Should we buy meat at halal shops?
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I never worry about halal. As long as it is humanely slaugthered, ie, not tormented while slaughtered. Also some thoughts should go to how these animals were treated in their life. I do avoid swine though. The ban on swine could probably be extenend to fatty foods in general, such as french fries (which I`m not so good at avoiding). And fasting may be seen as a way, of getting rid of excess fat aswell.
Nobody likes that animals are tormented, and nobody likes fat. Islam recognizes that.
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I am gonna tell you what the old sailors used to say
How do you navigate to Mecca?
Answ Follow the dead sheep
Before the halal slaughterhouses got established in meat producing countries like Australia and New Zeeland, they used to ship live animals to muslim countries. Because of the horrendous conditions many animals died on this trip. The crew dumped the carcasses overboard. So you had this trail of dead animals floating from the arab peninsula to the Malaccan strait. The animals suffered greatly. Thank God this has ceased.
With this little sailor story I want to say that not all meat is halal just because it is slaughtered according to the rules.
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Emil,
My family and I buy our halal meat from the Masjid, but not all the time. It is very expensive for me to feed a family of 5. I bought a few pounds of ground beef, some chicken and sheep and it was 65.00. I can't afford to always buy halal. I feel it is more important that I feed my family. We do not eat any pork, which happens to be cheat.. go figure!
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Salaam
I think you are not alone about pork, pork is cheap to produce compared to beef or lamb.
I dont know if you have already, but next time ask where the meat is coming from. It might not turn out to very halal if you incorporate how the animal was treated in the meaning. Where I live the halal market turned out to be second to the "green label" meat we can buy in the normal market. Not only that but it feels strange to eat processed food like turkey ham that has been shipped from far away when we can instead go down to the local butcher and buy the exact same product but where the meat comes from the farm next door.
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Peace Ervin,
I'll tell you this. I once went to a "halal" meat shop to look at some meat to buy. What I saw was a blade that was used to cut a variety of different meats, and traces of blood on the outside of packages, on the counter, and on the butcher. I didn't see hairnets, a change of gloves, nor any statements outlining how the animals were treated or killed.
Do you believe this meat is halal?
Personally, I buy from companies that have public statements outlining the good treatment of animals prior to the kill, the most painless kill methods, and ones that follow sanitation guidelines put forth by national organizations. They also have farms open for the public to see the animals. I say "Bismi Allahi alrahman alraheem" before eating them, and feel it is completely halal.
May peace be with you.