Today, November 6th, is one of two major feasts celebrated by Muslims around the world. It begins on the 10th day of Dhūl-Ḥijja, and is celebrated in solidarity and connection to the nearly 3 million performing pilgrimage to the city of Mecca. As other ʿeids, it is a day of visiting family and friends, where children collect money and candy from their elders, and we eat lots of food.
ʿEid al-Aḍḥa is the ʿeid of sacrifice. It is a day of commemorating the story of Abraham, and the near sacrifice of his son Ishmael (yes, I said Ishmael) in accordance with the command of God.[1] Of particular importance for many is the ritual slaughter or sacrifice of sheep, goats, cows, and the like. Some even consider the sacrifice an obligation on those who can afford it.[2]
Last year’s ʿEid al-Aḍḥa was my first time attempting to take part in the slaughter ritual, and the experience I had inspired me to reflect more deeply on the practice that so many partake in with anticipation of reward and blessing from God. It was a truly gruesome day, devoid of any spirituality, goodness, or beauty.
After the early morning ʿEid prayer, myself and two friends traveled to a Muslim owned slaughter house where a few hundred gathered to perform the sacrifice. We ended up spending over 10 hours at this place, waiting in a long disorganized line to pick our sheep, and then waiting endlessly for our number to be called to perform the slaughter. I will spare you the details, but I wish to highlight what stuck with me from the day, which I pray will inspire myself and others to work for breathing new life into much of our forgotten Islamic ethical tradition.
When we entered the slaughter house, there was an elevated assembly line where the hanging carcasses were gutted, skinned, and washed. Buckets of innards provided an unforgettable odor, and over seventy people waited in a massive ‘line’ watching the sheep and goats get slaughtered and waiting for their turn. Many had their cell phones out to take pictures, and some to get a good video of themselves. I’m sure these people came with clean intentions, yet many caused immense suffering to the animals.
Our problem, which didn’t seem to be shared by the masses that were there, was the complete and utter disregard for nearly all Islamic slaughter ethics; even to the extent that an Imam of a local mosque came and was apparently pleased with the happenings. For many of these people, and possibly for many Muslims around the world, as long as the slaughterer says “Bismillah, Allahu akbar,” the meat is fully permissible and blessed. It was as if once those words were said, God somehow approved of everything that came before and after the slaughter.
It was a dark day for us as we vented verbally to each other all the practices of our Prophet that were completely ignored, and further how the rich historical tradition of Islamic jurisprudence which explained in detail how a Muslim should treat animals has been forgotten. For example, looking at the 13th century shāfi’ī jurist, ʿIzz al-dīn ibn ʿAbd al-salām al-Sulamī in his Rules for Judgement in the Case of Living Beings we get a different picture of Islamic slaughter ethics and animal rights. The following is just one example of a classical juristic approach to the rights of domestic animals:
- He should spend [time, money or effort] on it, even if the animal is aged or diseased in such a way that no benefit is expected from it. His spending should be equal to that on a similar animal useful to him.
- He should not overburden it.
- He should not place with it anything that might cause it harm, whether of the same kind or a different species.
- He should kill it properly and with consideration; he should not cut its skin or bones until its body has become cold and its life has passed fully away.
- He should not kill an animal’s young within its sight.
- He should give his animals different resting shelters and watering places, which should all be cleaned regularly.
- He should put the male and female in the same place during their mating season.
- He should not hunt a wild animal with a tool that breaks bones, which would render it unlawful for eating.[3]
Further, the simple practice of keeping an animal at peace and away from the sight of other slaughter, and even the knife which will be used, is well known. It is not only kind and compassionate, but it is in accordance with the Prophet’s statement when he reprimanded someone by saying “Do you wish to slaughter this animal twice, once by sharpening your blade in front of it and another time by cutting its throat?”[4]
And what about when the Prophet said, “Verily Allah has enjoined goodness to everything… and when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way. So every one of you should sharpen his knife, and let the slaughtered animal die comfortably.”[5]
Muslims have a wealth of tradition over the past 1431+ years of Islamic history, yet why the disconnect? Why is no one talking about it? Why do the sermons on, and around, ʿEid al-Aḍḥa only address the same topics year after year? What are the religious scholars and activists who have a voice saying on the issues that really matter?
The current state of meat production in the developed world is a frightening reality, where grass-fed and farm-raised animals are luxuries. For Muslims who have authentic confidence in Islamic ethical values there should be a sense of shame that very little has been done to advocate for them and create institutions that bring these high standards to the halal meat industry and the meat production industry at large.
As Tariq Ramadan advocates for in his book Radical Reform, I believe that Muslims need to address this issue, along with many others, with a “transformative reform” approach. By this I mean to say that we must advocate for bringing ethical frameworks into our greater society, and not only within isolated Muslim circles. Yes, we must make sure the halal meat industry is sound, but it does not stop there.[6]
I only hope that my rough ʿeid experience last year can give me inspiration to advocate for what matters, and to join others who are fighting the same battle. If creeping shariah means that Muslims will be at the forefront of stopping factory farming and the abuses of animals that take place in exacerbating numbers daily, then just call me a shariah creeper.
Image credit: used from wikiimages
[1] See Qur’an, 37:102-105.
[2] This is based on a saying of the Prophet in the Sunān of Tirmidhī and ibn Māja.
[3] The above example has been taken from R. Foltz, ‘Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Culture’. Original citation is as follows: ‘Izz al-din ibn ‘Abd al-salam al-Sulami, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām fī masāliḥ al-anām (Damascus: Dar al-Tabba, 1992); English translation in Mawil Izzi Dien, The Environmental Dimensions of Islam (Cambridge: Lutterworth, 2000), pp. 45-6 (citing an earlier undated two-volume Beirut edition).
[4] al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 6:230.
[5] Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 21:4810
[6] For a beautiful example of Islamic slaughter, have a look at Mercy Slaughter’s video, and check out Green Zabihah.
Excellent work, Craig. I hope that our leaders will make this topic the worthy subject of future sermons.
Craig,
Thanks for pointing out the on-the-ground disregard for nonhuman animals that occurs during ‘eid.
Unfortunately, the “Rules for Judgment” sounds very much like the romantic notions of small scale farmers, who like to claim moral superiority over factory farms. Perhaps they often do treat their enslaved “farm animals” better before they kill them, but there is nothing compassionate about murdering them, whether it’s in a small Vermont barn, or a kosher slaughterhouse.
(A couple of your other citations, interestingly bring to mind the biblical injunction re lex talionis, meant to mitigate it, not promote it.)
The killing of nonhuman animals as sacrifice is a difficult subject for some members of the religions that support it, e.g. Islam, or Akahn in Africa. I have had some tense discussion with a good friend and African theologian about this. A different meaning is ascribed to the killing than that given by a modern western vegan. But interreligious dialogue needs to be honest and critical. I want to hear out my Muslim friends’ critiques of Christian dogmas, ecclesiology and ethics, and I hope they will feel the same about my critique of animal sacrifice.
Animal sacrifice was common practice in the ancient world. And participating in a living religious tradition means, in part, to be in conversation with our religious ancestors and their texts. But, following the aspiration of Alfred North Whitehead, we should nevertheless be continually advancing our knowledge and understanding of the universe we live in. And we need to modify (or even leave behind) religious practices accordingly. Not doing this is the one of the biggest mistakes religionists make.
We know far more about the cognition and neurolgy of nonhuman animals than we did, say 25 years ago. Nonhuman animals not only have the experience of pain that humans do, and an awareness or consciousness similar to humans, they THINK, make decisions and act with intention, anticipate the future, make tools, revise their behaviors to get better results, show empathy and compassion and a sense of loss, practice symbolic communication; various animals even demonstrate a Theory of Mind (guessing at what’s going on in another’s mind, based on their behavior).
We now know far too much about nonhuman animals to continue the practice of animal sacrifice, or eating them, or otherwise killig them or torturing them for our pleasure or benefit (including some hoped-for quid pro quo or generally favorable response fromthe Divinity).
One might further raise the issue of Jesus’ teaching, following the prophets (I forget, it’s Zechariah, Jeremiah and or Isaiah) that God isn’t interested in sacrifice, only ethical behavior especially taking care of the marginalized or powerless . I and surely others would include nonhuman animals among the marginalized and powerless in the face of human domination.
An aside, in closing: If one has the slightest doubt about the evil of factory farming, which is the source of all the meat most people on earth eat, check out this video from Mercy For Animals (brace yourself): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THIODWTqx5E
Wishing You The Best,
Steve
Steven Deedon
New Haven, CT
Thanks Steve,
I really appreciate your feedback. Just a few thoughts come to mind in reading it.
First, I realize that the term ‘animal sacrifice’ may be looked at in different ways to different people. Islamically, an animal sacrificed is eaten. You may already know that, but in case not I just wanted to clarify. In addition, a portion of the meat of the animal sacrificed is then distributed to the needy in one’s society. In practice, at least amongst American Muslims, most people who ‘sacrifice’ for Eid al-Adha actually make monetary donations to charities that in turn distribute meat to the needy around the world. Islamic Relief is one such charity that does a great job at that.
Secondly, though I feel the argument for vegetarianism (and possibly veganism) is quite compelling, I did not feel that Islamically I would have the grounds to write a post convincing other Muslims of that. There are plenty of authentic sources that advocate moderation in meat consumption (and in fact moderation in many things), however in thinking about this post and other things I ponder, I am more concerned with making steps in a positive direction. That positive step, for me, is confronting the issue at hand (i.e. disregard for compassion to animals as prescribed by Islamic sources) and then seeing in what way we can make a convincing argument to change behavior. When no one is talking about the issue (i.e. religious leaders and other prominent Muslim figures), then to jump from a meat-lovers culture to veganism just isn’t realistic.
Also, though I appreciate your point about the need to modify certain practices according to our present context, as a Muslim I personally must do that through a sound methodology with proper source material, whether that be from the Quranic text, hadith literature, other authoritative statements, or historical developments in Islamic law. Arguing with our feet not firm in scripture and prophetic tradition, at least in discussing Islamic ethical paradigms, we wont get anywhere in making effective change for the future.
I really appreciate the comment, especially that its coming from New Haven (I’m in Hartford). Hope to cross paths soon.
Best,
Craig