Q. Could you please explain whether animals slaughtered with the use of a machine in a non-Muslim country are permissible to eat. Some people suggest that if the name of God is written on the knife part of the machine, then it is adequate. Some say that animals must be slaughtered by hand. Please comment.
F. Malik, Canberra
A. There is nothing wrong with the use of machines to slaughter animals for food. There is no requirement that the slaughter should be by hand. What is needed in Islamic slaughter is that the main arteries are cut so as to ensure a speedy death and bleeding, and also to mention God’s name at the point of slaughter. This is a very humane way that ensures minimum pain for the animal. If this can be done with the use of a machine, then well and good. It is not right that the name of God is written on the machine, or the knife. It is the person who is slaughtering, or someone close by, that should mention God’s name so as to indicate that this killing is undertaken by God’s permission.
However, the reader lives in Australia, a largely Christian country. God has given us a concession that permits us to eat the meat Christians and Jews consider lawful to them, provided that it is not specifically forbidden in Islam. Thus, Christians today consider that pork is permissible to them. No matter who provides it or how it is slaughtered, pork remains forbidden to us. As for lamb, beef and chicken, it is permissible for us when prepared or served by a Christian or a Jew, even though it may not be strictly according to the Islamic method. What should be understood here is that a concession is meant to relax some restrictions. If we were to say that the same conditions apply before and after the concession, then the concession is meaningless.
