Latest News

Acclaimed Islamic leader issues fatwa to stop animal suffering

Dr. Mohamed Sayed Tantawy, the Grand Sheikh of one of the most respected Islamic Universities in the world, the Al Ahzar University in Cairo, has issued an important legal opinion (fatwa) about the long distance transportation of animals and slaughter.

The fatwa states about the transportation and slaughter of animals: “We hereby say that the call of Islam is to be lenient with the animal and to treat it with mercy, among which is transporting the animal” and “The Islamic law has made it a must that the animal would be treated at the time of its slaughter with lenience and by the means that guarantee treating it with mercy.”

Dr. Mohamed Sayed Tantawy’s opinion was prompted by a question from the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends (ESAF), a WSPA member society in Egypt, describing the suffering animals are forced to endure during long journeys and the torture they undergo in slaughterhouses all over the Middle East.

His opinion, if followed by those involved in this trade, could save the lives of thousands of sheep and cattle that die every year as a result of cruel long journeys from Australia and Brazil to several Middle Eastern countries.

WSPA International’s Long distance transport Programmes Manager, Sofia Parente, said: “Unfortunately the shortage of animals and the tradition of slaughtering animals locally during religious festivities in the Middle East have resulted in an increasing number of animals being transported into the region. The Handle with Care Coalition, spearheaded by WSPA, has always maintained that transporting animals long distances and slaughtering them under cruel conditions does not serve any religious purpose, and we are happy to say that this view is now supported by one of the most influential Islamic scholars in the world.”