Ruling on working in a slaughterhouse in which the sheep are stunned with electric shocks, to be eaten by non-Muslims
Question As an official in an Islamic centre in Sardinia, Italy, I received the following question. Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good. In this city there is a slaughterhouse of which the manager is a Muslim, and he has approximately twenty Italian non-Muslim workers. In this slaughterhouse, the sheep are slaughtered in…
Question
In this city there is a slaughterhouse of which the manager is a Muslim, and he has approximately twenty Italian non-Muslim workers. In this slaughterhouse, the sheep are slaughtered in a non-Islamic manner and are sold to non-Muslims. They are stunned with electricity, then the vein is cut, then they are skinned. But some Muslim brothers who want to seek work in this slaughterhouse are asking: is it permissible to work in this slaughterhouse? Is it permissible for them as Muslims to kill the sheep in this manner? Is it permissible to clean them after they have died? Is it permissible to carry them with their hands for shipping and to touch them? Is it permissible to clean the slaughterhouse from their blood? Is it permissible to pray in clothing contaminated with some of the blood of those sheep? Please advise us, may Allah reward you and benefit others by means of your knowledge, ameen.
Praise be to Allah.
It is not permissible for a Muslim to work in a
slaughterhouse in which the sheep are killed by means of electric shock and
not slaughtered in the manner prescribed in sharee‘ah, for two reasons:
1.Because this work involves
helping in something haraam, which is eating dead meat (that which has not
been slaughtered in the prescribed manner). It is established in sharee‘ah
that the minor issues of sharee‘ah are also addressed to the kuffaar, so it
is haraam for them to eat dead meat just as it is haraam for the Muslims,
and it is not permissible to help them in that by slaughtering, carrying or
offering the meat.
2.This is destruction of the
animal and a waste of its monetary value.
Ash-Shaafa‘i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If we
besiege the mushrikeen and acquire their horses or livestock of any kind, or
any creatures belonging to them that it is permissible for Muslims to eat,
it is not permissible to stab any of them or kill them in any way except
slaughtering them (in the prescribed manner), as Abu Bakr said: “Do not kill
any sheep or camel unless it is to eat, and do not drown or burn any palm
tree.” I do not think that Abu Bakr went against the Qur’an and Sunnah with
regard to animate beings, and neither did any of his peers among the
Companions of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him), as far as I have learned. If the matter involved nothing more than
following the example of Abu Bakr, that would be sufficient evidence,
although the Sunnah supports what Abu Bakr said with regard to the livestock
among their property.
If someone were to ask what the Sunnah is, our response would
be that Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah told us, from ‘Amr ibn Dinar, from Suhayb, the
freed slave of Banu ‘Aamir, from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas, that the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever
kills a small bird or anything bigger unlawfully, Allah, may He be glorified
and exalted, will question him about his killing it.” It was said: O
Messenger of Allah, what is the legitimate reason (for doing so)? He said:
“He should slaughter it (in the prescribed manner) to eat it, and not cut
off its head.”
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) forbade masboorah (killing a captive animal for “sport”). I find that
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has permitted killing animals that
may be eaten in one of two ways. One way is by slaughtering it in the
prescribed manner to be eaten, if one is able to catch it; the other way is
killing it with arrows, if one is not able to catch it. But I did not find
that He permitted killing it for no purpose. And in my opinion, killing it
for any other purpose is forbidden.
End quote from al-Umm, 4/258
The prohibition on masboorah means means capturing it and
killing it (for “sport”). Al-Bukhaari (5513) and Muslim (1956) narrated that
Hishaam ibn Zayd said: I entered, along with Anas ibn Maalik, the house of
al-Hakam ibn Ayyoob, and there were some boys or young men who had made a
hen a target and were shooting arrows at her. Anas said: The Messenger of
Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade taking animals as
targets.
Muslim (1959) narrated that Jaabir ibn ‘Abdillah said: The
Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade
capturing any animal for the purpose of killing it (for sport).
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Messenger
of Allah blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade capturing any
animal for the purpose of killing it (for sport); according to another
report, he said: “Do not take any animate being as a target.” The scholars
said: This refers to detaining a live animal in order to kill it with arrows
and the like. This is what is meant by the words, “Do not take any animate
being as a target”. In other words: do not take any live animal as a target
to shoot at like a target made of leather and the like. This prohibition
means that it is haraam. Hence the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) said, according to the report narrated by Ibn ‘Umar that follows
this report: “May Allah curse the one who does that.” And because this is
tormenting the animal and destroying it, and is a waste of its monetary its
value, and missing the opportunity to slaughter it in the prescribed manner,
if applicable, and is squandering its benefits if it is not an animal that
may be slaughtered for meat. End quote.
Killing animals by means of electric shocks, without
slaughtering them in the prescribed manner, is a waste of their value and
failing to slaughter them in the prescribed manner. So it is not permissible
to do that or to help others in doing it.
And Allah knows best.
