Amid uproar over ritual slaughter, Australia’s highest Muslim body has called for establishing a halal center to help solve the animal-butcher dilemma.
Ikebal Patel, President of AFIC
“We think the Australian Muslim community can help both the Government and the meat and livestock industry,” said Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC).
The Muslim body is planning to send a letter to Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig to demand government funding for establishing a halal center to train people on how to slaughter animals according to Islamic rituals.
AFIC says the training will help open more meat-processing plants in Australia, with halal meat shipped offshore to Muslim countries such as Indonesia.
Patel says in a statement that for a “couple of million dollars” taxpayers would get more country jobs, more refugees out of big-city “enclaves” and into work, and a stronger home-grown meat and livestock industry.
A fierce debate has been growing in Australia over the ritual slaughter.
Australia’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), a pro-animal group, has called for abattoirs to be banned from ritually killing animals without stunning them first.
But the call was rejected by Australian Muslims because stunning was causing more pains to the animal.
In Australia, abattoirs are required to stun the animals before their throat is cut, but several have been given approval to slaughter animals without stunning in accordance with the Islamic ritual.
The ritual slaughter has been also the subject of controversy in the Netherlands, where a pro-animal party submitted a proposal to ban the ritual slaughter on grounds that it causes unnecessary pain to the animal, drawing criticism from Jewish and Muslim groups in the country.
Muslim scholars agree that Shariah provides a divine law of mercy that should be applied on all Allah’s creations, including animals.
Islam also provides details about avoiding any unnecessary pain.
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 percent of its 20-million population. Islam is also the country’s second largest religion after Christianity.
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