How every animal at Zabeeha Farms is slaughtered — and the proof for each step from the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and fiqh.
At Zabeeha Farms, Zabeeha is not a label we buy — it is a method we keep, from the pasture to the knife. Below is exactly how we work, with the textual basis for each step so you can verify our practice against the Sharī'ah, not merely take our word for it.
The believer eats only what Allah has permitted, and over which His name has been pronounced.
"So eat of that over which the name of Allah has been pronounced, if you are believers in His signs."
Qur'an — al-An'ām 6:118"And do not eat of that over which the name of Allah has not been pronounced — indeed, it is grave disobedience."
Qur'an — al-An'ām 6:121"So eat of the lawful and good (ṭayyib) provision Allah has given you... He has only forbidden you carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, and what has been dedicated to other than Allah."
Qur'an — al-Naḥl 16:114–115"For every nation We appointed a rite [of sacrifice], that they may mention the name of Allah over the livestock He has provided them."
Qur'an — al-Ḥajj 22:34Allah forbade not only carrion and blood, but specifically the animal killed by strangling or by a blow — unless it is still alive and properly slaughtered. This single verse is the clearest reason a truly Zabeeha animal is never stunned to death.
"Forbidden to you are: carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, what has been dedicated to other than Allah, the animal killed by strangling, by a violent blow, by a headlong fall, by goring, and that which a wild beast has eaten — except what you are able to slaughter [while still alive]."
Qur'an — al-Mā'idah 5:3The point al-munkhaniqah (the strangled) and al-mawqūdhah (the struck/stunned to death) are forbidden. The exception is "illā mā dhakkaytum" — what you reach while it still has life and slaughter correctly. A stun that kills before the cut produces mawqūdhah. We therefore stun nothing: the animal is fully alive at the moment of the cut.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded kindness in the act itself — a sharp blade and the least possible distress to the animal.
"Verily Allah has prescribed iḥsān (excellence) in all things. So when you kill, kill well; and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each of you sharpen his blade and spare the animal he slaughters [suffering]."
عن شدّاد بن أوس رضي الله عنه · صحيح مسلم (١٩٥٥) — Shaddād ibn Aws · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1955From this, the scholars derived that the blade is sharpened away from the animal, and an animal is not slaughtered within sight of another.
Seeing a man sharpen his blade only after laying the sheep down, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Do you mean to kill it twice? Why did you not sharpen your blade before you laid it down?” — so the blade is honed out of the animal’s sight.
أخرجه الحاكم في المستدرك والبيهقي في السنن الكبرى — al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak & al-Bayhaqī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā (its meaning affirmed by Muslim 1955)"Indeed Allah is Good (ṭayyib) and accepts only what is good." — the meat we offer must itself be wholesome and lawfully raised.
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه · صحيح مسلم (١٠١٥) — Abū Hurayra · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1015“The Prophet ﷺ cursed anyone who takes a living creature as a target [for sport].” Cruelty to animals is forbidden — mercy frames the whole act of slaughter.
عن ابن عمر رضي الله عنهما · صحيح البخاري (٥٥١٥) وصحيح مسلم (١٩٥٨) — Ibn ʿUmar · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5515 & Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1958"Whatever causes the blood to flow, and the name of Allah has been pronounced over it — eat it; [provided the instrument is] not a tooth or a nail."
عن رافع بن خديج رضي الله عنه · صحيح البخاري (٥٤٩٨) — Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5498The Prophet ﷺ turned his sacrifice toward the qiblah and said, “I have turned my face to the One who created the heavens and the earth…” — the basis the jurists give for facing the qiblah at slaughter.
عن جابر بن عبد الله رضي الله عنه · سنن أبي داود (٢٧٩٥) وسنن ابن ماجه (٣١٢١) — Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh · Abū Dāwūd 2795 & Ibn Mājah 3121For Eid al-Adha the same method is kept, with the intention of drawing near to Allah. What He accepts is not the meat, but the taqwā behind it.
"Their meat will not reach Allah, nor their blood, but what reaches Him is the piety (taqwā) from you."
Qur'an — al-Ḥajj 22:37"So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]."
Qur'an — al-Kawthar 108:2"The Prophet ﷺ sacrificed two horned rams of black-and-white colour. He slaughtered them with his own hand, pronounced Allah's name, and said the takbīr."
عن أنس بن مالك رضي الله عنه · صحيح البخاري (٥٥٥٨) وصحيح مسلم (١٩٦٦) — Anas ibn Mālik · al-Bukhārī 5558 & Muslim 1966The Qur'an and Sunnah set the principles; the four schools — Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī — worked out the fine points. Here is where they agree, where they differ, and how Zabeeha is built to satisfy all four at once.
| The question | Ḥanafī | Mālikī | Shāfiʿī | Ḥanbalī |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What must be severed | Any three of the four: windpipe, gullet, the two jugulars | Windpipe + both jugulars | Windpipe + gullet (minimum) | Windpipe + gullet (minimum) |
| The Name of Allah (tasmiyah) | Condition — deliberate omission unlawful; forgetful is excused | Condition — deliberate omission unlawful; forgetful excused | Recommended (sunna) — lawful even if left | Condition — deliberate omission unlawful (strictest) |
| The instrument | Agreed: anything sharp that makes the blood flow — except a tooth, a nail, or a bone | |||
| Facing the Qiblah | Agreed: recommended (sunna), not a condition of validity | |||
| Stunning | Permitted only if it does not kill (reversible); an animal that dies from the stun is unlawful (mawqūdhah). Zabeeha never stuns — so the doubt never arises. | |||
Zabeeha’s single deep cut severs the windpipe, the gullet, and both jugulars together — meeting the strictest reading of every school — and the Name of Allah is pronounced over every animal.
Ḥanafī — al-Marghīnānī, al-Hidāyah (Kitāb al-Dhabāʾiḥ) · al-Kāsānī, Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ, vol. 5 · Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār ʿalā al-Durr al-Mukhtār, vol. 6.
Mālikī — Ibn Rushd, Bidāyat al-Mujtahid (Kitāb al-Dhabāʾiḥ) · al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr w/ Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī, vol. 2 · Mālik, al-Mudawwana al-Kubrā.
Shāfiʿī — al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab, vol. 9 · al-Shirbīnī, Mughnī al-Muḥtāj, vol. 4.
Ḥanbalī — Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Kitāb al-Dhabāʾiḥ) · al-Buhūtī, Kashshāf al-Qināʿ, vol. 6.
Comparative & contemporary — Wahbah al-Zuḥaylī, al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa-Adillatuh, vol. 4 · Islamic Fiqh Academy (Majmaʿ al-Fiqh al-Islāmī, Jeddah), resolutions on slaughter & stunning · European Council for Fatwa & Research, rulings on ḥalāl slaughter.
A wholesome animal, a Muslim hand, a sharp blade, the qiblah, the name of Allah over each one, a single living cut, full drainage of the blood, and mercy throughout — never stunned, truly Zabeeha. Each step is not our preference; it is what the Book and the Sunnah ask of us, and what we are honoured to keep on your behalf.