❖ Ruling on Slaughtering a Chicken After Its Head Is Severed
Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, Vol. 1, Page 610
❖ Question:
What is the ruling of the esteemed scholars regarding this situation:
A chicken was run over by a bus and its head was severed, yet some signs of life remained. Before it died completely, it was slaughtered from the neck. In this case, is that chicken ḥalāl (permissible) or ḥarām (forbidden)? Kindly clarify and you shall be rewarded.
❖ Answer:
Alḥamdulillāh, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allāh. To proceed:
✿ Observation and Experience:
① It is well-established through experience and observation that the life of a living being is connected to its head.
② If the head remains intact, the creature is considered alive.
③ If the head is detached, the body is considered lifeless and dead.
✿ Confirmation from Modern Science:
④ Today’s modern science has also affirmed this fact.
⑤ A clear example of this is heart surgery and heart transplantation, where a person can survive even with a replaced heart.
⑥ However, there is no recorded case of any creature surviving after its head has been separated from its body.
✿ Conclusion:
⑦ It is thus evident that the head is the boundary line between life and death.
⑧ If the head is intact and connected to the body, the creature is alive.
⑨ But once the head is severed, the creature is deemed dead.
✿ Specific Case of the Chicken:
⑩ The chicken whose head was severed by the bus became dead at that very moment.
⑪ Hence, slaughtering it afterward was completely futile and a meaningless effort.
⑫ Such a chicken is ḥarām.
ھٰذَا مَا عِندِي، وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I understand of the matter, and Allah knows best what is correct.
