dr/Mohamed Sayed Tantawy
(Signed)
24 Apr. 2008
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Thanks be to Allah and prayers and peace upon the noblest of all
his messengers, Mohamed Bin Abdullah. Allah’s Blessings and
Peace be upon Him, upon his family, companions and whoever has followed
them with piety till the Day of Judgement and upon all prophets
and messengers.
Mr/Ahmed El Sherbeeny, the Lawyer before the Court of Cassation
and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Society of
Animal Friends has submitted a letter including a request of a statement
of the Islamic law opinion in two matters:
The first matter is about the opinion of the Islamic law with regards
to those to torture the animal at the time of its slaughter by committing
acts that contradict treating it with mercy.
The second matter is about the opinion of the Islamic law with regards
to transporting the animals for long distances from one country
to another by means that do not observe the safety of the animal
or treating it with leniency in the manner mentioned in detail in
his letter.
To answer the foregoing, we say :
First : The Islamic law has made it a must that the animal
would be treated at the time of its slaughter with leniency and
by the means that guarantee treating it with mercy. All this is
included within the goodwill which was ordered by the Prophet (Allah’s
Peace & Blessings be upon Him) in his true saying (Hadith) in
which he says “Allah Almighty has dictated goodwill in everything;
if you kill you perfect the killing, if you slaughter you perfect
the slaughter. “In slaughtering one must sharpen the blade
and comfort the animal before slaughtering it” narrated by
Muslim. This Prophetic saying indicates that slaughtering the animal
must be carried out with leniency and mercy.
This is some of what is understood by the word goodwill mentioned
in the Prophetic saying and what is understood from requesting the
sharpening of the blade with which the animal shall be slaughtered
so that the animal would not be in pain from the slaughter by the
dull blade. This is what is meant explicitly by the dull blade.
This is what is meant explicitly by the saying of the Prophet, Allah’s
Peace Be Upon him “Comfort the animal that will be slaughtered”.
To satisfy such order, it is required that whatever comforts the
animal until its slaughter must be done”.
It has been mentioned in the true Prophetic traditions what attests
forbidding the sharpening of the slaughtering tool before the animal
that will be slaughtered. The Prophet (Allah’s Peace &
Blessings Be Upon Him) saw a man sharpening his knife before the
animal that he was about to slaughter, so he forbid him from doing
so and told him “Do you want to slaughter it twice, once with
sharpening the blade before it and once more by cutting its throat!?”
It has also been mentioned in the traditions narrated that Imam
Aly (may Allah be pleased with him) prohibited the slaughter of
sheep before each other or any other animals so that the feeling
of the animal would not be hurt in its last moments.
These evidences and others attest that any act that contradicts
leniency with the animal or treating it with no mercy at the time
of slaughtering it – in the manner mentioned in the question
in detail – is considered a sinful and forbidden act and does
not agree with the leniency with the animal that Islam calls for.
This is the answer for the first question.
Second : With regards to the second question, we hereby
say that the call of Islam to be lenient with the animal and to
treat it with mercy includes all cases that necessitate such mercy,
among which is transporting the animal. Such transportation must
be carried out by a comfortable mean that guarantees its safety,
prohibits its torture, threatening its life or afflicting it with
diseases that are contagious to the human being or third party.
This is deduced for the Prophetic saying of the Prophet (Allah’s
Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) “Any good deed rendered in
a hardship is like an almsgiving” and his saying , Peace Upon
Him “A woman entered hell fire for detaining a cat which she
neither fed nor left to eat the leftovers of the land”.
These two sayings and others attest that treating the animal must
be built on its mercy in all cases, among which is transporting
it from one place to another.Torturing the animal at the time of
its transport – pursuant to what is mentioned in the letter
of the questioner – is considered prohibited and forbidden
in the law of Islam if the case is as mentioned in the question.
Allah is Higher and Knows Best.
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