For the vast majority of Muslims, eating meat has always been
an unquestionable God-given right. The Qur'an states, “Eat
of that which Allah hath bestowed on you as food lawful and
good, and keep your duty to Allah in Whom ye are
believers.” Indeed, some Muslim leaders and scholars have
argued that because Allah allows animals to be consumed by
humans, it is actually prohibited to make an ethical decision
not to eat them. “You cannot make what is
halal ('lawful') into haram ('unlawful'),”
they say. But interestingly, the spread of
factory farming across the globe in recent years has caused many
Muslims to make the unorthodox decision to become vegetarians
and inflamed debates about Islamic dietary laws among scholars
and religious leaders.
Islamic law says that in order for meat to be considered
halal, very specific procedures must be followed.
Muhammad forbade “the beating or the branding of
animals” and also forbade “cutting off animals'
tails and other mutilations.” A person must recite the
name of Allah over the animal before it is killed, and the
animal's throat must be cut in order to ensure a quick and
relatively painless death. Factory farms, which employ all
varieties of inhumane methods for raising and slaughtering
animals, do not comply with these standards. Furthermore,
Muslims are not permitted to eat carnivorous animals, yet many
factory farms feed animal remains to livestock.
Websites addressing this conflict between factory farming
and Islam are numerous, and some go into rather gruesome detail
in order to determine what is or is not lawful. “Is it
permissible to give animals an electric shock before slaughter,
and is it permissible to eat them?” one concerned Muslim
asked on islamonline.com. A mufti, or interpreter of Islamic
law, responded, “Indeed, giving an animal a high-voltage
electric shock is a severe torture for it. However, if the
electric charge is low so that it does not torment the animal,
then it is all right to use it. In addition, if the animal is
still alive after the electric shock, it can be slaughtered and
eaten. But if it dies from the shock and then has the throat
slit, it is impermissible to eat it.”
Pro-vegetarian Muslim websites include islamicconcerns.com,
which provides free “vegetarian starter kits” and
lists pro-vegetarian fatwas (Islamic legal
pronouncements). PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals) has also created a website that deals with religious
faith and vegetarianism and includes a lengthy section devoted
to Islam (www.jesusveg.com/6.html). These websites argue that
beyond the technical violations of Islamic dietary laws, factory
farms, with their intense cruelty to animals, contradict
fundamental Islamic principles. “The beautiful religion of
Islam has always viewed animals as a special part of God's
creation,” islamicconcerns.com says. “The Qur'an,
the Hadith, and the history of Islamic civilization offer many
examples of kindness, mercy, and compassion for animals.”
Perhaps the current surge in Muslim vegetarianism is the next
chapter in that history. And of course eating veggies is not
without its benefits in the afterlife—even Muhammad
supposedly said, “For [charity shown to] each creature
which has a wet heart [i.e., is alive], there is a reward.”
WHAT MUSLIM DIETARY LAWS SAY
1. It is haram (unlawful) to beat, mutilate, or
brand animals.
2. An animal must be killed by slitting its throat with a
knife, severing the windpipe, gullet, and the two jugular veins
without actually severing the head. The Prophet said,
“Allah has prescribed goodness (ihsan) in
everything. When you sacrifice, sacrifice well. Let you sharpen
your knife and make it easy for the animal to be
slaughtered.”
3. Muslims are strictly forbidden to eat the flesh of
carnivorous animals.
4. The name of Allah must be invoked over each animal before
it is killed.
WHAT FACTORY FARMS DO
1. Animals in factory farms are extremely overcrowded and
therefore prone to stress related behaviors, including
cannibalism and fighting. Preventive measures such as debeaking
young chickens, dehorning cows and castrating them without the
use of anesthetics, and lopping off turkey's toes are industry
standards. Incidents of cruel beatings and torture of animals by
factory farm employees are also widespread.
2. Cows and other animals in factory farms are killed using
electric shocks to cause grand mal seizures and paralysis so
that their throats can be easily cut. A second method is called
“captive bolt stunning,” in which a
“gun” is set against the animal's head and a metal
rod is shot into the brain. Reports indicate that ineffective
slaughter methods in factory farms often lead to conscious
animals being dismembered in the production lines.
3. In factory farms, animals that are natural herbivores are
fed slaughterhouse waste, including fat, blood, meat, and bone
meal. Sheep are fed chicken byproducts, and dairy cows are given
feed with ground pork bones in it. “Animal
cannibalism” is also common, with cows being fed the blood
and meat of other cattle as protein supplements (this practice
can result in the spread of mad cow disease if brain tissue is consumed).
4. Unless they are Muslim-operated, this law is never
observed in factory farms. However, even those Muslim factory
farms that claim to produce lawful meat recently came under
scrutiny when it became known that some of them recite the name
of Allah only once at the beginning of the day to serve as a
single blessing for the thousands of animals to be killed.