Islam allows the killing of animals only for use. Islam not only commands Muslims to be kind to humanity, but also goes on further to say that Muslims should be kind and not mistreat animals. There are a couple of conditions to slaughtering and they all must be fulfilled for the meat to be lawful to eat.
The first condition is that the animal itself must be lawful as far as Islamic ruling and Quran. The second condition is that the tool itself must be very sharp, so that the animal does not feel a lot of pain and to avoid a wrong cut. Third, the animals must be killed by bringing the sharp tool into the large veins and arteries in the front of the neck. The slaughterer must also say the name of Allah when slaughtering. The fourth condition is the identity of the slaughterer. If he is a Muslim, his slaughtering is accepted and you may eat from it. If he is a Non-Muslim but a Jew or Christian, you may eat from it. There is a difference in this matter however, because some Muslims believe that one must also fulfill the other points as well as this one for it to be accepted. So to these people, the meat of the Jews is lawful, because they follow the points above, but the meat of modern Christians is not, because they don’t follow the above points. The meat of all other Non-Muslims is not acceptable to eat.
Slaughtering is very important in Islam, because it is a major part of our religion, especially on Eid. Muslims should know how to slaughter their animals correctly. Islam is a religion of peace and mercy for everything on this world. Islam even prohibits the killing of animals in vain. Islamic ruling is very clear and straight forward in the matter of slaughtering, so we should not be ignorant about it. As long as the four conditions of slaughtering animals are fulfilled, the animal is acceptable to eat.
Date: 9/29/03
