The Method of the Optional Slaughter

To carry out the ikhtiyārī slaughter, an animal is first brought that is fit to be eaten — clean, not feeding on its own filth, its standing already established through the quarantine already described. Some, wishing to mark the occasion, especially at ʿĪd, cover the animal's eyes and set roses upon its horns, dressing it up as though it were a bride going to her wedding, when in truth the animal is minutes from death; this is ḥalāl, and Allah (swt) has made it lawful, but there is no need to go to such lengths.

The slaughter itself must be carried out humanely, letting the animal bleed properly. A sheep or goat is laid down with three of its four legs tied together, the fourth left free, and turned, where this is possible, to face the qibla; where it is not possible, it is not possible. The knife must be properly sharp — not a blunt blade, not an electric or battery-operated knife, not a small carving knife, but a proper, very sharp one. Holding the animal firmly, so that the free leg cannot kick loose, the cut is made underneath the throat: not the full basmalah, but simply Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar. Four things are severed: two pipes, one for air and one for food, and two vessels, an artery and a vein, one on each side. The cut begins in the middle and moves quickly out to the vessel on one side; the brain, still sending its signal that oxygenated blood is needed, keeps the heart pumping, and the blood gushes out — a graphic thing to watch, but Muslims are not vegetarians, and this is what the method requires. The knife is then brought to the vessel on the other side, so that the blood empties out as completely and as quickly as possible. The animal goes on breathing for a minute or two as the heart continues to pump, until the flow slows and finally the animal is dead. Only then is the head severed, taking care not to touch the spinal cord while cutting: touching it while the animal still lives sends an immediate death signal from the brain before the blood has properly drained.

A bull or a cow is slaughtered on the floor in the same way. The camel differs: its neck is too long for the cut to be made under the chin as with a sheep, and it is slaughtered instead lower down, near the chest, just below where the head meets the neck — again entirely by hand, with Bismillāh, Allāhu akbar. There is the account of camel-slaughter as practised in parts of Arabia, where the camel is left standing throughout: the cut is made, and the animal simply stands there, looking left and right, as the blood gushes out, until after some minutes it wants to sit down; sometimes, done wrongly, the animal starts running while still bleeding — a manner of slaughter the one who saw it did not wish to see again, and judged very inhumane. Australia, in any case, has very few camels to slaughter; sheep and cattle are what is normally done. None of this is a suggestion to obtain a cow or a sheep and slaughter it privately: this is illegal in Australia, and the health department will act on it. The first Muslim migrants to arrive, lacking access to ḥalāl meat, used to buy sheep at Victoria Market and slaughter them in their own bathtubs at home; that is not to be attempted, and doing so risks prosecution. It falls to the many Muslim butchers now available to carry this out — though every Muslim benefits from knowing the method for its own sake.