cause the blood to stop flowing upon its death, so that it does not all come out. It is well known that the blood is to be drained, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Eat of that over which Allah’s name has been mentioned and whose blood has been made to flow.” (1)

Likewise, it is disliked to skin the animal before it has cooled—that is, before it has died—due to the general wording of the hadith: “Do not hasten the souls before they have departed,” and because it causes pain without need. Therefore, the correct view is that breaking its neck and skinning it before death are forbidden, because they cause pain without need.

If the butcher says, “I have many sheep, and I would like to break the neck so that death may come more quickly,” we say: Slaughter this one, then slaughter the next, and so on, even if the first has not yet died.

If you ask, “Is it better to hold its legs, or is it better to leave it kicking?” The answer is that the latter is better, contrary to what ordinary people do nowadays. They consider it necessary to hold it down, but this is mistaken. Rather, it is better to leave it kicking, as the earlier and later scholars have explicitly stated, explaining that this helps to expel the blood.

Some people, when they intend to slaughter an animal, seize its left foreleg and twist it onto its neck. This too is not permissible, because it causes it pain. What, then, is the sunnah? The sunnah is as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did: that