Would Muslims be horrified if they really knew what halal slaughter involved?

[HangryBrickShark]

PLEASE DO NOT READ IF EASILY UPSET - REFERENCES TO ANIMAL SLAUGHTER

First of all I want to make it clear I am not being racist or am not racist in any way, shape or form, but this is a question I have often pondered for many years now.

My friends ex husband worked at a halal meat abbatoir and although he'd been a slaughterman for many years prior to this, it was using the traditional pre-stunning method prior to slaughter. I guess it's one of those less desirable jobs but it's one of those 'someone has to do it' jobs.
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He lasted a few days before quitting his job at this halal place, deeply distressed at what he witnessed, certainly distressed enough to be sobbing in my friends arms whilst he told her about it. I'll spare you the ghastly details but he witnessed a tremendous amount of suffering whilst working there and did report his findings to the local authority. They said that when they carried out a visit their findings were that the process was being carried out correctly.

The animals at some halal abbatoirs are not pre stunned before slaughter and scientists have proven how unethical and cruel the method of cutting the carotid artery on an animal actually is, with some animals, in particular young calves who have a very good supply of nerves and blood vessels on the top of their necks. This prolongs their consciousness and can cause terrible suffering and it can take a couple of minutes for them to die whilst suspended by a back leg in the air after the cut is made whilst they bleed to death. Obviously the animal is beyond terrified and will struggle. Sometimes cows are put in a contraption that lifts their chin in order to make the cut and turned upside down. I have watched a video of both methods and it is very obvious the animals are conscious for many seconds to a minute or more, you can see their terror, they are not reflexes. This is as an offering to Allah as it states (possibly in the Quaran) that animals have to be offered alive when slaughtered. More and more halal abbatoirs are now pre stunning but there are still many that don't which represent a great many. In 2018 48% of all halal slaughter was not prestunned. 24,000 cattle in 2022 were not prestunned and 2.7million sheep (which represents a horrific 22% of all animals slaughtered in the UK) were not prestunned. The figure for chickens is even worse with 22 million not stunned.

I have read extensive research about both methods because I like a lot of other peoplecannot understand why our government allows religious slaughter when it causes so much suffering and I, like many others try to avoid the halal mark on shop bought food and never eat meat from a restaurant if I know it is serving halal food.

I have friends/work colleagues who are Muslims and I do not regard them any different from myself in any way other than I would never share a meal with them for these reasons.

Just for reference I am a meat eater and try to buy ethically sourced meat from local butchers as well as the supermarket red tractor scheme meat.

We do eat chicken as well as fish. We get the chicken from a relatively small online supplier that’s all free range and we have it a 1-2 times a week. I don’t care desperately much about the chicken dying but I’d rather it had a bit of a life first and wasn’t pumped full of rubbish. I’ve actually killed a chicken by breaking its neck before helping out at a friend’s small holding and pepped birds lots of times so I’m not squeamish over that. The conditions in factory farms are pretty vile though and I’m always surprised it doesn’t put more people off.

Animals have to be slaughtered in order for people to eat meat. However, dismissing concerns about slaughter methods just because you think all slaughter is cruel is only perpetuating the current disgusting halal practices. Animals should be killed in the most humane ways possible and we should all be arguing for that, not dismissing anyone with concerns just because you are a vegetarian.

Let me guess, they looked like they were enjoying it...?

I think we would all be horrified if we were aware of what goes on in abattoirs

We prefer to make the choice of what we don't know we can't feel guilty about

But halal aside, a lot of our meat production and dairy production is not ethical.
So the over focus on Halal slaughter in that context is weird.

It's horrendous, and I can't understand why such barbarity can be excused on the grounds of religion. I would want no part of a religion like that.

You can have halal meat that is stunned prior to slaughter though. All halal meat sold in supermarkets in the UK is.

This.

In answer to your question , if they have been brought up in a Muslim country or celebrated Eid in a Muslim country then they will have seen the halal killing of a sheep .

I hope that answers your question.

No, their religion makes it ok. 🤷‍♀️

Only if you eat it with a MASSIVE SALAD

OP, you are free of course to have your views about slaughter methods. What is obnoxious though, is your patronising hypothesis that Muslims and Jewish people do not know about their own cultural practices and need you to educate them!

Then why use a thread title that only mentions a predominantly brown group and not the other predominantly white group that uses exactly the same method of slaughter?

What’s that about?

Your own contribution to the slaughter of animals is really not much better.

I can assure you it isn't race baiting. I was curious. Thank you for the answers. No offence intended.

i don't know much about kosher so didn't discuss it that's why.

I'm not sure why some people have taken offence when none was intended.

How many slaughterhouses have you personally visited/inspected?

If I were a sheep, and I was going to be halal slaughtered, and somebody came running up to me shouting "Don't worry, I'll save you, I care about animals!", I'd probably be very grateful. But if they then explained that by save me they meant just from the halal part, because they absolutely wanted to kill me and eat me, just not like that, I might, as a sheep, feel they were being a tad hypocritical. I might try and explain that it was the being killed part of it that was my main concern, and wonder what it was that was driving them to such concern over my welfare on this specific point when killing me and eating me and saying "yum, delicious!" didn't even figure on their list of things to avoid.

I don't dismiss slaughter methods. I think the way animals are treated throughout their lives to their horrific deaths, horrendous. I haven't eaten meat for nearly 40 years as I don't want anything to do with it.

I find the handwringing from meat eaters who only seem to have concerns about Halal/Kosher disengenuous.

Have you seen videos of animals being tortured in abattoirs? Have you seen trucks stuffed full of animals going to slaughter? Have you heard animals screaming before they're 'humanely' killed?

The predominantly white group? Do you mean Jews?
Read the thread. Kosher is covered.

Above is someone saying Muslims know how to slaughter their own animals.
I didn’t make it up!

I was in a relationship with a Muslim man for nearly 5 years, and yes,I can safely say that from what he told me,most Muslims know exactly what is involved in halal slaughter.

Because somebody specifically brought it up to ask why it wasn't covered.

Well, I mean, no you can't. You can just say that he did.

I feel the same and haven’t eaten meat for over 40 years. Even as a child I was aware that people were feeding me chunks of flesh. When I see a chicken sandwich I think that’s a diced-up dead bird.

So it's been covered, in considerable depth.

@TakeMe2Insanity for you. Someone said Muslims know how to slaughter.