While commemorating Eid al-Adha, Muslims are able to slaughter sacrificial animals of goats, sheep, or cows. There is an interesting explanation of sacrificial animals from a scientific point of view.
The slaughter of sacrificial animals for some is seen as a ritual of slaughtering wild animals and has caused controversy. Before being served food with a meat menu, the animal will indeed undergo a slaughtering procedure. However, the slaughter procedure in Islam does not hurt the animal.
It is true, when blood flows from the throat, the animal will appear rebellious, but as quoted from Mustaqim’s Islamic Arts & Literature website, slaughter according to Islamic law does not cause pain to the sacrificed animal.
We are told to do good to all beings, not to do wrong (unjust), including sacrificial animals. So, when about to slaughter a sacrificial animal, we are asked to sharpen the knife as sharp as possible to lighten the load of the slaughtered animal. The slaughtering process must also begin with the recitation of the basmallah (Bismillahirrohmanirrohim).
From Syadad bin Aus RA, Rasulullah SAW said: "Indeed, Allah commands to do good (ihsan) for everything. If you want to kill, then kill in a good way. If you want to slaughter (animals), then slaughter in a good way. must sharpen a knife to lighten the burden of the animal to be slaughtered. "(HR Muslim no 1955)
Sacrificial animal science facts
Research Professor Wilhelm Schulze and his colleague Dr Hazim from the University of Hannover in Germany, proved this claim by comparing the slaughter of animals according to Islamic law and conventional methods.
In Islamic law, slaughter is done by making quick and deep incisions with a very sharp knife in the neck. The knife cuts three channels in the neck, namely the alimentary canal, the respiratory tract and two blood vessels, namely the arteries. While other animals using conventional methods were first disabled with an electric gun.
To be valid, a comparison of these two methods was recorded by EG (Electroencephalography) and ECG (Electrocardiogram). Several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points in the skulls of all the animals used in the experiments.
The EEG records electrical activity along the scalp and measures voltage fluctuations produced by ion currents in brain neurons. While the ECG records the activity of the heart at a particular time.
The recording results showed that slaughtering according to Islamic law in the first 3 seconds after the sacrificial animal was slaughtered, there was no change in the EEG chart indicating no pain.
Over the next three seconds, the cerebellar EEG recorded a gradual graphical decline that resembled sleep. Thereafter, the EEG recorded a gradual graphical decline until the animal completely lost consciousness.
After the first 6 seconds, the cardiac ECG records the unusual activity of the heart to take as much blood as possible from all parts of the body and pump it. This is a picture of the coordinated movement between the heart and the spinal cord (spinal cord).
Because blood is attracted and pumped by the heart out of the body to the maximum, healthy meat is produced. This type of meat from this type of slaughter is in accordance with the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) which produces healthy food.
Whereas for conventional slaughter, after the mesmerizing process is done, the animal staggers and then collapses and does not move so that it is easy to handle. Therefore, animals are easily slaughtered without struggling and apparently without experiencing pain.
Even at the time of slaughter, only a small amount of blood came out, not as much as if it had been slaughtered without mesmerizing. However, after the mesmerizing process, there was a significant increase in the EEG chart indicating pain.
In ECG tests, the graph also shows a decrease in the graph that causes the heart to lose its ability to take blood. Because the blood is not pumped out of the body completely, the blood clots in the blood vessels or blood vessels in the meat of the animal, resulting in unhealthy meat. This makes the meat unsuitable for eating.
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