Salam brother, (Salim Mulla)

While I respect your intentions I cannot, in all good conscience, allow your views to go unchallenged. For to tell lies, spread false information and or mislead whether intentional or not…is without question haram.

The picture you paint is not totally, omits any real research and is entirely misleading. I have seen several such posts from the BMA tending to point to some sort of agenda rather than the true gist of this matter.

Firstly, to say most scholars take the position that stunning is not permissible is completely misleading. Most scholars are agreed that stunning which kills cannot be permissible. As to stunning to a level that the animal is alive and can recover the consensus is completely divided…to such a level it is STILL being debated.

STUNNING to stun:
There are fixed process now that are capable of delivering standard shocks that keep the animal alive (can be recovered from within 3 mins) DO NOT cause fibrillation of the heart i.e. do not interfere with the blood draining process.

In fact most research points to the fact the more blood is drained quicker when the animal is stunned and then slit (while still alive). At the worst case scenario the blood draining is the same rate. I suggest you look at this page http://halaltransactions.org/electrical-stunning/ and read the research articles posted at the bottom.

So you talk 100%, nothing is 100% accept Allah, he is 100% truth and 100% everything. To say ‘unless you can say 100% halal’ is poor statement that would render us all vegetarians in this country. Can you tell me with 100% accuracy that your Muslim slaughter man/butcher has performed the cut correctly while the chicken was flapping around? Or that is blade is sharp? Or that he did not sharpen his blade in front of the animal? Can you hand on heart tell me that when he killed 20,000 chickens by hand he did every single one correctly? Of course you cannot. The burden which I placed upon you there is unreasonable. There is equal doubt in those slaughter houses that do not stun, because quite simply killing thousands of chickens by hand while they are flapping around will cause inevitable mistakes. It is said ‘Give up what raises doubt in your mind and take what does not raise doubt in you’. Let us not forget this was in a time when you go and watch the animal being killed, your slaughter was local or you did it yourself so you could be sure. Now in modern times nobody can be 100% sure with so many chickens being killed.

So what then for modern time? You must approach this from a position of reasonable doubt. Like I stated earlier there are processes now by which the stunning process can regulated and standardised to high degree of accuracy, leaving the vast majority of birds alive after stunning. In the same way that a Muslim slaughter man killing thousands of chickens by hand, unstunned will kill the majority properly. Provided that the stunning is properly checked and regulated there is no reason that it should be doubted any more or less than the non stunning killing process.

Stunning the principle:
Why do I constantly here stunning is not permissible, this is utter non sense. There is nothing that directly forbids a stun that does not kill, but subdues the animal.

The principle of subduing already exists in Islam and has been used for hundreds of years and is still going on now. Why are cattle and sheep laid on their side before the cut? Why is a camels left leg tied before the cut? Why it is permissible that a camel can be laid on the ground and subdued (and further tied) before the cut if necessary?

There are 3 reasons for this:
1. To restrain such that it reduces its suffering and stress
2. So the animal does not harm itself during the process
3. So the animal does not harm anyone/anything else

So the Islamic principle of subduing the animal in such a way that is does not affect the blood draining or killing process but increases safety and humanity already exists. Thus, a stun decided solely with purpose of stopping animal moving, flapping, and thrashing around while keeping it alive is COMPLETELY in line with Muslim teaching and principles. It does not contradict anything in terms of poultry. The intention behind it being to reduce the harm to the animal and make it more humane (the same reason the cut to the specific blood vessels was chosen by our prophet, pbuh) is entirely within Muslim deen.

The appropriate analogy here would be transport. Transport the concept is completely accepted in Islam, it was around in the times of our prophets. The prophets walked, they used donkeys and horses. Then something was invented such as the chariot or cart, vehicle pulled by several horses. This was a faster and more efficient way to travel, hence the prophets accept this…even encouraged the use of new tools. In the same way now that cars and aeroplanes are innovations (not in deen, but innovations in life/technology) that are not haram. There are no specific rulings on their use, because they were not around so we look at the principle and purpose. The concept of travel methods is Islamic and hence the technology is approved.

So in this case there is not specific ruling, that I am aware, that poultry must be full freely to moving before the cut. There is no specific method on how to subdue poultry (probably because it’s a difficult thing to do, given their size). But the principle is there to subdue an animal to reduce risk of injury and suffering. Hence an innovation of a stun to subdue poultry is simply a technology improvement and extension of an already existing Islamic concept. In the cases of cattle, sheep and camels there are specific subduing methods already given in Islam.

So in summary:
There are possible benefits to stunning before cutting, in terms of blood flow.
The consensus is divided and large amounts of research s being ignored…for whatever agenda.
The concept of stunning itself CANNOT be deemed impermissible. (It depends on the details and the effect of the stunning not the principle itself)
The concept of finding methods to refine and subduing and reducing animal harm is COMPLETELY within the Islamic framework.

There is one thing I will confirm you as correct on brother and that is you are right to try n ask these questions. For in searching for answers we will find truth. “Whoever follows a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allah will make a path to Paradise easy for him.” [Bukhari]

My only request is that you give the full picture actually, thus not to make your own actions haram or the actions of others. Use all the modern tools available, do not ignore the research and do not approach from a given agenda. In fact approach from a modern angle, forward thinking, an angle of scientific and logical approach. Our prophet (pbuh) would never shy away from science technology and innovations…provided the deen remained the same of course. Innovations in deen would be strictly bidda. Please also note that I do not know the exact specifics of any slaughter house, I am dealing with the general concepts. The general concept can easily be shown to be permissible but more research needs to be done into the processes and the individual slaughter houses. We must remain both vigilante and open minded, we must not propagate things which are opinion based or simply untrue (such as your comment about the only reason to stun is cost related). As I mentioned earlier to do so even unwittingly is haram.

I praise your intentions but not your logic, approach, apparent agenda and omission/ignoring of information and research.
From a fellow brother

Question:

As-salamu alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh, Are the Kafirun (Non-Muslims) Allowed to go to Masjid? JazakAllahKhayran

Answer:

Wa alaykum salam wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuHu,

Even in the instance that a non-Muslim is in a state of major ritual impurity, it is permissible that he enter into a mosque when a Muslim has given him permission to do so. Without the permission of a Muslim, then a non-Muslim should not enter into a mosque, it is unlawful. In the instance that the purpose of inviting a non-Muslim to a mosque (not including the Holy Mosque in Makkah) is that he hear the Qur’an and be taught about Islam, hoping that will inspire him to embrace Islam, it is recommended. (Hashiyat al-Sharwani on Tuhfat al-Muhtaj v. 2, p. 168)

And Allah knows best.

Shafiifiqh.com Fatwa Dept.

http://www.shafiifiqh.com/allowing-a-non-muslim-to-enter-a-mosque/