German court allows Muslim slaughter of animals
Date: 17-Jan-02
Country: GERMANY
In recent years, Muslims in Germany seeking halal food prepared according to Islamic rules had to buy imported meats.
"Before, Muslims in Germany imported meat from Belgium, France, Britain and other countries," Hasan Oezdogan, head of Germany's Islamic Council, said this week. "Now much more meat will be produced locally."
The German federal administrative court banned Muslim ritual slaughter in 1995 as the practice did not seek to lessen animals' pain before death through electric shock or other methods.
"The case pitted freedom of religion on one side against animal rights and I feel the animal protection side was given too little weight," said animal rights advocate Eisenhart von Loeper.
He said lessening the pain of death was not incompatible with traditional religious practice.
In its ruling, the Constitutional Court said the previous ban posed impermissible interference into professional freedom as it effectively barred Muslims from working as butchers.
Under Islamic rules animals are slaughtered by a cut across the neck to ensure maximum flow of blood. The butcher has to say "In the name of God" while cutting.
Overturning the ban will also make it easier for German Muslims to observe Eid al-Adha when families sacrifice an animal, giving some of it to the poor, Muslim community officials said. That holiday falls in late February this year.
"Jews can slaughter their animals in their traditional way without there being questions about any law," said Wolf Aries, another official at the Islamic Council. "Until this decision, this right was denied to the Muslims."
He said some Muslims had observed the ritual slaughter in Germany without official sanction. Others asked families abroad to make the slaughter and donate the food to the poor.
"We hope this will be an important step in the integration of Muslims in Germany," Oezdogan said.
More than three million Muslims live in Germany, many of whom have family roots in Turkey.
