Chowrangi

How is mechanically slaughtered chicken halal?

Mechanically slaughtered chicken.jpgIn a western store I was surprised to see a pack of chicken labeled as halal. Not only was it labeled halal, it was actually certified to be halal. When I looked at the label on the back, the first thing it said was mechanically slaughtered.

This is not only the case in western countries but in the subcontinent as well. A machine slaughters chickens that are hung upside down while a tape recorder repeats Bismillah AllahuAkbar. Sometimes a person may be employed to repeat Bismillah AllahuAkbar. The thing common with both is that the recitation of Bismillah AllahuAkbar is not done simultaneously with the slaughter. Even if it was simultaneous, the chicken would still be haram. Chicken has to be slaughtered by hand.

There is a lot of ignorance concerning halal. I have seen a pack of fish nuggets labeled as halal. Since when was fish required to be slaughtered?

There is a true story of a Muslim who was served pork in an American restaurant. Upon inquiry the waiter replied, “Yes it is pork, but don’t worry Sir, it is halal!

Image: BBC

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Mohammad Yusha

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26 responses to “How is mechanically slaughtered chicken halal?”

  1. ghouse Avatar
    ghouse

    not legible

    Reply
  2. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    Under extreme circumstances a person can eat haram.

    Reply
  3. Mohamed Avatar
    Mohamed

    @Yusha: No arguments with you, as emphasised earlier, mechanical slaughter is not a bone of contention. However, taking a racist attitude toward selecting the scholars most certainly is. Please be privileged to follow your “proper scholars”, however there are a growing number of Muslims who want to follow the Qur’an and Sunnah as exhorted by our beloved Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be on him):

    … I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray…

    Reply
  4. Shakir Lakhani Avatar
    Shakir Lakhani

    Yusha: so you would advise a Muslim to die of hunger rather than eat something which is “haram” (if no “halal” food is available?)

    Reply
  5. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    Your comment is a poor attempt to divert the attention away from my question.

    Reply
  6. Mohamed Avatar
    Mohamed

    “Uday Ibn Haatim (may Allah be pleased with him) heard the Messenger of Allah’s call of Islam (may peace and blessings of Allah be on him), to avoid Uday fled to Al-Shaam (Syria, Palestine area) as he was a Christian before Islam. Later, his sister who had met the prophet (peace be on him) persuaded him to consider Islam and meet the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him). Uday was one of the leaders of his tribe, and his father, Haatim Al-Taa’i, was famous for his generosity. ‘Uday then proceeded to Madina and the people there began talking about his coming. When he entered upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him), he was wearing a silver cross around his neck. The Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) was reciting the Quranic verse (9:31) “They took their Rabbis and Priests as lords besides Allah”. When he heard this ‘Uday said: “They did not worship them”. He (the Prophet) replied: “Yes they did. They (the Rabbis and Priests) made what was Halal (permissible) into Haram (prohibited) for them, and what was Haram into Halal for them, and they (the people) followed them; that was their worshipping of them (the Rabbis and Priests)”.
    (Recorded by Imam Ahmed, Al-Tirmithi, and Ibn Jareer)

    It is clear in this Hadith that ‘Uday Ibn Haatim (may Allah be pleased with him) at that time understood ‘Ibadah (worship) as most Muslims today understand ibadah – as just rituals (salah, fast e.t.c.).

    It is as if he is saying: “By Allah, oh Messenger of Allah, we did not pray Salat to the Priests, nor did we take them as Gods that we directly worshipped besides Allah”. However the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) wanted to teach Uday, as well as us today, the correct understanding of ‘Ibadah of Allah. Thus, he responded to Uday: “They made what was Halal into Haram for them, and what was Haram into Halal for them, and they (the people) followed them, and that was their worshipping them”. The law or Sharia is Allah’s right, therefore, the Christians and Jews worshipped their Rabbis and Priests by obeying their law. This act of accepting a law other than that of Allah is making these priests shareek or shirk (partners) with Allah, which is the greatest, unforgivable sin.

    Ignoring the Qur’an and Sunnah and blindly following the so-called “proper scholars” amounts to the sin of taking these priests as lords besides Allah. We are supposed to only follow the scholars who adhere to the Qur’an and Sunnah, it does not matter if they are Pakistani, Indian, German or French. If they do not, they stand rejected.

    Reply
  7. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    @Mohamed: I haven’t heard of any proper Pakistani or Indian scholar call mechanical slaughter halal.

    @Mr. Lakhani: Bismillah AllahuAkbar is recited before slaughtering, not before eating.

    Reply
  8. Shakir Lakhani Avatar
    Shakir Lakhani

    Supposing you are in a place where only pork is available. Would it make the pork halal if you said “Bismillah Allahu Akbar” before eating it?

    Reply
  9. Mohamed Avatar
    Mohamed

    @brother Hend: The reason slaughter done by Jews and Christians are acceptable is not because they have a preferable treatment over the other religions, but because they believe in the same one supreme god “Allah”. For e.g. the Arab Christians know only one name for god, that is “Allah” they don’t call Jesus (may peace and blessings of Allah be on him) with the name Allah. Even if they don’t call god with the name “Allah” as a regular practice, their identification of the supreme god is the same as ours.

    @brother Yusha: Yes you’re right, in fact one could be not just missing a lot of things if we do not heed to the “proper scholars” more importantly we might even go astray.

    Unlike Christianity, Judaism and other religions, Islam is a religion sans priesthood, which means priests don’t have the absolute authority to define matters of religion. The basis of defining the matters of religion is the Qur’an and Sunnah. This is based on following verse of the Qur’an among other verses:

    “Obey Allah and His Messenger”: But if they turn back, Allah loveth not those who reject Faith. – Translation of the Glorious Quran 3:32

    Moreover the Messenger of Allah SWT (may Allah’s peace and blessings be on him) said in his last sermon:

    … I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray…

    The role of the scholars is to arrive at ijma (scholarly consensus) while making ijtihad or deriving the rulings from the Quran and Sunnah. The duty of the common man is to have enough knowledge to reject the scholars who deviate away from the Qur’an and Sunnah.

    Regarding your doubt about hunting, it is mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an (5:95) not to hunt in the state of ‘ihram’ (while performing Haj or Umrah). Hunting mentioned here implies using a sharp object like a spear/ arrow or using hunting hounds or other halal method of hunting (Note, hunting is allowed only for dietary needs, not for pleasure). There are many ahadith on this subject, but I will quote just one that might help clarify most related matters:

    Narrated By Adi bin Hatim : I asked the Prophet about the game killed by a Mi’rad (i.e. a sharp-edged piece of wood or a piece of wood provided with a sharp piece of iron used for hunting). He said, “If the game is killed with its sharp edge, eat of it, but if it is killed with its shaft, with a hit by its broad side then the game is (unlawful to eat) for it has been beaten to death.” I asked him about the game killed by a trained hound. He said, “If the hound catches the game for you, eat of it, for killing the game by the hound, is like its slaughtering. But if you see with your hound or hounds another dog, and you are afraid that it might have shared in hunting the game with your hound and killed it, then you should not eat of it, because you have mentioned Allah’s name on (sending) your hound only, but you have not mentioned it on some other hound.”
    – Sahih Bukhari Volume 007, Book 067, Hadith Number 384

    Wallaho Aalam (… and Allah knows best)

    Reply
  10. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    @Mohamed: Using a hunting dog? Is the hunting dog going to slaughter according to the Islamic method or am I missing something obvious? No proper scholar has given permission to slaughter chicken with a machine and that too with the recitation of Bismillah AllahuAkbar only once for a number of chicken.

    Reply
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