A large quota of people look forward to Eid mostly in excitement over meat from the rams which will be slaughtered on that day. It is necessary we learn the proper method of slaughtering Sallah ram as halal, so that the sacrifice made would be accepted by Allah. 

We must recall that this celebration is in honour of the sacrifice Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) made when he obeyed God’s commandment to give his son as offering, and ultimately, God’s eventual replacement of Ishaq (Isaac) with a ram for the prophet to slaughter in his stead.

Due to recent observations of how rams are being slaughtered in some parts today, especially Lagos, it has become important that the existence of stipulated guideline for animal slaughter in Islam be highlighted.

To begin with, due to the Lagos economy, and the hustling nature of its inhabitants, a majority may find ad libitum feeding of an animal which will soon be slaughtered as a pointless and indeed wasteful engagement, as it is not as if the animal will grow a bit more before slaughter, and neither would it significantly lose weight over a few days of malnutrition. This perception is very wrong on two fronts.


From an Islamic point of view, any animal that is starved before being slaughtered is automatically Haram (forbidden), and also from a nutritional point of view, any animal which does not have adequate glucose in its body before slaughter will not produce soft, nutritious meat.

Animals to be slaughtered for consumption by Muslims must not be maltreated in any form, made mockery, of, or have injuries on them. In order words, unnecessary whipping, riding, painful tying and especially ram fighting is forbidden. In fact, those who use their rams to fight are probably worshiping some other deity, but definitely not Allah.


Slaughtering must be performed manually by a mature Muslim who fully understands the fundamentals and conditions relating to slaughtering according to the Shari’ah, and at the time of slaughtering the name of Allah must be invoked by saying: “Bismillah – Allahu Akbar“.

If for some reason, the name or names of someone other than Allah is invoked at the time of slaughtering, the meat becomes Haram. If by mistake, the slaughterer forgets to invoke the name of Allah at the time of slaughtering, the meat will remain Halal. If however, the slaughterer knowingly skips the name of Allah at the time of slaughtering, the meat becomes Haram.





The ram should be properly restrained using ropes and also the hands, which means an assistant will be required. The knife to be used in slaughtering it should be twice as long as the width of the ram’s neck  and very sharp, and should be used to cut through the windpipe, food-tract and two jugular veins, preferably in one stroke.

The neck of the animal should not be disjointed during slaughtering intentionally, even the knife should not go deep into the spinal marrow. The blood of the slaughtered animal must be drained as completely as possible. Slaughtering from the back of the neck is not allowed in Islam.

Please do not behead your ram in this manner during slaughter, and especially refrain from taking pleasure in sharing photographs of mutilated animals with friends and relative. Thank you. Now, for the location of Sallah meat, tweet at me (@Bar_Baric). Happy Sallah!


SOURCE: http://www.barbaric.com.ng/proper-method-slaughtering-sallah-ram