UK Muslim Scholars Unanimously Reject Mechanical Or Machine
Slaughter of Animals
(Remember that in Mechanical slaughter,there is stunning )
In the largest independent survey of Muslim Scholars conducted in the UK concerning Halal
and Halal standards, there was a unanimous rejection of mechanical slaughter in the UK from
all scholars.
In June 2009, an independent online survey was commissioned by HMC(Halal Monitoring Committee) through Ajax
Consultants to understand the scholarly opinions on Halal in the UK.
Responses were received from 282 imams and muftis from over 25 towns and cities covering,
London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leicester, Manchester, Blackburn, Reading,
Preston, Dewsbury and many more cities across the UK.
The survey asked several questions covering issues on the acceptance of mechanical
slaughtering, stunning of animal prior to slaughter, recitation of tasmiyah, and views on the
current exemptions in UK and European law.
The Summary of the findings are outlined below:
95% of the Ulama do not accept “mechanical slaughter” as an accepted method of Halal
slaughter in Islam (2.1% want to understand the issue further)
99.7% stated that Bismillah(Tasmiah) should be prayed individually by person slaughtering (not taped
or person standing on the side)
90% rejected electrical stunning of chickens (9% welcomed further research)
85% rejected electrical stunning of larger animals (9% welcomed further research)
99% expressed preference for non-stunned
100% saw the need for the continuation of religious exemption in the UK which allows Muslims and Jews to practice their religious beliefs (prophetic method of slaughte/Zabiha) and without the use of any type of stunning.
The survey included responses from 32 Muftis, 201 Ulama and 49 Imams
HMC Chairman: Shaykh Yunus Dudhwala commented, “This survey is the largest of its kind
conducted in the UK and sets clear guidelines of acceptability and standards for Halal in this
country. It further endorses the standard of Halal that HMC has followed since its inception
in 2003”.
Nadeem Adam, Operations Manager at HMC said, “People will be surprised to learn of the
widespread use of mechanical slaughter in the provision of “Halal” poultry(chickens) in the UK. There
are many UK superstores that need to take heed of the message from the UK scholars and
carefully address and provide meat to acceptable standards for all”. Further he commented
that, “HMC’s universal standard is the only way to ensure acceptance by all”.
The Halal Food Authority (HFA) accepts mechanical slaughter and stunning and has
continually been probed and asked to provide views from Muslim scholars for their accepted
practices and whether they would listen to the views of the Muslim community who they
claim to serve. No response and views from scholars have been received to date.
Earlier this year, Malaysia, a country at the forefront of Halal, known as the Halal Hub of the
World, listened to the scholars of the world and removed mechanical slaughter from its Halal
standards. Now we wait and see if a Halal certifier in the UK (HFA) can heed to the views of
Muslim scholars and public and remove mechanical slaughter from its standards.
END
Published in HMC newsletter No. 13 available at
http://www.halalmc.net/newsletters/issue13.pdfOr Download driect from our servers: Click here
February 2010
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