Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir- Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Preface
Did you know that the hearts of humans and animals have an autonomous electrical system? Biologically, the heart has an electrical pacemaker that makes it beat steadily. Yet, when danger threatens, the brain commands the pituitary gland to send signals to the adrenal glands. The result is an extraordinary survival mechanism: the heart rate spikes, the lungs expand, and blood sugar is released as energy. This is Allah’s magnificent design ensuring His creatures have extra strength in emergencies.Every instruction from the Messenger ﷺ in handling living beings is not mere tradition, but revelation grounded in absolute truth:
وَمَا يَنْطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوٰىۗ اِنْ هُوَ اِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُّوْحٰىۙ
“Nor does he speak from [his own] desire. It is nothing but a revelation revealed.” (QS. An-Najm: 3-4)
The trait of ihsan_—the highest excellence—must even be applied in the process of slaughter, as he said:
اِنَّ اللهَ كَتَبَ الْإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ، فَإِذَا قَتَلْتُمْ فَأَحْسِنُوا الْقِتْلَةَ، وَإِذَا ذَبَحْتُمْ فَأَحْسِنُوا الذَّبْحَ
_“Indeed, Allah has prescribed excellence in all things. So if you kill, kill well; and if you slaughter, slaughter well...” (HR. Muslim)
2. Explanation
The Prophet’s guidance is a manifestation of mercy to the universe. The prohibition against beheading or severing the spinal cord during slaughter is a form of ihsan. A Prophet who had no formal education 14 centuries ago already taught the most advanced veterinary ethics: we take its life for our need, yet we are obliged to preserve its dignity and the quality of its meat in the least painful way. There’s a striking story about a meat supplier in China who initially objected to the Islamic method of slaughter because it was thought to reduce the meat’s weight due to the blood draining completely. Yet they were amazed at the result; meat slaughtered according to the Sunnah was bright red and fresh, while meat from animals beheaded outright was bluish, tough, and full of bacteria because foul blood remained trapped in the muscle.The analogy is simple: imagine a clogged water pipe. If you want to clean it thoroughly, you must not shut off the pump first. You must let the pump keep running while the faucet is opened. Leaving the spinal cord intact is the way to let the “pump” (the heart) keep working until the last drop of blood exits the animal’s body. If the head is severed immediately, the “electricity” to the heart is cut, the pump stops, and dirty blood is trapped in the meat—like a dirty pipe whose pump is turned off before cleaning is finished. We often feel smarter than the Prophet, assuming “as long as it dies, it’s fine.” Yet a difference of a few centimeters in the knife’s position determines whether we eat healthy meat or a “warehouse of disease.” Don’t let our sense of modernity lead us to eat steak that looks bluish like a Smurf cartoon character!
3. Lessons and Message
The fundamental lesson for us is that behind every religious prohibition lies protection for human health.
The moral message: obey the Shariah even when our logic hasn’t caught up yet. Science often only manages to prove the truth of revelation hundreds of years after it was revealed. Following the legislated method of slaughter is not just about performing a ritual, but a form of our responsibility as stewards on earth to treat other creatures with full dignity and compassion.
4. Conclusion
The inability of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to read and write is proof that his knowledge came purely from Divine Revelation. Every command of his is health, and every prohibition of his is protection. Slaughtering according to the Sunnah is the meeting point of religion, health, and noble civilization. Let us follow his footsteps with full conviction, for in every Sunnah he bequeathed, there is always a miracle waiting to be unveiled by science
والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
By : Abu Sultan Al-Qadrie
