The Fatwa of Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi on Slaughter & Transport of Animals

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2008:

 

 

The Fatwa of Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi on Slaughter & Transport of Animals

Egyptian Society of Animal Friends (30 Korshed St. /Rd. 293, New

Maadi, Egypt; <asherbiny;

<www.animalfriends.info>, 2008.

 

 

ANIMAL PEOPLE noted in a June 2008 cover article on the

resumption of live animal exports from Australia to Egypt that even

if Egypt fails to enforce secular law governing animal transport and

slaughter, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the Chief Imam and Shaikh of

al-Azhar, Egypt, had issued a fatwa, or religious opinion, meant

to reinforce the observance of the intent of the hallal slaughter

laws, meant to minimize animal suffering, that are central to

Islamic practice.

The Egyptian Society of Animal Friends has now published the

fatwa as a handbook, also including the " Five Freedoms " and

Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare.

The " Five Freedoms, " first enumerated in 1967 by a British

government-appointed panel, require that all captive animals be

guaranteed freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition; freedom

from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury and disease; freedom to

express normal behavior; and freedom from fear and distress. The

Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, evolving as a proposed item

of international legislation for more than 80 years, in present form

surrounds the " Five Freedoms " with points of cultural context.

The Tantawi fatwa points out that the tenets embodied in the

" Five Freedoms " and Universal Declaration are already requirements of

Islam, articulated by Mohammed.

ESAF published the handbook on the eve of a two-day

conference in Cairo on 'The Islamic Principles on Animal Transport

and Slaughter, " held just ahead of the annual conference of the

World Organization for Animal Health. The latter organization,

created by the United Nations, is better known by the French

abbreviation OIE.

The ESAF conference and publication ceremonies included

participation by three senior Islamic scholars from Al-Ahzar

University, widely seen as the world's leading institution of

Islamic learning; Nasser Farid Wasef, former mufti (chief scholar)

for Egypt; the Jordanian minister of religious affairs, and

Princess Alia Al Hussein of Jordan.

The OIE conference also emphasized the need to improve animal

welfare in animal husbandry, transport, and slaughter, and asked

the international donor community to help developing nations

worldwide to achieve high animal welfare standards.

As the delegates to the ESAF and OIE conferences crossed

paths in Cairo, the Reuters news syndicate on October 21, 2008

distributed " Under-ground cattle trade thrives in Gaza tunnels, " by

Palestinian correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi.

" When the calves were hauled out of the tunnel from

Egypt, " the article from Rafah, Gaza began, " they could hardly

stand. After a terrifying 1,000-metre underground trip into the

Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, what the young cattle wanted most was

a long drink of cool water. Underground livestock smuggling has

increased dramatically ahead of Eid Al-Adha, the day of sacrifice

[December 10, 2008] when Muslims slaughter animals and feed the

poor to seek God's forgiveness. "

Nidal al-Mughrabi interviewed tunnel operator Abu Luqaib,

23, " as his crew pulled a bawling calf up the deep shaft by a simple

rope around its middle. The calves cost $350 each plus $250 for the

transport, a total of $600 per head, " Nidal al-Mughrabi learned.

The traffic is dangerous for humans as well as animals.

Just in 2008, more than 45 people have reportedly been killed in

cave-ins during smuggling operations.

But stressful as the tunnel journey is for calves headed

toward sacrifice, it is short, and the calves are watered at the

end of it. They may be among the best treated of all the animals

who are transported each year for Eid Al-Adha sacrifice: about

700,000 killed at the conclusion of the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca,

plus two to three million who will be killed either by or on behalf

of the 1.3 billion Muslims who remain at home.

The ESAF handbook may help those animals, and many

more--especially if Muslim consumers join animal advocates in

pressuring everyone involved in livestock transport and slaughter to

observe the hallal principles, if animals are to be transported and

slaughtered at all. --Merritt Clifton

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

for free sample, send address.]