Dr Pramod Pathak
All the TV channels on January 18 were busy initially with the news on Jallikattu, the bull fight festival in Tamil Nadu, followed by hot discussions. Both the sides were arguing fiercely either in opposition or in favour of the tradition. The main contention of the opposing parties, who largely drew from the plethora of NGOs considered these to be utter cruelty to the bulls. Those in favour were of the opinion that it was a long tradition which was thwarted by the Supreme Court order.
If at all the friends of animals are really considerate over cruelty to animals, they should at once take up the case for banning halaal way of killing animal. It is considered as a part of strong cultural tradition. In the halaal way of killing, the throat of an animal is half cut. The animals like goat, bulls are pressed down to bleed and die. It is a horrifying sight to an unaccustomed person to see the
animal undergoing throes of bleeding to death as it jerks violently, writhe in pain and its blood spilling out. It is a very cruel way to kill an animal. In Britain, Australia etc. these animals are initially stunned by either electric shock or hammering on the head and then cut. This is being done to let the animal die without experiencing throes of death. In the Islamic countries and in Bharat, cutting across the sectarian divide, Muslims kill the animal
without stunning it. They consider stunning animal haraam, unlawful by religious tradition. However this way of killing is against the Hadith tradition. There is a very well-known Hadith compilation known as An-Nawawi’s forty Hadith. The text of the Hadith 17 reads as follows:
On the authority of Abu Ya‘la Shaddad ibn Aus (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “Verily Allah has prescribed proficiency in all things. Thus, if you kill, kill well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to the animal he slaughters.”
It was compiled in “Muslim”, a revered Hadith compilation. Obviously halaal is very painful way of killing animal. Will the
animal lovers take up this issue of doing away with halaal or they will continue to take up cudgels only against the Hindu traditions?
