Title: Slaughtering an Animal Without taking God's Name Question: I am a new convert to Islam, living in the US. Over here, the meat available normally is not slaughtered by taking Gods name. Although, the animal is not slaughtered by taking any other's name ( ghair-Allah ) either. What if we cannot get meat, which is properly slaughtered? I have heard that jews slaughter the animal by taking the name of God - 'kosher'. Is that allowed? Answer: The Qur'an has prohibited eating the meat of animals slaughtered in the name of other gods besides God ( Al-Maidah 5: 3) and also of those animals which are slaughtered without mentioning God's name ( Al-An`a'm 6: 121). As far as the method of slaughtering is concerned, according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), the prescribed method is by severing/cutting the jugular vein of the animal, without disconnecting the spinal marrow. In this way, the slaughtered animal does not immediately die and wriggles and tosses for a few minutes, which drains most of the blood from its body. Although any other method, which drains most of the blood from the animal's body may be adopted, but, according to my knowledge, other methods prolong the draining process and because of that the animal goes through prolonged pain. The Jews are known to slaughter animals according to the same principle and by mentioning God's name on it. Under these circumstances, especially when the Qur'an has also clearly allowed the Muslims to eat the food of the people of the book ( Al-Maidah 5: 4), there is no reason why Muslims should not consider the meat slaughtered by the Jews to be allowed for them. 17 th February 1999