Allah The Exalted says in the Holy Quran:
Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and
that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed
by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of
horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able
to] slaughter [before its death]... (Al Quran 5:3)
The
death of an animal before its slaughter could be due to its infliction with a
certain disease or virus. It could also
be due to old age. In truth, these two reasons
are sufficient to prohibit this type of meat.
In addition, when an animal is dead without being properly slaughtered
and allowing its blood to drain from the body, the blood becomes trapped in the
body. This is a serious problem because
blood carries body wastes including carbon dioxide, urea, uric acid,
microorganisms, parasites, and products of food assimilation and metabolism
that are transported via the veins and arteries and their tributaries in the animal’s
body. Most of these substances have a potential to rot and decay if trapped in
the body, especially if the body has been left for a period long enough to
allow the start of its decay. The body of a dead animal reserves blood with all
sediments and toxins, particularly which are in the arterial blood. Blood could
then prevail in the tissues and thus the toxins start to function in all body
cells; therefore, the dead body changes colour and the superficial veins are
filled with blood, and blood circulation stops with no chance of leaking any
amount of blood outside the body. The dead body becomes a spoilt deposit for
diseases and microbes. The work of decay then starts in the body, affecting the
meat in colour, taste and smell. That is why the meat of dead bodies is foul
and extremely unhealthy.
For these reasons, the wisdom and logic behind the divine
prohibition of carrion is evident.
