We live in a world inhabited not only by humans but also by countless other creatures that share the world with us. Animals provide resources and services that we use. They form part of the life-support system of the earth on which all life depends. Every kind of thing is produced on the earth in due balance and measure. The Qur'an amply describes this ecological and organic vision of the world:

The earth We have spread out (like a carpet), set thereon mountains firm and immovable, and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance. (al-Qur'an - Chapter 15, Verse 19)

Meat of that Animal Slaughtered by Non-Muslims is Forbidden in Islam al-Qur'an has clearly stated that consuming that animal's meat, which non-Muslims have slaughtered, and in an un-Islamic manner, is forbidden and prohibited.

Qur'an, Chapter 5, Verse 3, and in Chapter 6, verse 146 calls for a similar behavior in Muslims. For the meat to be halal and consumed by Muslims, the following must take place and this is agreed in general by ALL Muslims around the world.

Kamoonpuri (1998) makes a further statement and says that the person slaughtering the animal must not interfere with the carcass before convulsions have completely ceased and the animal is pronounced dead. Skinning or dismembering the animal just after the slaughter is also not recommended in Islam.

Youth and Muslims of today question as to why the Book of Allah has such strict commands when people in modern societies live together and work together as friends and brothers, and strongly believe in sharing. There are two reasons for this ruling, and we shall explain both, and in the light of conscious and intelligent info-energy that we have already introduced.

Animals Slaughtered the Muslim Way does NOT Cause Harm to the Animal

The Prophet (S) has said:

According to Kamoonpuri (1998), the prescribed method of slaughtering an animal in Islam saves the animal from any kind of pain. When the animals major blood vessel in the neck is cut-off that produces an immediate stunning effect. The advantage of not cutting the spinal cord is that the brain continues to send it electrical impulses to the heart demanding blood. As all the blood is drained, the pipeline, which takes blood to the brain, has already been cut off. The violent reactions in the animal are from the natural muscular contraction and no pain is experienced. Kamoonpuri (1998) mentions two researchers, Gucel and Erbil who subscribe to the fact that blood can cause toxicity in the animal's meat, all has to be drained, and the Islamic way of slaughtering takes care of that.

Schultz and Hazim surgically implanted several electrodes at various points on the skull of animal subjects; then making a deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck of the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides. Some animals were then slaughtered by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck cutting the jugular veins and the carotid arteries of sides as well as the trachea and esophagus (Islamic Method). Other animals were stunned using a Captive Bolt Pistol (CBP). During the experiment, electroencephalograph (EEG) and electrocardiograms (EKG) recorded the condition of the brain and the heart of all animals. The results were as follows:

Islamic Method

1. During the first three seconds after slaughtering, the EEG did not record any change, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any pain during or immediately after the incision.

2. For the following three seconds, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood gushing out of the body.

3. After this total of six seconds, the EEG recorded zero level, showing no feeling of pain at all.

4. As the brain message (EEG) dropped to zero level, the heart was still pounding and the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action of the spinal cord) driving maximum blood out of the body.

Stunning
1. The animals were apparently unconscious soon after stunning but the EEG showed severe pain immediately after stunning.

2. The heart of the stunned animal stopped beating earlier than the one slaughtered the Islamic way thus resulting in the retention of more blood in the meat.

Professor Schultz and Dr. Hazim of the Hanover University in Germany concluded the following through an experiment:

Humankind and Animals
Allah created animals for the service of humans and are a boon to him, and one must utilize them in the name of Allah. We should make judicious use of them for our benefit and must be grateful to God. Due care should be there. There is a hierarchical ranking and distinction between living beings. The animals are superior to plants, which can be sacrificed for them, while plants and animals can be sacrificed for man. However, only the prescribed and permitted animals can be sacrificed (al-Qur'an - Chapter 6, Verse 145; Chapter 5, Verses 3, 96; Chapter 6, Verse 121; Chapter 40, Verses 79-81) for humans in a prescribed manner. Humankind should remember that the earth belongs to all living creatures.

In Qur'an:

In such cases, it is also possible that the animal offers itself for slaughter. The recommendation to hunters is to invoke the name of Allah even when they are about to fire a bullet, or send a dog, and so forth, to subdue the animal. Moreover, because certain specific animals have been sent into this world to care and provide food to the humans, the act of invoking the name of Allah would remind them of their responsibility in this world

It is reported that Prophet Isa (AS) once called a Deer and it came towards him and agreed to be slaughtered. Prophet Isa (AS) consumed the meat of the animal and then, by the permission of Allah, he gave life to the animal and resurrected the Deer. The animal then disappeared in the bushes.

Allah confirms that animals are conscious, have a purpose in life and will return to Allah:

Many passages from the Qur'an and traditions state that all animals are endowed with spirit and mind and there is ample evidence in the Qur'an to suggest that animals' consciousness of spirit and mind is of a degree higher than mere instinct and intuition.

We are told in the Qur'an that animals have a cognizance of their Creator and, hence, they pay their obeisance to Him by adoration and worship:

The following verse tells us how all the elements of nature and all the animal kingdom function in harmony with God's laws; it is only humans who infringe, and thus bring affliction on themselves. The Qur'an dwells on this theme repeatedly to emphasize the point that man should bring himself into harmony with nature, according to the laws of God - as all other creation does:

A Dutch team of scientists recently found scientific evidence of mental suffering in animals. They have discovered that, like the human brain, an animal's brain too releases a substance called Endorphin to cope with emotional distress and pain, caused by frustration or conflict. This substance is 100 times more powerful than morphine. (Report by Compassion in World Farming Agscene, August 1985, 20 Lavant Street, Petersfield, Hants, England).

History also narrates that when Namrud was preparing the fire for Prophet Ibrahim (AS), there was a little frog that used to fill its mouth with water, and pour it on the fire to try to extinguish the fire. Apparently, the frog was just fulfilling his part of the responsibility if the animal is asked about this on the Day of Judgment.

Animals have been reported and observed to communicate with humans, and many such incidents have been recorded in the blessed life of the Prophet (S). In several instances, and as we shall note later, animals have complained of their hunger to the Prophet (S). They have even witnessed the Prophet's leadership on many occasions. Many instances in the history of Prophet Suleiman show his ability to communicate with animals. Shamanic practitioners have also been observed to communicate with animals and ask their spirits before they make a sacrifice. Apparently, Allah (SWT) has given this power to humans as well. It is therefore possible that animals offer themselves when one invokes the name of Allah, as the animal would associate the name as his or her creator and his or her responsibilities on earth. Allah knows better.

Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) discusses the following about sacrificing animals and consuming their flesh, and is worth mentioning in his own words:

He also remarks:

Meat of Animals Slaughtered by Muslims is Electrically Balanced and Stable - A Note on Battery-Farmed Meats and Leather Belts

Dr. Hazim remarks further that the Electro-Encephalographic (EEG) recordings of the animals (after being slaughtered) dropped to a zero level, and the heart was still pounding, the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action), and driving maximum blood out from the body. This procedure greatly results in hygienic and electrically balanced (with steady energy fields) meat for the consumer.

Schwartz and Russek (1999) make a stern comment in their book The Living Energy Universe on ingesting just any meat, in particular that meat from animals that are often raised (and slaughtered) under stressful and abusive circumstances and we ingest their cells (with unfavorable info-energy) into our bodies. Their molecules then replace some of our molecules, and we end up living with the info-energy of the animal's pain and suffering. One's health can thus be compromised.

Concerning battery cages in the US and several countries in the West, it has been argued that there may be no experience of life more fraught with stress and pain than that of the battery-caged animal. These animals do not live on a farm, but inside a gigantic metal factory. Such facilities hold literally millions of animals that are confined in row after row of tiny wire battery cages. These cages are too small to allow them to stand in a normal upright position, much less stretch, unfold their limbs, or exercise. Throughout the course of her short life, the battery-caged animal will be forced to endure beak mutilations, overcrowding, filth, disease, and periodic starvation.

On July 24th 2003 and on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Sir Paul McCartney ran a full-page ad, featuring an open letter to one fast-food restaurant (not named) CEO, in today's Louisville Courier-Journal, the hometown paper of this fast-food restaurant's corporate offices. In the ad, McCartney challenged the CEO to improve living and dying conditions for the 750 million chickens that are raised every year in overcrowded, feces-filled sheds on factory farms and killed in frightening ways for these restaurants.

Among the improvements that McCartney and PETA wanted the restaurants to implement were the following - replacing crude and ineffective electric stunning and throat-slitting with painless gas killing; phasing out the forced rapid growth of chickens, which causes their leg bones to become crippled; and implementing gentler, automated chicken-catching, which would reduce the high incidence of bruising and broken wings and legs, and much of the terror associated with manual catching by low-paid catchers, who often roughly sling the birds into wooden crates.

In brief, the cages are frightening, smelling of death and disease. Animals sit on vast stretches of land, countless rows of giant metal structures protruding into the sky. From a distance, you can get an eerie sense of the overwhelming number of animals who live day after day, minute after minute, inside the long windowless sheds. From rows of cages stacked floor to ceiling, the animals have been observed to cry out. The air is dense with the screams of thousands of animals that are suffering extreme physical and psychological pain.

Texas County pig farm worker in the US pleaded to three counts of felony cruelty to animals stemming from a PETA undercover investigation. The videotape showing the manager of this particular farm (not named) owned pig farm, mercilessly bludgeoning pigs with iron gate rods in three separate incidents. This is the first time in U.S. history that a farmer has pleaded to felony cruelty to animals for injuring and killing animals raised for food. On May 14th 2001, PETA submitted the video to Texas County District Attorney Donald E. Wood, whose office filed charges against the manager on August 31.

Employees at this farm, North America's third largest pork producer, were also caught on video routinely throwing, beating, kicking, slamming against concrete floors, and bludgeoning animals with metal gate rods and hammers. Other pigs were left to die slow and agonizing deaths with severe injuries, illness, and lameness, often unable to reach food or water, without even a trace of veterinary care despite the fact that Peña was fully aware of their conditions.

In 1999, in North Carolina, the first-ever felony indictments for cruelty to animals on a factory farm in the U.S. were issued against 3 workers after an investigation into a pig breeding facility. In that case, all three workers were convicted for their parts in the beating and bludgeoning of pigs, including the skinning of a sow, which was still fully conscious.

On September 5th 2001, PETA announced that it will continue its campaign moratorium against one of the largest chain fast food restaurants in the world, but will pressure the corporation to adopt less abusive slaughter standards for chickens and to internationalize its animal welfare standards. In 1997, this worldwide chain of restaurant was found culpably responsible for cruelty to animals in a court of law.

Chickens raised for this fast-food restaurant (not named) are crammed into crowded, filthy warehouses with less space per bird than a standard sheet of paper. This overcrowding causes disease, suffocation, and heart attacks. Some breeding pigs raised for this restaurant live their entire lives in cement stalls, unable to turn around, lie in a comfortable position, or nuzzle their babies. U.S. federal standards for slaughter say that all animals should be fully stunned before their throats are slit, but this restaurant considers it acceptable if slaughterhouses inadequately stun 1 in 20 animals, and refuses to ask their suppliers to hire extra stunners.

Most people who eat meat don't think too deeply about all the processes involved in converting a living animal to meat on their plate. For modern animal agriculture, the less the consumer knows about what's happening before the meat hits the plate, the better. If true, is this an ethical situation? Should the animal agriculture be reluctant to let people know what really goes on, because we're not really proud of it .? (Cheeke, 1999)

In a press release dated May 20th 2003, US Congressman Jim Moran (VA) says:

Unfortunately, the Food Marketing Institute's (FMI) Animal Welfare Program guidelines do not require that a sow (mother pig) have enough room to walk or turn around, but rather that she actually has enough room to fit in the cage without being forced against the bars (FMI-NCRR Animal Welfare Program - January 2003 Report).

Up to six egg-laying hens have been observed to live in a battery cage with a wire floor area of 1.7 square feet. These conditions lead to lameness, bone brittleness, osteoporosis, and muscle weakness (Rollin, 1995). During transport, all farmed animals lose at least 3% of their weight, most in the first hour, from urination and defecation as a result of stress. These animals must stand in their excrement and they are exposed to extreme weather conditions in the open trucks, sometimes freezing to the trailer (USDA, 1997).

Competition to produce inexpensive meat, eggs, and dairy products has led animal agribusiness to treat animals as objects and commodities. The worldwide trend is to replace family farms with factory farms; warehouses where animals are kept in crowded pens or restrictive stalls. Large numbers of beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys are raised under such conditions.

Because of the respect, honor and reverence Muslims give to animals and individual animal slaughter (more on this under the section - Islam's Stand on Vegetarianism), scientists have shown beyond doubt that Muslim-slaughtered (Halal) meat is the most electrically balanced meat, and therefore most hygienic and healthy. Heistand and Coleman (1999) write in their book Electrical Nutrition that animals display extreme fear in the slaughterhouse environment employed by western societies. Commercially produced chickens are traumatized and react with extreme fear when slaughtered, because of their unbelievably cramped and over-crowded cages. All this creates a highly unstable network of energy within the animal and thus affecting its meat. In their words:

Imam Ali (AS) has said, and reported in al-Kafi - Volume 6, Page 229:

Interestingly, non-Muslim researchers, Heistand and Coleman (1999) continue:

It is, therefore, apparent that the non-Halal meat in supermarkets, non-Muslim butchery centers, and meat in fast-food restaurants contains disharmonic, highly unstable and weak fields of energy, together with painful and traumatic info-energy, thereby affecting the meat and making it unhealthy for consumers. To consume such meat would not only mean disobeying Allah (SWT), the electrically unstable meat would introduce a host of electrical, energy and info-energy malfunctions into one's system as he or she consumes the meat, making that individual vulnerable, and prone to health and mental challenges.

Besides the disturbance to the electrical network of the meat, the fear and panic caused to the animal slaughtered in battery-farms would further cause the animal to produce stress-related chemicals into their system that would alter the meat's chemical composition as well. Heistand and Coleman (1999) report that such kinds of unstable meat, when consumed on a long-term basis may lead to cancer, and other degenerative diseases. The psycho-physiological effects of long-term stress in humans have been documented in ample studies. The hormones and chemicals released during stress do a lot of damage to the tissues rendering them unfit for human consumption (Kamoonpuri, 1998).

The effects of unfavorable and unsteady energy contrived within the animal during slaughter are therefore significant and the studies worth mentioning. Weston (1998) writes that Dr. Puharich and seven other U.S. Navy physicians discovered that when they radiated mice with a lower frequency, unstable 5 Hz frequencies, cancer was induced within 48 hours. When the mice were radiated with the higher frequency, free flowing, balanced healer energy frequency of 8 Hz the mice's tumors were healed within 48 hours.

Ostrander and Schroeder (1970) quote Dr. Errera, Councilor of nuclear matters to the Belgian government, that traditional healers have been recorded in reliable experiments to be able to induce free flowing and harmonious energy from their hands to animal flesh. This act has been observed to purify the meat with higher and more balanced/coherent vibrations of energy, so much that it does not deteriorate for a month, even though the meat was never refrigerated.

Moreover, Kamoonpuri (1998) lists down the following that also has to take place during any kind of Islamic slaughter:

Having the animal slaughtered on its right side with its left side exposed, the benefits are worth mentioning. According to Kamoonpuri (1998), this advice by the Prophet is perfect and a scientific fact. When the left side of the neck is incised, the carotid arteries are cut first thereby stopping oxygenated blood from reaching the brain. The animal thus becomes unconscious because of oxygen depletion. This procedure results in the same two actions mentioned earlier - convulsions based on the muscular contractions that drives out all the remaining blood, and no pain is experienced.

Islam has strictly prohibited tampering with the lives of animals and inflicting torture upon them just for the sake of fun. Setting animals against each other, such as cocks, oxen, or sheep, for the sake of fun or for any other reason, is completely forbidden in Islam. Using an animal as a target for shooting practice with a gun or bow is forbidden. The Prophet cursed one who kills a living creature as a mere sport. The Prophet prohibited the setting of animals so as to fight one another. The birds, which are flying beauties, are not to be harmed for the sake of fun, since the Prophet said:

The Prophet admonished us to avoid the seven abominations (sins), and for one of the sins he recited the following verse of the Qur'an, (Kill not a living creature, which God has made sacrosanct, except for a justifiable reason). That person will be answerable to God if he kills a sparrow or anything smaller without a justifiable reason. When asked what would be a justifiable reason, he (the Prophet) replied, to slaughter it for food-not to kill and discard it. The Prophet prohibited stoning animals even with pebbles - Even if it does not kill or bleed, it may harm their eyes and teeth.

Since animals are communities, just as humankind is, they, too, deserve mercy and affection. The Prophet said, Our Most Merciful God showers His mercy on those who are themselves merciful. One who has been endowed with a gentle nature has received a portion of the goodness of this world and the next. If you want to be loved by your Creator, love His creatures. God says, If you are anxious to receive kindness from Me, offer kindness to My creatures.

When the Prophet (S) was asked to define Islam, he said to believe in Allah and be kind to the whole of creation.

Leather Belts
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reports that every year, the $14.5 million global leather industry tans millions of animal skins, many animals from whom these skins are taken suffer all the horrors of factory farming, including extreme crowding and confinement, deprivation, anaesthetized castration, branding, tail docking, dehorning, and cruel treatment during transport and slaughter.

Humaneness is not a priority of those who poach and hunt animals to obtain their skin or those who transform skin into leather. Alligators on farms may be beaten to death with hammers and axes, sometimes-remaining conscious and in agony for up to two hours after being skinned (Reid, 1997).

Crocodiles are often caught with huge hooks and wires and reeled in, when they weaken from blood loss. Poachers sometimes kill one species of animal to use as bait to capture another. Snakes and lizards may be skinned alive because of the belief that live flaying imparts suppleness to the finished leather.

Kid goats may be boiled alive to make kid gloves and the skins of unborn calves and lambs, some purposely aborted, others from slaughtered pregnant cows and ewes, are considered especially luxurious. Shearling, contrary to what many consumers think, is not sheared wool. The term refers to the sheep. A Shearling is a yearling sheep, which has been shorn once. A Shearling garment is made from a sheep or lamb shorn shortly before slaughter. The skin is tanned with the wool still on it.

For the above reasons and reasons mentioned below, Muslims are prohibited from wearing leather belts during prayer - leather from an animal, which was slaughtered in a non-Muslim manner. The weaker fields of energy and tainted info-energy remain in the memory and energy surrounding the belt. These memories of torture and pain most certainly have the ability to interfere with the energy fields related to one's attention in prayer. This concept is explored in details in the section on Prayer.

Kindness to Animals The Islamic worldview and guidelines give sufficient basis for a humane treatment of animals. One major objective of Islam is that it seeks to make the human being kind hearted towards fellow creatures. Kindness is an important ingredient of the human conscience. God Himself is compassionate and kind and wants man, His vicegerent on earth, to be kindhearted towards all living creatures.

The animal world in Qur'an has its own rights, just like that of the human world. Animals have similar characteristics, peculiarities, temperaments, and consciousness of their own. They have the ability to experience what we all consider to be morally relevant states of consciousness such as pain, distress, fear, anxiety, loneliness, boredom, joy, and pleasure. Many animal species other than mammals share abilities we thought made humankind singular, such as communications, tool using and tool making, love and nurturing a partner and family. Altruism has been observed in most species. This modern ethological finding is reflected in the Qur'anic concept of animals as a community just as humanity is, (there is no creature on earth, or a bird, which flies on wings, but they are communities like you, al-Qur'an - Chapter 6, Verse 38). This verse elegantly speaks also of the sanctity of life.

The ancient nation of Thamud was warned that even a thirsty camel has its own drinking right. The story of Prophet Salih (AS) and the people of Thamud illustrate the moral that denying animals their basic right to pasture and spring for food and water is a heinous sin in divine vision. The Thamud had arrogated all rights of water and pasture to themselves. On Prophet Salih's intervention, the due of the poor and their cattle was given to each in turn. As a test case, a she-camel was selected, which, according to the agreement, would enjoy free access to the spring and the pasture. However, the privileged people killed the she-camel, which caused their destruction by an earthquake.

One of the messages in the story is that all animals have their rights in the resources of nature and that man can only deny them at his own peril. In the anecdotes of Prophet Nuh (AS) and his ark, the Prophet was directed to load (in the ark) from everything a pair, male and female. This is indicative of the divine scheme of life on earth, which for balance requires preservation of all types of animals. Qur'an lays down the duty of being good towards, and doing good to, the animals. God loves those who are kind and enjoin kindness.

People should not kill a living creature, which God has made sacrosanct, except for a justifiable reason. Even the faithful are specifically enjoined not to kill game while in the sacred precincts in pilgrim's garb. Reflecting the prominence of animals in the divine scheme of things, many chapters in al-Qur'an are named after animals in the Qur'an - the Cow, the Cattle, the Bee, the Ant, the Spider, and the Elephant. Thus, we see that Islam sanctifies life in all its aspects, omitting nothing from its embrace.

As Imam Ali (AS) says that, he would not steal a morsel of food from the mouth of ant even if the entire heavens and the earth were handed to him. His son Imam al-Husain (AS) displayed a similar behavior in the event of Karbala (just before his martyrdom) by giving water to his horse first.

Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) writes that Husain bin Saeed has also narrated the following tradition from the same Imam. In the same book Ja'far bin Muhammad narrates from his father, the Holy Messenger had ordered us to desist from physically branding animals or hitting them on their faces because these animals too chant their praises of the Lord. We shall mention the praises of each animal later.

The same book records Ishaq bin Ammar bin Abi Abdullah quoting from Imam Sadiq:

Kulayni has quoted this tradition from Muhammad bin Muslim and he in turn from Imam Sadiq that the Messenger said:

Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) writes:

Meat of Pig is Forbidden in Islam

Muhammad ibn Abdillah narrates from one of his companions that he said - I said to Abu Abdillah (AS), May I be made your ransom! Why did Allah forbid the dead animal, blood and flesh of swine?

He said:

Qur'an:
Verily those who guard (themselves against evil) when an evil thought from the Satan afflicts them, they become mindful (of God and are awakened) then lo! They see (aright).