Halal cut

In the Halal Cut the animal has to be slaughtered with a sharp object (knife) and in a fast way so that the pain of slaughter is minimised.

Zabiha is an Arabic word which means ‘slaughtered’. The ‘slaughtering’ is to be done by cutting the throat, windpipe and the blood vessels in the neck causing the animal’s death without cutting the spinal cord. The blood has to be drained completely before the head is removed. The purpose is to drain out most of the blood which would serve as a good culture medium for micro organisms. The spinal cord must not be cut because the nerve fibres to the heart could be damaged during the process causing cardiac arrest, stagnating the blood in the blood vessels.

The Muslim way of slaughtering is hygienic as most of the blood containing germs, bacteria, toxins, etc. that are the cause of several diseases are eliminated. Meat slaughtered by Islamic way remains fresh for a longer time due to deficiency of blood in the meat as compared to other methods of slaughtering.

The animal does not feel pain as the swift cutting of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerve of the brain responsible for pain. While dying, the animal struggles, writhes, shakes and kicks, not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient in blood and due to the flow of blood out of the body.

Despite the above, which gives a biased Muslim point of view concerning Halal slaughtering, there is still considerable controversy surrounding the practice. The Farm Animal Welfare Council of the United Kingdom(FAWC), which advises the British government on how to avoid needless cruelty to livestock, says the way Kosher and Halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals..