Lawful slaughtering raises the anger of French women

In a previous occasion, the French actress Brigitte Bardot —who gained a wide fame during her youth in the sixties and seventies of the past century and who is still hoping to be under lights again for the rest of her life— hurled accusations against the Muslim community in France that they have destroyed the customs and traditions of the country and distorted its civilization by practicing the Islamic rituals and features. Of course, she does not find any wrong in other non-Muslim communities who practice their customs and rituals even if they are weird and strange, and she did not touch on the subject from near or far. In addition, she did not stop attacking Muslims in general every now and then by calling them "sheep slaughterers" in a clear reference to their lack of kindness and humanity in their way of slaughtering sacrificial animals during Hajj and `Eidul-Adha. She forgot that most people who live on earth, including her own people, are doing that as if our way of slaughtering according to the Shari`ah is the only way which causes pain and suffering to animals and nothing else. She called Muslims to stop these practices against these poor animals to which she showed kindness and mercy more than humans as she said about herself!

Here is the issue of slaughtering according to Islamic Shari`ah or halal slaughtering comes back again to light, specifically in France, but this time through the call of another woman, who was the leader of the right-wing party, to stop slaughtering according to the Islamic Shari`ah which invaded Paris slaughterhouses, and most meats distributed in France have become Halal; which raises the disgust of this deception which the French people undergo. In her latest electional statements, she added: Slaughtering according to the Islamic Shair`ah violates the laws which entail electrocution of animals before slaughtering to ease its sufferings.

Is the meaning to make all this noise —which was preceded by the law of preventing Muslim women from wearing Hijab in public places— to show mercy and kindness to animals and protect the French people from cultural and civilizational confusion that may hit them if they eat lawful meat? Or the hidden goal is to continue war against everything that represents Islam and seeking to attract more supporting votes to their partisan extreme ideas by using the hostile feelings toward Muslims in their communities, which they are working hard to heat up with such provocative statements?!

Anyhow, in regard to the issue of showing mercy and kindness to animals of which we are accused all the time, whereas they do not, we say: It was not scientifically proven that electrocution contributes in easing the animals' sufferings, if suffering exists in the first place, but the electrocution process itself is very painful. The correct opinion according to Western scientific and medical resources in regard to quick cutting of animal veins with a sharp knife causes the animal to pass out immediately as a result of the acute and sudden decrease of the flow of blood to the brain which immediately sends nerve signals to the rest of the body from the heart and other muscles of the body and organs, through the neck and the spine to provide it with blood, which causes these rapid and convulsive movements which we see immediately after slaughtering. These movements are not an expression of pain as specialists believe, but it is an automatic reaction for the orders of the brain.

Moreover, slaughtering according to the Shari`ah leads to the flow of the maximum amount of blood outside the body in a short time; thus only few amount is absorbed by the body tissues, causing the body to get rid of that blood which contains harmful substances and which is prohibited for Muslims as known.

As Muslims, we firmly believe that the Creator (Glory be to Him) would not allow us to slaughter animals in this way except if it has a benefit for man and animals equally. Even if it is scientifically proven that animals are subject to some pain at slaughtering, we shall continue our slaughtering because it is the way which Allah commanded us to follow to eat lawful meat. Moreover, we shall not take heed to those who accuse us. As for Muslims who do not abide by the good manners of slaughtering, they shall take the full sin, and the religion or the Shari`ah has nothing to do with them.