Question
My Questions:
If someone is doing Zabiha all day like a butcher – does he require to do tasmia by saying some words every time – if yes Why? Or having that concept in mind is enough every time he is doing that? After all that is his job especially when he is hired in a Halal meet section of a Canadian meet company.
What is wrong with saying Allah-akbar on an automated slaughter process where the chickens are slaughtered one by one tied upside down on a belt? No one is touching the animal or wrestling with them to slaughter them or using knife by hand.
What is wrong with shooting them and do the Tasmia before that and make sure tazkya is also done using modern techniques?
What is wrong with recorded Allah-akbar while doing zabiha – this is an arrangement made specifically for Muslims by Muslims establishing a concept of permission from Allah to slaughter the animal – why a live human voice is necessary for each and individual animal?
Moreover why not a Muslim can buy number of animals and before giving all of them to a slaughter machines do tasmya for all of them that all these animals are going to be slaughtered because Almighty has given me permission to do so, else I have no authority/right to take these lives.
Questions about ingredients of non-meet items such as bakery and cheese products:
How far should we go to investigate the ingredients and the source of that (in North America)?
We never do this in Pakistan, there are hundred and thousands of items that are imported in Pakistan including meet products and have the same ingredients and same sources. List of a common Haram Ingredients are as follows.
Please also have a discussion with specialized chemist / industrial chemists / applied chemists. Some have the opinion that when these ingredients are made for industrial purpose (large production) they are produced 1) artificially 2) using small quantity of animal product and then make large quantity from it chemically to use in industrial process 3) some products (such as Alcohol) lose the original properties and convert into something else after production is complete. However it is not easy for a non-technical person to know/understand theses chemical changes.
Answer
Some of the questions are Ijtihadi issues and therefore the answer may differ based on individual opinions. I provide answers based on my own understanding which is based on the same approach that Mr. Ghamidi is promoting:
1. If someone is doing Zabiha all day like a butcher – does he require to do tasmia by saying some words every time – if yes Why? or having that concept in mind is enough every time he is doing that. After all that is his job specially when he is hired in a Halal meet section of a Canadian meet company,
If there is a reasonable time gap between every slaughtering then Tasmiya needs to be said for each animal. However if the gap is so short that makes this practically difficult and takes away its spirit and makes it artificial then one Tasmiya will be enough and the butcher should have the intention that he is doing Tasmiya for all the animals. It is the butcher’s responsibility to decide when the gap between each slaughter is too short.
2. What is wrong with saying Allah-akbar on an automated slaughter process where the chickens are slaughtered one by one tied upside down on a belt. No one is touching the animal or wrestling with them to slaughter them or using knife by hand.
There is nothing wrong with this as long as the cutting is made in a way that allows reasonable draining out of blood and as long as the person who says that believes in God.
3. What is wrong with shooting them and do the Tasmia before that and make sure tazkya is also done using modern techniques
There is nothing wrong with this.
4. What is wrong with recorded Allah-akbar while doing zabiha – this is an arrangement made specifically for Muslims by Muslims establishing a concept of permission from Allah to slaughter the animal – why a live human voice is necessary for each and individual animal?
In my view such measures can gradually take away the seriousness and importance of the Shari’ah rule. There might be a situation where this can be the only possible way, however I can hardly think of any. I do not see why the name cannot be said at least at the start of the process, as mentioned in answering the first question.
5. Moreover why not a Muslim can buy number of animals and before giving all of them to a slaughter machines do tasmya for all of them that all these animals are going to be slaughtered because Almighty has given me permission to do so, else I have no authority/right to take these lives.
We need to appreciate that nature of Law. Obeying law means submitting to it for the sake of discipline and consistency and fairness. If the law says that the age of getting driving licence is 17, then even if I am 16 years and 11 months I cannot apply for a license. I can argue that the one month does not make any difference however a valid answer to that is that we all need to respect the law and that if we start thinking about it this way, then we may end up with observing no law at all. Similarly in the case you mentioned. Using the same argument one may say, “since my job is butchering therefore I say the name of God once just now with the intention that this is for all the animals that I am going to slaughter in my entire life, so what is wrong with this?” It is clear from the wording of the Qur’an that the name of God should be mentioned for each animal (unless the situation makes this difficult, as explained in answering the first question). We have to respect this law.
Questions about ingredients of non-meet items such as bakery and cheese products
6. How far should we go to investigate the ingredients and the source of that (in North America)
Many Muslims tend to be over accurate about ingredient of products (I wish they had the same attitude about morals). Unless we have a good reason to believe that the ingredients of a product may make it Haram, we do not need to do further research. In a non-Muslim country we want to make sure that there is no ‘haram meat’ and no ‘meaningful amount of alcohol’ in the product that we eat or drink. I don’t think we need to be more accurate than this.
7. We never do this in Pakistan, there are hundred and thousands of items that are imported in Pakistan including meet products and have the same ingredients and same sources. List of a common Haram Ingredients are as follows.
I appreciate the point you are makig, although one argument could be that we are to trust the Muslim market, no matter where they get their products from.
8. Please also have a discussion with specialized chemist / industrial chemists / applied chemists. Some have the opinion that when these ingredients are made for industrial purpose (large production) they are produced 1) artificially 2) using small quantity of animal product and then make large quantity from it chemically to use in industrial process 3) some products (such as Alcohol) lose the original properties and convert into something else after production is complete. However it is not easy for a non-technical person to know/understand theses chemical changes.
As I wrote above, over accuracy is not needed. There are common sense check outs that we need to do in non-Muslim countries. Beyond that only makes our lives difficult, makes a false difficult image from our religion and disturbs those that are in our company. There are Ahadith from the Prophet (pbuh) to the effect that we should make the religion to appear as difficult and a burden.
As a general rule, any haram ingredient that goes into chemical process and therefore chemically become another substance will be halal and any alcohol that uses its intoxicating effect in a process will become halal.
Answered by: Farhad Shafti
Date: 2014-12-06
