The Slaughtering by Machine

The issue of Zabiha by machine' was discussed and pondered over at the Ninth Fiqh Seminar of the Islamic Fiqh Academy held at Bharuch. The delegates had unanimously decided it's validities and invalidities under various circumstances. However, the scholars and jurists were divided over one of the aspects of Zabiha by machine. The Seminar observed that such a complicate issue requires another thoughtful deliberation and the pros and cons in nut-shell ought to be sent to the delegates for a second thought so that they may ponder over the issue once again and give their esteemed opinions over it. In this perspective, the Academy sent another comprehensive questionnaire. A number of replies poured in. In the light of those replies, the following derivations were made.

61.1 In case the animal comes in front of the slaughterer in an unconscious state, hanging on from the chains or the strap of the machine run by electric power and the slaughterer recites "Bismillah" before slaughtering it with his own hands, making sure that the animal was alive at the moment of being slaughtered, then such a procedure is distinctly valid because only the process of carting is being carried out by the machine while the remaining act of slaughtering is done by human hands. The Academy urges the Muslim owners of the slaughter-houses to introduce and popularise this process itself. Several slaughterers can be employed in order to speed-up the slaughtering process, if need so arises.

61.2 Such a situation, where both the carting and the slaughtering of animals is done by the machines in such a way that it starts functioning on pressing a button and the animals get slaughtered turn by turn; it has invoked different opinions:

a) The slaughtering of the first animal would be permissible while the slaughtering of the remaining animals will be impermissible. This is the opinion voiced by most of the delegates present in the Seminar.

b) The slaughtering of the first animal would also be invalid. This is the view of some of the delegates who are as follows:

* Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Qasmi, Muradabad
* Ml. Badr Ahmed Mujeebi, Patna
* Ml. Mujeebul Ghaffar Asad Azmi, Varanasi
* Ml. Abul Hasan Ali, Gujarat

c) The slaughtering of the first animal would stand valid. Moreover, the other animals, which get slaughtered before the slaughtering process gets over is also permissible. This is the unanimous opinion of the following delegates:

* Ml. Raisul Ahrar Nadvi
* Ml. Sabahuddin Malik Falahi
* Ml. Sultan Ahmed Islahi
* Ml. Jalaluddin Ansar Umri
* Ml. Yaqoob Ismail
* Ml. Sadrul Hasan Nadvi
* Ml. Qazi Mujahidul Islam Qasmi
* Ml. Khalid Saifullah Rahmani
* Mufti Naseem Ahmad Qasmi
* Ml. Ijaz Ahmad Qasmi

61.3 Those delegates who believe that only the first animal gets slaughtered in the Halal way by the slaughtering machines feel that if such a machine is invented which incorporates a large number of knives and which, with the push of a button, operates simultaneously slaughtering several animals at a time, such a process of slaughtering would be permissible from the Islamic point of view.

61.4 Furthermore, it should be made clear that the aforesaid suggestions regarding the slaughtering by machines have been laid out keeping in view the specific structure of the machine. They do not hold good for all kinds and varieties of machines. In fact, legal and juristic opinions shall vary from machine to machine keeping in mind their specific structure and modus operandi.