Meat in the US – 3

As a follow-up, from a recent question I sent to the USDA:

Why Islam: What happens to animals in detail after being stunned unconscious? The directive (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/6900.2Rev1.pdf) describes that animals will be: “shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast or cut”.

How are the animals slaughtered? Are animals bled to death by cutting the jugular vein?

USDA: In traditional slaughter the animal is first stunned and rendered immediately unconscious by one of the processes defined in 9 CFR 313.

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=922f6733439a93a45c8799b4b2b765ec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=9:2.0.2.1.14&idno=9

After the animal is rendered immediately unconscious by stunning the next step is usually shackling and hoisting to facilitate bleeding. Animals are bled by cutting the major vessels in the neck and/or thoracic inlet area (corotid artery, jugular vien, and anterior vena cava). Death results from stunning, stunning and bleeding or bleeding depending on stunning method and the species involved. Regardless of the stunning method, the animal is not allowed to return to consciousness. The next slaughter process steps are hide removal and viscera removal.

Why Islam: The answer included: “Death results from stunning, stunning and bleeding or bleeding depending on stunning method and the species involved. “. How is the result of death dependent on the species involved? What would the result of death be for cows or  sheep? Stunning or bleeding?

USDA: Carbon dioxide stunning is death inducing in swine. Bleeding is the primary ultimate cause of death in cattle and sheep.

Meat in the US – 2

This is part 2 of investigating meat produced in the US. I will be discussing a few more points related the topic. You can see part 1 here.

1. But what if we know that the people of the book do not say ‘Bism Allah’ when slaughtering.

حكم ابن عبد البر حكم الإجماع : على أن الكتابي إذا لم يذكر اسم الله على الذبيحة فإن ذبيحته مباحة .. ليس من شرط صحة الذبيحة من أهل الكتاب أن يذكر اسم الله عليها .

Ibn Abd Al Bar gave a consensus ruling that the people of the book if the do not say the name of Allah on the zabeeha, their zabeehah is lawful because saying Bism Allah is not a condition of the zabeehah of the people of the book.

عن هشام بن عروة، عن أبيه، عن عائشة : أنها قالت للرسول : ” إن أقواما كانوا يأتوننا باللحم لا ندري أذكروا اسم الله عليها أم لا ؟ فسألنا فقال النبي – صلى الله عليه وسلم – : (( سموا عليه أنتم وكلوا )) ..

Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) said to the prophet (pbuh): “People bring us meat which we don’t know if they mentioned the name of Allah on it or not. The prophet (pbuh) said: “Say Bism Allah and eat”.

2. Meat is lawful from Ahl Al Ketab unless we know for sure otherwise.

From the above Hadeeth, we conclude that the zabihah of the Muslim and the people of the book is lawful and this is the base.
فالمسلم والكتابي ذبيحتهم مباحة، وهذا هو الأصل .

IslamQA answers: “Depending on what was said, if a person travels to a non-Muslim country and the majority of which are Christains or jews then they can eat from their Zabihahs UNLESS if it’s known that they electecute the Zabihah or mention other than the name of Allah.

بناء على ما سبق ، فمن سافر إلى بلاد غير مسلمة ، وكان الغالب على من يذبح فيها أنهم نصارى أو يهود ، فإنه يحل له الأكل من ذبائحهم ، إلا إن علم أنهم يصعقون الذبيحة أو يسمون عليها باسم غير الله ، كما سبق .
http://www.islamqa.com/ar/ref/88206

Sheikh Mosleh confirms what Islam QA says below:

والثاني: أنه ليس فسقاً لأن عموم الآية مخصوص بذبائح أهل الكتاب فإن الله تعالى أباح طعامهم لنا بقوله: ﴿وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ﴾ (المائدة: 5) فأباح ذبائحهم ولم يشترط لذلك التسمية وقد حكى ابن عبد البر الإجماع على ذلك فقال في الاستذكار (5/250): “وقد أجمعوا في ذبيحة الكتابي أنها تؤكل وإن لم يسم الله عليها إذا لم يسم عليها غير الله”. وقيل: بل المراد بالآية ما ذبح لغير الله والميتة، لا متروك التسمية سهواً
http://www.almosleh.com/almosleh/article_838.shtml
http://www.almeshkat.net/vb/showthread.php?p=446444

In the Saheeh, Abdullah Bin Al Moghaffal (May Allah be pleased with him) said: a container of meat fat was lowered down at the day of Khaibar so I put my arms around it and said: I will not give this today to anyone. I turned around and it was the prophet (p.b.u.h) smiling.

وقد ثبت في الصحيح عن عبد الله بن مغفل رضي الله عنه قال : أدلي بجراب من شحم يوم خيبر فحضنته وقلت لا أعطي اليوم من هذا أحدا والتفت فإذا النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يبتسم فاستدل به الفقهاء على أنه يجوز تناول ما يحتاج إليه من الأطعمة ونحوها من الغنيمة قبل القسمة

http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-35843.html

Excellent paragraphs from this conversation. al-mufti ( الضيف ) : khaled abdullah al musleh teacher in Qaseem Univeristy:  For the full dialoge:

http://idaleel.tv/daleel/articles-action-show-id-1008.htm

Meat in the US – 1

The goal of these few paragraphs is to investigate two arguments relating to the meat that is produced in the United States; I will try to gather evidence to support those arguments.

The two arguments argued are:

1. The meat (categorically lawful to Muslims) in the US is slaughtered by cutting the artery.
2. The US is a Christian nation (from a population standpoint not a constitutional standpoint).

1. The meat in the US is indeed slaughtered by cutting the artery.

This is probably a difficult point to argue as there are clear violations to any rule and violation incidents tend to spread faster than the rule. However, this is the law as it stands. According to the US HSA (Humane Slaughter Act which is somewhat vaguely defined in this link but is clarified through the entry on Slaughterhouses), all animals must be slaughtered humanely which basically includes the following steps:

Start reference:

1. Cattle are rendered unconscious by applying an electric shock of 300 volts and 2 amps to the back of the head, effectively stunning the animal,or by use of a captive bolt pistol to the front of the cow’s head (a pneumatic or cartridge-fired captive bolt). Swine can be rendered unconscious by CO2/inert gas stunning. (This step is prohibited under strict application of Halal and Kashrut codes.)
2. Animals are hung upside down by both of their hind legs on the processing line.
3. The carotid artery and jugular vein are severed with a knife, blood drains, causing death through exsanguination.
4. The head is removed, as well as front and rear feet. Prior to hide removal, care is taken to cut around the digestive tract to prevent fecal contamination later in the process.

End reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse#Process

The first step mentioned above is called stunning which aims to leave the animal unconscious but not dead which is defined in the FAO slaughter house process This process is supported by different journalists reporting on this act .

All approved method of slaughter aim to induce surgical anesthesia on the animals before being slaughtered (if you are still reading, you might have some questions about this link) There probably are and will be exceptions to the law but they would still be exceptions.

2. The US is a Christian nation (from a population standpoint not a constitutional standpoint).

According to the 2008 census, 76 % of American’s self identified themselves as Christians which would lead that the majority of the American population is in fact christian. 

 Allah (s.w.t) says in the Quran that: (Surat Ma2eda): “Made lawful to you this day are At-Tayyibât [all kinds of Halâl (lawful) foods, which Allâh has made lawful (meat of slaughtered eatable animals, milk products, fats, vegetables and fruits)]. The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals) of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them. (Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from the believers and chaste women from those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) before your time when you have given their due Mahr (bridal-money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage), desiring chastity (i.e. taking them in legal wedlock) not committing illegal sexual intercourse, nor taking them as girl-friends. And whosoever disbelieves in Faith [i.e. in the Oneness of Allâh and in all the other Articles of Faith i.e. His (Allâh’s) Angels, His Holy Books, His Messengers, the Day of Resurrection and Al-Qadar (Divine Preordainments)], then fruitless is his work; and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers.”

Some related Fatwas:

• http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1141277508797
• http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503546926&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar
• http://www.amjaonline.com/en_f_details.php?fid=78946

Meat in the US – Intro

I lived in the US for some time now. During my stay here, I confronted (like many Muslims) some debatable issues. These issues range from sighting the moon, eating meat, invetsing and finance, etc. The topic of this discussion is meat produced in the US. I have talked to different Imam’s about the meat that is produced here in the US (in your regular Stop & Shop). Unfortunately, none of the Imam’s I talked to had a detailed knowledge of the regulations and the guidelines of the meat that is produced here. So I decided to compile any information I could find to help make the discussion more factual. My goal is not to legistalte but rather to collect facts. So this is the start of this series. Please feel free to add any thoughts, opions, etc.

Stay tuned..