Eid sacrifices: Between random slaughter and Sharia

The issue of the indiscriminate slaughter of sacrifices on Eid al-Adha has been causing widespread controversy for many years. Some still insist on slaughtering the animal at the side of the road or at the doorstep of the house, on the grounds that the blood of the sacrifice blesses the place and brings good to its people. Animals are also slaughtered in front of each other's eyes, which causes them shock and sometimes leads them to commit suicide. Some find in these practices a kind of joy for family members, especially children, or away from the crowds of massacres on Eid days.

Despite some annual awareness campaigns that precede Eid al-Adha, a number of community members are still convinced in this regard. Some even buy the animal a few days before Eid and take it home in preparation for slaughter on the morning of Eid al-Adha, without taking into account the provision of the minimum basics of life for this animal.

The unmerciful dealing with animals in a number of societies in Arab and Islamic countries shows its results every year in the form of various incidents of the suicide of a number of animals by escaping and then throwing themselves from the windows of some apartments. These negative behaviors prompted many Islamic clerics and workers in animal protection organizations to demand the activation of laws to protect animal rights in a manner that does not contradict the Sharia (Islamic law).

“Many of the practices followed in sacrifice at the present time do not comply with Islamic teachings, and the resulting mistreatment and severe cruelty towards animals is clearly haram (forbidden),” Abdel Hamid al-Atrash, the former head of the Fatwa Committee at Egypt’s Al-Azhar, told Jusoor Post. He explained that Islamic law stresses compassion towards animals when slaughtering, as the texts of the Quran and Sunnah are rich in teachings about treating animals with kindness and gentleness.

In order to complete the slaughter with the least amount of pain, Islam set specific controls for the slaughter of an animal, starting from its type, age, method of slaughter, and even how it is treated in transportation and before slaughter.

Al-Atrash said that Islam has permitted the slaughter of sheep, goats, camels, cows and buffaloes, and each of them has certain conditions. With regard to age, it is stipulated that sheep be at least six months old, goats one year, cattle two years, and camels five years old.

With regard to the slaughter process, Al-Atrash explained that the Prophet recommended that the slaughtering tool be sharp and that the slaughter process be carried out with one movement so as not to torment the animal, cutting the windpipe, jugular veins and carotid arteries, but not the spinal cord.

For her part, Suha Karim, a veterinarian who works in one of the animal welfare associations in Egypt, indicated that the harm that occurs to animals is not only at the time of slaughter, but starts from the process of transporting them, which lacks the basics of life for them, such as food or drink, and their exposure to extreme temperatures for days. She told Jusoor Post that some animals are walked on foot for several days. During this period the animals lose some weight and receive unnecessary beatings.

In similar circumstances, animals are transported in overcrowded and poorly ventilated trucks in hot and humid weather, causing them unnecessary pain. The animals are also kept in poor conditions in the slaughterhouses, where they are kept in primitive buildings and tied with short ropes, while eorkers often beat animals to force them to enter the slaughterhouse, according to Karim.

This harsh treatment was criticized by Al-Atrash, who said the meat from animals that are subjected to harsh treatment during transportation and at slaughter is considered forbidden and in violation of the Sharia.

With regard to torturing the sacrifice in front of other animals, Karim said that what many do not understand is that the animals are highly sensitive and intelligent and are aware of what is happening around them, which causes them to panic and possibly die on their own. She criticized the slaughter operations that take place in front of the eyes of other animals, as well as the operations of cutting and dividing meat and hanging the body in front of live animals.

In the same context, Al-Atrash strongly attacked the way slaughter is sometimes carried out, stressing that Islam completely forbids the abuse or insult of animals, and that it is also forbidden to kill animals in front of each other's eyes. He noted that the animal should not be tied up or suspended before slaughter, and the carcass should not be suspended until after the animal has completely lost consciousness. Islam also recommends the necessity of resting the animals before slaughter, not restraining them in a way that disturbs or hurts them, and providing them with drink and food.

Both Al-Atrash and Karim agreed on “the necessity of awareness campaigns from organizations, government and religious bodies to raise awareness of the importance of animal welfare and the procedures to be followed regarding transportation and slaughter.”

Karim also clarified that some doctors prefer that the animal be anesthetized before slaughter in order to reduce pain and a sense of what is going on around it. Regarding the Sharia in this matter, Al-Atrash said that there is no harm or religious impediment that contradicts this matter as long as it will comfort the animal.