What do the respected Scholars of Islam say regarding the following: In many Muslim slaughterhouses in the UK, the animal is rendered unconscious befo

Answer

The practice of rendering animals unconscious before slaughtering, which is carried out in different ways, consists of a number of undesirable and objectionable elements, for example:

a. If this act is such that it causes the animal to lose all its senses and consciousness completely, then there is a risk that it will have caused the animal's death before slaughter, especially if the animal was weak or ill.

b, If this act is such that it does not cause the animal to lose all its senses and consciousness completely (such as a mild electrical shock that merely immobilizes the animal), then there is a strong possibility that the animal's pain and suffering will have been unnecessarily increased, since the pain of slaughter remains due to its not being unconscious, and the pain and stress of the electrical shock will have been administered additionally without any need.

c. If this act makes the animal weak (compared to its normal and natural condition), and at the time of slaughter the animal is not at its full physical strength, then there is a risk that this will cause a reduction in the amount of blood that will flow from it at the time of slaughter, compared to what might have flowed in the case of the animal being fully conscious and in full possession of its senses and physical strength, and to undertake such a course of action deliberately is to oppose and counter a Shar'i requirement of slaughter (i.e. the discharge of flowing blood).

d. If the amount of blood discharged is reduced due to the animal's weakness, then there is a risk that the remaining (non-discharged) blood will be absorbed into the meat of the animal, and this is an undesirable outcome both from a medical point of view and also according to Shari'ah.

e. If the person undertaking this way of slaughter believes it to be a less stressful and painful method than the prescribed Shar'i manner, then this is tantamount to believing an invented method to be superior to a revealed one, and it means that the person believes the revealed method of slaughter to be painful and cruel, which is 'close to disbelief '.

(Ref: Imdadul-Fatawa, Vol. 3, P. 605-8 and Ahkamuz-zaba-ih, P. 55-6)

Due to these reasons, it is not correct in terms of Shari'ah to render an animal unconscious before slaughter. And in fact Hakimul-Ummah Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Rahmatullahi Alaih) has used the words 'evil innovation, corruption of faith' and 'against Shari'ah' to describe this practice.