I really wanted to write this article because a lot of people don’t really know what halal exactly means. So, what is it?
Halal and haram are very often used in the islam. Halal means allowed by God or clean, in islam Allah, and haram means forbidden by God. Halal is what most people know for meat, but it can also be about your actions or clothes, for example wearing very revealing clothes or smoking sigarettes is haram. Meanwhile wearing covering clothes and staying away from sigarettes and other drugs is halal.
But what is halal if we speak about meat? You can find different types of halal meat in an islamic butchery or shop where they sell packed meat.
Halal meat has to do with the way the animal is slaughtered and which animal it is. Let’s first talk about the way it’s slaughtered. The butcher has to be a practising muslim, the animal can’t have any ppain before and during the slaughter and it has to be healthy. The animal also can’t be in the same room as the other animals, the animal may not be stressed and may not see the knive. The knive has to be very sharp because it has to cut the throat all at once, so the animal doesn’t endures any pain.
Bismillah, Allahu Akbar
During the slaughter, de butcher has to say “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar”, which means ” in the name of God, God is great”
After the slaughter the head can’t be removed until the organs are all removed, then the animal has to bleed out, after this all, you can say that your meat is halal.
My opinion about this ritual is that I find this a really ‘nice’, if I can say that, way to slaughter an animal. I don’t like the thought of an animal being killed but I think this is the best way to do it while the animal doesn’t have stress and other animals can’t see this happening. As people are scared from syringes, which don’t even kill us, animals are very scared of knives and I’m happy that the animal of the meat I eat, hasn’t seen the knive and didn’t endure any pain.
