WASHINGTON, 3 May 2006 — A group of Muslim women demonstrated outside the Australian Embassy in Washington recently to protest the mistreatment of animals exported from Australia to the Middle East and North Africa for slaughter.
The protesters said that the horrific abuse of these sheep and cattle is in direct violation of halal slaughter laws as well as against the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who taught that one must minimize the suffering of animals being prepared for slaughter.
Bina Ahmed, a Muslim American and an attorney for PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she became involved in animal rights “because of lessons we are taught in Islam about kindness to people and animals and all living things.”
“I’ve lived and worked in the Middle East, and I have seen firsthand the abuse of animals for food there. As a Muslim, a woman, and a human being, I am very disheartened that we allow such abuses to take place,” Ahmed told Arab News.
“What horrified me both as a person and a Muslim, was not only the awful way animals for slaughter are shipped and treated — which is against the humane slaughter laws of Australia. It is also a violation of halal slaughter rules, which are universal for all Muslims.”
“One of the basic principles that Muslims are taught to be kind to all living things,” said Ahmed.
“It is un-Islamic to drag these animals off the transport ships by their ears, kick them in the face, and stab them in the eyes, and then slit their throats several times and let them slowly bleed to death in front of other sheep, which is also against halal rules.”
“Halal slaughter is based on trying to make it as painless as possible, so that includes not only feeding and watering the animal properly, but also not killing them in front of other animals, because it terrifies them,” she said.
The Council of American Islamic Relations agrees. “I think that Muslims have to support all efforts to ensure humane and proper treatment of animals before their slaughter, and they should care about the well-being of the animals in the same way they should pay attention and care of the well being of human beings. This is the basic principle of necessary respect to everything living around us,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
“Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, taught us that everything possible must be done to minimize the suffering of an animal that is about to be slaughtered,” he said.
Ahmed said the protest outside the Australian Embassy was successful on two levels. “As people passed by us, they stopped and watched the undercover investigation footage, which we played on the spot (the video is available at: www.savethesheep.com). We were able to give them information about the live export abuse. No one likes to see animals suffer, and many people were horrified.”
The second, and most significant, is that the Australian government has taken action. “After viewing footage of the investigation, the Australian government has temporarily suspended the live animal export trade to Egypt.
But the same type of slaughter abuses in Egypt are also going on throughout the Middle East, including Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,” said Maya Linden, the Australian campaign coordinator for PETA.
Why then, focus on Australia? “Because Australia is the main exporter of sheep and cattle to the Middle East, which it is the largest market for Australia’s meat market,” said Linden, a native Australian.
In Australia, she said there are certified halal slaughterhouses, where slaughter regulations are met. “We’re urging the Australian government to enforce these humane slaughter laws, rather than allow the animals to be shipped thousands of miles packed and cramped together while standing mired in their own waste, only to be killed in the worst possible ways.”
As a Muslim, Ahmed agrees. Said she has begun receiving phone calls from Muslim men and women “who are introspective and looking at their place in the world.”
“Muslims are advocating for their own rights, and so that calls into question Muslims being compassionate toward other living things as well, advocating for others as well as self,” she said.
But vegetarian Muslim men? Ahmed insists it is more and more common. “I know Muslim men who are vegetarian and even vegan. Men are looking at how they treat animals in both a religious and humane issue. Islam also talks about taking care of your body and the environment, and as you know, many health problems are related to eating meat — including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.”
As for the environment, Ahmed said: “Factory farms are the largest polluter and consumer of natural resources.
“Most people don’t realize that it takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of grain. In the Middle East, farmable land and water is scarce, so it’s absurd that we’re wasting these resources raising animals for slaughter rather than growing food directly to feed people.”
