Halal slaughter or the Islamic way of slaughter is one according to which it is mandatory to cut the throat, windpipe and at least one jugular vein while the animal is in complete senses. The term for this kind of slaughter is Dhakat.

Once the throat, windpipe and jugular veins are cut blood comes gushing out and the body undergoes violent convulsions while the animal with its spinal cord intact is alive.

Dhakat is under constant attack for its apparent cruelty to the animals. It is pitted against the modern techniques of animal slaughter in which the animals are rendered unconscious by either stunning or electrisation before slaughter. This is to ensure a painless procedure for the animal and the onlooker.

However a study at the University of Hannover in Germany came up with rather contrary and surprising results.

In the research study electrodes were surgically implanted in the animal skulls. Some of such animals in whose heads electrodes were planted were slaughtered in the Halal way or Dhakat. A sharp pointed object was used to cut the jugular throat, windpipe and jugular vein while the Spinal Cord was left intact. Another group of such electrode implanted animals were slaughtered in the modern technique. They were stunned by a captive bolt pistol before being slaughtered.

In both the cases reading conveyed through the electrodes were recorded and observed. In the first case where the animals were slaughtered by making a sharp cut in the throat, jugular vein and windpipe the animal convulsed violently but for the first three seconds there was no change in the EEG graph showing that the animal experienced no sense of pain for the first three seconds after the incision was made. In the following three seconds the animal underwent a deep sleep like unconsciousness due to draining of immense amount of blood from its body. After that the EEG recorded no reading which meant that there was no experience of pain at all while the heart beat was recorded and the body convulsion was vigorous. The researchers concluded that while the apparent gushing of blood and body convulsions conveys a sense of great pain to the animal in reality the animal experiences no pain at all. The brain is already dead due to stoppage of blood and oxygen to it.

In the second case where the animals were slaughtered using the modern technique of stunning the EEG reading indicated severe pain immediately after stunning. Moreover there are no convulsions in this technique which means that more blood will be retained in the meat lending it more unhygienic and smelly.

that the animal did not feel any pain when he goes to buy his cleanly wrapped parcel of meat from the supermarket. Islamic slaughter, on the other hand, does not try to deny that meat consumption means that animals have to die, but is designed to ensure that their loss of life is achieved with a minimum amount of pain.