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Taking an Anti-Sacrificial Stance: The Essentializing Rhetoric and Affective Nature of Meat Consumption in Islam

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Veg(etari)an Arguments in Culture, History, and Practice

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

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Abstract

Informed by lived experience and research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the authors analyze rhetorics of Muslim veg(etari)anism. Research on Muslim advocacy for veganism and animal welfare, particularly as these intersect with MENA environmental sustainability, is rare. The chapter fills this gap by analyzing Qur’anic scripture concerning animal welfare and environmental justice. It critiques essentializing rhetorics of carnism and anthropatriarchy, discursive constructions and enactments of emerging Muslim veganism, and how these discourses re/imagine or resist practices of and perceptions about Islam. The study addresses affective resonance surrounding dhabīḥah [ritual slaughter for halāl animals] particularly for Eid al-Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice], which illuminates intersectional marginalization by non-Muslims, challenges of diversity and inclusion within Islam, and construction and communication of identity through Othered consumption practices.

There is not an animal on earth,

nor a two-winged flying creature,

but they are communities like you.

—Qur’an , Surah Al-Anam 6:38

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The color green is also known as Akhḍar in Modern Standard Arabic.

  2. 2.

    An analysis of ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and increasing Islamophobia in India, specifically, is beyond the scope of this study. For more on these topics, please see Anand (2007); Sinan Siyech and Narain (2018); Schneider (2009).

  3. 3.

    See Lengel (1998).

  4. 4.

    See Abdul-Aziz (2019); Abdul-Aziz, Smidi, and Lengel (in press); Fedak-Lengel (2019); Fedak-Lengel, and Abdul-Aziz (2019); Abdul-Aziz, Lengel, and Smidi (in press); Lengel, Atay, and Kluch (2020).

  5. 5.

    Alphabetical order of authorship indicates equal contribution from each author.

  6. 6.

    For work on “disgust responses” see Fessler, Arguello, Mekdara, and Macias (2003); Hamilton (2006); Twine (2010).

  7. 7.

    See Abdul-Aziz (2019); Abdul-Aziz, Smidi, and Lengel (in press); Fedak-Lengel (2019); Fedak-Lengel, and Abdul-Aziz (2019); Abdul-Aziz, Lengel, and Smidi (in press); Lengel, Atay, and Kluch (2020); Lengel and Smidi (2019); Smidi and Lengel (2017).

  8. 8.

    Arabic translation into English is conducted phonetically resulting in variances in spelling. See Ryding (2005). We have used diacritic marks in Arabic terms throughout, with the exception of Arabic terms in direct quotations which are as included here precisely as written in the original cited texts.

  9. 9.

    It is also widely known that pork is also forbidden in the Jewish faith, according to Jewish laws and traditions of eating kosher meat. There is an exception in the Qur’an indicating that if a Muslim is starving and there is nothing else to eat but pork, Allah will allow for this.

  10. 10.

    See, for instance, Belhaj (2018); Benkheira (1995, 1999, 2000); Bergeaud-Blackler (2004); Bonne and Verbeke (2008); Burt (2015); Campbell, Murcott and MacKenzie (2011); Dahlan (2019); Dahlan (2012); Fischer (2009, 2010, 2011); Franck, Gardin, and Givre (2015); Friedenreich (2011, 2014); Hashimi and Mohd Salleh (2012); Lever (2013); Lever and Miele (2012); Lockerbie (2017); Tieman (2014); Yusoff and Sarjoon (2017).

  11. 11.

    A comparison of Dhabīḥah to Shechita [the religious slaughter of mammals and birds done in accordance with the Jewish dietary law] or “conventional slaughter technology,” as Abdullah, Borilova and Steinhauserova (2019) call it, is beyond the scope of this study. See Aghwan and Reggenstein (2019).

  12. 12.

    Analysis of the nuances of Dhabīḥah and of the debates about and critiques of stunning of animals before slaughter is beyond the scope of this study. For analyses of Dhabīḥah without stunning, see Fuseini, Knowles, Hadley and Wotton (2016). For the recent ruling in Belgium requiring stunning before slaughter, which has incited a debate about religious freedom, see Zaragovia (2019).

  13. 13.

    While the Qu’ran does not name Ibrahim’s son, Muslims interpret the text to indicate that God ordered Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. In Abrahamic religions, the prophet Abraham is an important patriarch for the spiritual development of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The story is also prominent in both Judaic and Christian traditions, with the father named Abraham and the son named Isaac. For more details, see Hughes (2012).

  14. 14.

    Given dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) are considered the most common source of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), measures to control the spread of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region have included herd screening and isolation of infected camels, regulation of camel movement, use of personal protective equipment by handlers and, in some cases, a ban on the slaughter and consumption of camel meat and unpasteurized camel milk (see Azhar et al. 2014; Hemida et al. 2014, 2017; Schnirring 2019; Wong et al. 2020; Zumla et al. 2016)

  15. 15.

    For historical analyses of animal sacrifice in Afro-Brazilian, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sámi religious beliefs and practices, please see, for instance, Arcari (2010); Cosmopoulos and Ruscillo (2014); Hutt (2019a, b); Oro (2006); Salmi, Äikäs, Spangen, Fjellström, and Mulk (2018). For analyses on contemporary animal sacrifice practices, including coverage on attempts by self-identified Jewish activists to sacrifice goats and sheep on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, please see Boaz (2019); Gilad (2016); Halperin (2019); Lazarus (2019); and Van Der Schyff (2014).

  16. 16.

    Sammar Hakim, The Vegan Muslim Initiative, cited in Fida (2019a para. 14).

  17. 17.

    See, also, Tulloch and Judge (2018, 1), for an application of Pachirat’s “politics of sight” and “the pedagogy of conscientization” to the New Zealand dairy industry.

  18. 18.

    See Safi (2016) for a brief video on the blood in the streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh during Eid al-Adha. See Selby (2018) for responses of Muslim women and girls about the stigmatization of menstruation.

  19. 19.

    Like Pachirat (2011), Hamilton and Taylor (2013) for analysis on the discursive practices in slaughterhouses, for example, animals as “units” and their deaths as “processing” that aids “the ideological obfuscation of them [animals] as embodied subjects…Language is used here to sanitise and justify their deaths” (79).

  20. 20.

    In contrast to the U.S. animal agriculture companies who have pushed “ag-gag” laws to keep their work out of public view, Al Safa, a Canadian company that supplies frozen ḥalāl products to grocers, maintains an open-door policy allowing anyone to visit its facilities unannounced (ElBoghdady 2005).

  21. 21.

    The Honorable Sayyid Fadhlullah, December 1, 2001, cited in “Fatwas on Vegetarianism.”

  22. 22.

    One example emerges from Lara’s field research year in North Africa. On more than one occasion she was questioned for drinking water during a meal. At the home of a host family who invited her to dinner, the male head of household explained to her that drinking water while eating bread will expand the food in one’s stomach, causing weight gain. See, also, our earlier discussion of the use of Roman cisterns as trash receptacles.

  23. 23.

    Fatawā is the plural of fatwā, an Islamic religious ruling and a scholarly opinion on a matter of Islamic law. See Aljahli (2017).

  24. 24.

    See Bruce Feirstein’s Real Men Don’t Each Quiche. Published in 1982, this book was one of the first, albeit satirical, analyses of the gendered politics about consumption.

  25. 25.

    See, for instance, Dehghani Bidgoli (2019); El-Sayed and Galea (2009); Fischer (2010, 2011); Padela, Killawi, Forman, DeMonner, and Heisler (2012); Padela and Zaidi (2018).

  26. 26.

    See, for instance, Abiad and Meho (2018); Bahn, El Labban, and Hwalia (2019); Burlingame and Dernini (2011); Dehghani Bidgoli (2019); El Labban (2017); Elmi, Alomirah, and Al-Zenki (2016); Seed (2015).

  27. 27.

    In addition to the efforts of these NGOs, new university programs increase possibilities for enhancing health, wellbeing, and ecological sustainability in the MENA. These programs include the dual degree program in Biology and Environmental Science at Qatar University where students focus on biology-centered topics in environmental science such as biodiversity, remediation, environmental health, and toxicology (Potts 2011), and the first master’s degree in environmental journalism at l’Institut de Presse et des Sciences de l’Information (IPSI) at l’Université de la Manouba in Tunis, Tunisia. The latter is directed by Dr. Hamida El Bour, a feminist journalist/scholar who has been at the forefront of environmental advocacy in the nation and the region. See Cassara, Brendlinger, and Lengel (2008).

  28. 28.

    See, also, Trein (2017). For studies on affect and veganism, see, for instance, Fuller (2016).

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  1. University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Nora Abdul-Aziz

  2. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Daniella Fedak-Lengel & Lara Martin Lengel

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Abdul-Aziz, N., Fedak-Lengel, D., Lengel, L.M. (2021). Taking an Anti-Sacrificial Stance: The Essentializing Rhetoric and Affective Nature of Meat Consumption in Islam. In: Hanganu-Bresch, C., Kondrlik, K. (eds) Veg(etari)an Arguments in Culture, History, and Practice. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53280-2_2

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