I do not hold religious Muslims in high esteem. For 20 years we have submitted to a dangerous and uncontrolled underground infiltration. Not only does it fail to give way to our laws and customs. Quite the contrary, as time goes by it tries to impose its own laws on us. We were disturbed by their barbaric practices; we condemned their unacceptable behaviour, their slaughter of animals which left homes covered in blood, and filled rubbish chutes with skin, bone and oozing brains.

Animal Rites

Animal slaughter in Islam is ritualistic. Meats that are sanctioned must be killed according to religious rites and referred to as, Halal (permitted). In addition to the regular consumption requirements, special occasions such as Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha necessitate the mass slaughter of animals as a sacrifice to Allah.

Muhammad's example of animal sacrifice is detailed in the Hadiths. From Sahih Muslim we read:
SM 7:2803 - Allah's messenger then went to the place of sacrifice, and sacrificed sixty-three camels with his own hand.
SM 7:3024 - In the year of Hudaibiya Allah's Messenger sacrificed a camel for seven persons and a cow for seven persons.
SM 7:3030 - Allah's Messenger sacrificed a cow on behalf of Aisha on the Day of Nahr

It is imperative that all sacrifices be dedicated to Allah alone. Sacrifice to any other God or no god at all would attract the wrath of Allah who would lay curses on any such culprit.
SM 22:4876 - Allah's Messenger said: Allah cursed him who sacrificed for anyone besides Allah;

Sacrificing of animals for the Eid festival is supposed to commemorate the incident where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail, to Allah. In the Qur'an this was supposedly a dream that Abraham had. In the Bible however, the incident actually took place but with his other son, Isaac. However the slight mix up in God's storytelling is irrelevant to this chapter!

Major sacrifice events require live animals in quantities not available in most Islamic countries, especially those in the Middle East. The solution is the mass importation of live animals from countries including Australia and New Zealand. The horrendous conditions endured by animals packed onto ships 100,000 at a time, lead to countless diseases, starvation, trauma and heat stroke during their month long journey, resulting in a high percentage of deaths. With shipments of over four million sheep and 770,000 cattle per annum from Australia alone, the needless suffering of innocent animals to this degree, simply to appease Islamic ritual slaughtering, is truly unacceptable in a modern civilised society.

After their arduous journey by sea, long treks across the smouldering deserts to the various venues of slaughter must also still be endured.

The final humiliation for any animal undergoing the Halal process is the slitting of the throat while still alive preferably hanging upside down, held aloft by a hind leg. A cut to the major blood vessels in the neck, namely carotid and jugular veins together with the trachea and gullet, which places the blood under pressure, allows easy drainage. This practice, which is ordained by God to ensure man does not eat blood, is carried out so that it can be drained out of the animal while still alive with a beating heart. With a functioning brain and a spinal chord still intact, the animal suffers a dire drawn out death, contrary to claims by Islamic apologists of its humaneness.

During the special Eid festivals most slaughters are conducted, not by experienced butchers but by individuals who buy live animals for slaughter at home with the family. They have little familiarity with the process, incorrect tools and make cuts that are invariably off the mark resulting in even more prolonged suffering and death.

The UK Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) says that the method by which Kosher and Halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals and it should be banned immediately. According to FAWC it can take up to two minutes for cattle to bleed to death, thus amounting to animal abuse. Compassion in World Farming also supported the recommendation saying "We believe that the law must be changed to require all animals to be stunned before slaughter."

Muhammad however was simply following the Jewish ritual slaughter. He insists that the animal must be standing when sacrificed. SM 7:3032 - According to the Sunnah of the Prophet a camel must be made to stand up festered and then sacrificed. It must not be sacrificed kneeling down.

According to the Qur'an, animals are made for man; for his consumption, clothing and 'numerous' benefits. Allah has given them no rights for their own life and community, but simply to be used by humans in whatever way we deem fit. Maybe Allah was not aware of synthetic fibres or did not have sufficient space in his Qur'an, between all the rants of disbelievers burning in hell, to elucidate on how they could be manufactured. Maybe he was not aware of the harmful effects of a meat centred diet without the essential five-a-day fruit and veg!

Q16:5 And cattle He has created for you (men): from them ye derive warmth, and numerous benefits, and of their meat ye eat.

Animals were also designed by Allah to bear the heavy loads and carry men to far off regions not possible otherwise, without great distress. The wise Allah was not aware that man would one day develop means of transport that would far supersede his exploitative methods and would be much less troublesome than riding a camel.

Q16:7 And they bear your loads for you unto a land ye could not reach save with great trouble to yourselves.

For the festivals it is imperative that the slaughtering is conducted after the prayers is complete:
SM 22:4823 - Abu Burda sacrificed his animal before (Eid) prayer. Allah's Messenger said: "That is a goat slaughtered for the sake of flesh and not as a sacrifice on the day of Adha." Abu Burda said: "I have a lamb of six months." Thereupon he (Muhammad) said: "Offer it as a sacrifice. He who slaughtered after prayer, his ritual of sacrifice became complete and he in fact observed the religious practice of the Muslims."

This hadith has Muhammad confirming the religious need of the slaughter. The slaughtering of the animal according to all rules with the exception of the prayer is useless because it is considered solely for the sake of the owner, not for Allah. However if it is performed after the Eid prayer the sacrifice then becomes complete in Allah's eyes.

When sacrificing his animals, Muhammad glorified Allah in a similar vein to his chant as he marched towards the non-believers in battle - "Allah! hu-Akbar!" (Allah is greatest). He also requested Allah to accept his offering: SM 22:4841 - Allah's Messenger sacrificed two horned rams with his own hand and placed his foot on their sides, and recited the name of Allah and Glorified Him (saying Allah-hu-Akbar).
SM 22:4845 - Allah's Messenger commanded that a ram be brought to him. He then took the knife sacrificed it, saying: "In the name of Allah, O Allah, accept this sacrifice on behalf of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and the community"

Sacrificing animals is also a great remedy for head lice according to Muhammad. Apparently someone who suffered from a serious case of head lice was fortunate enough to meet the prophet, who made the following recommendation: SB 71:604 - Lice were falling down my head, Muhammad said, "Shave your head and fast for three days or slaughter a sheep as a sacrifice:"

In addition to the cruelty suffered as a result of sacrificing in accordance with Halal for Allah, Islam also has a certain disdain for particular animals especially the pig and the dog. Muhammad ordered that dogs should be killed: SM 10:3811 - Allah's Messenger ordered the killing of dogs and we would send men in Medina and its corners and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill

The keeping of dogs by Muslims is strictly forbidden by Muhammad unless you are willing to lose out on your good deeds which are deducted by Allah on a daily basis: SM 10:3824 - Allah's Messenger said: He who kept a dog would lose out of his deeds equal to one qirat every day.

Angels also are not too keen on dogs and would not enter any place where they are present: SM 24:5246 - Gabriel said: It was the dog in your house which prevented me from entering, for we (angels) do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture.

A black dog is especially to be avoided unless you desire close ties with the devil: SM 4:1032 - The Messenger of Allah said: "The black dog is a devil."

Muhammad says in Kitaab Sharh us-Sunnah 63 With every raindrop there is an angel who descends with it. The slight conundrum here is that raindrops fall on dogs, even the black ones. If Angels do not enter where dogs are present and Satan resides in the black dog, why would raindrops, each of which contains an angel, fall onto a dog? Just a thought.

Dogs and certain snakes are bad for your eyesight and it's not recommended they be in the vicinity of pregnant women: SM26:5545 - Allah's Messenger commanded the killing of dogs and the killing of the striped and the short-tailed snakes, for both of them affect the eyesight adversely and cause miscarriage.

One has to ask the question, why would Allah create dogs if his prophet orders that they be killed; if they are detrimental to our vision and unborn babies; and worse, why the black variety, if he knew they would be a receptacle for the devil?

Muhammad obviously had a serious dog phobia (cynophobia) to such an extent he could not tolerate their existence and as a result concocted ridiculous stories about angels despising them and Satan residing in them.

Today Muslim apologists insist that such rulings are no longer valid and that such teachings have been abrogated and were only intended for rabid dogs that caused a menace at the time of the prophet. However no text makes any such statement. Rather they are clear that all dogs are to be killed. The following hadith, which makes an exception at the behest of a dog owner who used them to secure his large field, is unequivocal regarding this: 24:5248 - Then on that very morning Mohammed commanded the killing of dogs until he announced that the dog kept for the orchards should also be killed, but he spared the dog meant for the protection of extensive fields.

Only those dogs that were used for the protection of large fields can be kept, according to Muhammad. All others are to be killed.

Salamanders were also disliked by Muhammad as Um Sharik narrates in SB 54:526, the Prophet ordered her to kill Salamanders. Lizards, in Muhammad's Arabia, feared no better either. Actually one was rewarded by Allah for killing the defenceless creature. If a death blow could be accomplished with just one strike the recompense would be one hundred virtues. Additional strikes would loose you points though: SM 26:5564 Allah's Messenger said: He who killed a gecko (lizard) with the first stroke, for him is ordained one hundred virtues, and with the second stroke one less than that and with the third one less than that. There is no reasoning behind this decree by Muhammad, but one would suppose Allah created geckos as a menace to society and placed in them rewards for mankind if they could successfully club them to death with a minimum of blows.

It is quite evident that Islam shows little respect or compassion for animals regardless of the claims made today by apologists of the faiths, who scurry around desperately seeking verses or apologies that would shed favourable light on an issue that has become sensitive in today's society.