Chapter on Ritual Slaughter

Nothing of an animal that can be brought under control is lawful without ritual slaughter, except locusts, fish, and everything that lives only in water, ……………

His statement, “ritual slaughter,” means slaughtering. Its root is dhakāʾ, meaning sharpness and penetration. The connection is that slaughter is performed with a sharp, penetrating instrument. From the same root comes intelligence, because an intelligent person is sharp-minded and penetrating in insight.

In Islamic law, it means causing the blood to flow from an animal that is lawful to eat, either at the neck if it can be brought under control, or at any part of its body if it cannot be brought under control.

Ritual slaughter is a condition for the lawfulness of an otherwise permissible animal. Thus, every animal that is permissible to eat is not lawful except through ritual slaughter.

Does this include what is made permissible by necessity? For example, if a person is compelled by necessity to eat a donkey, must it also be ritually slaughtered in order to be lawful?

The answer is yes. We do not say: since it is originally prohibited, it becomes lawful whether you slaughter it, strangle it, or strike it on any part of its body. Rather, we say that once it has been made permissible by necessity, its ruling becomes that of what is lawful without necessity.

His statement, “Nothing of an animal,” means: nothing is lawful.

His statement, “that can be brought under control without ritual slaughter,” is open to objection, because we have mentioned the definition of ritual slaughter, which includes both an animal that can be brought under control and one that cannot, and that ritual slaughter is causing the blood to flow from an edible animal, either at the neck or at