Muslim Scholars Explain Only Infidel Animals Abused Before/During Slaughter

To challenge the truth of that explanation constitutes Islamophobia.

Gaza City, August 13 – Islamic leaders sought today to allay concern over videos circulating on the internet that show mistreatment of cows, sheep, and goats prior to their killing or in the process thereof on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha festival this past Sunday, explaining that such torture occurs solely in cases where the beast in question has committed some act of heresy and thus deserves the torment.

Prominent Islamic scholars throughout the region issued a joint statement Tuesday in response to worldwide uproar that the videos generated, clarifying that they examined each case depicted, and concluded that all the animals that underwent mistreatment before or during slaughter had previously committed blasphemy, apostasy, or some other grievous sin that warranted a slow, painful, terrifying death.

Videos circulating since Sunday showed various scenes from the Gaza Strip and Pakistan, among other locales, in which crowds cheered or actively participated in the torture of animals for the Eid slaughter. In Gaza, onlookers roared and clapped as the butcher appeared to violate Islamic procedure for halal slaughter, stabbing the animal’s neck again and again instead of a swift series of slices to sever the trachea, esophagus, carotid artery, and jugular vein; the animal can be seen thrashing in pain as it slowly bleeds out. Another animal awaiting the same fate stands nearby and panics, also in violation of halal procedure, which bars the creature slated for slaughter from seeing the knife, let alone being in the presence of a slaughter.

In Pakistan, a clip shows a crowd pushing, hitting, and pulling a cow or bull through the streets until the animal collapses, whereupon numerous young men crowd around the prone creature and continue to hit it, jump on it, and further torment it before finally dragging it off for slaughter.

In both cases, the scholars explained, the animals had committed heinous offenses that justified such mistreatment: the Gaza animals had engaged in denial of Muhammad as the supreme prophet; refused to state outright that Jews have no right to sovereignty in Palestine; or questioned the obligation to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, among other offenses. The cow in Pakistan, on the other hand, had expressed a desire to renounce Islam in favor of Christianity. Therefore, observed the scholars, all the beasts in question deserved not merely to die, the purpose of all such livestock, but to undergo torture in the process, and to challenge the truth of that explanation constitutes Islamophobia.

Please support our work through Patreon.