The Nutrition Ministry issued a decree banning the slaughter without anesthesia, although the Minister of Nutrition himself said that this method of slaughter has not been utilized for many years. This decision of prohibition raised the ire and concern of the Muslims in Denmark. Faced with this decision, we must proclaim the following:

This ban is a political decision, added to the previous resolutions that prevent the natural Muslim life by the Islamic values in the shade of the Danish secular system, despite the freedom of religion which it claims to protect.

For long, Muslims in Denmark have sensed an increasing political pressure and an atmosphere hostile to Islam. Halal slaughtering is demarked as an ill-treatment of animals, the dress of Muslim women is said to be a symbol of oppression and is even equalized to Nazi symbols, and the beard is an evidence of extremism, as stated in the Danish intelligence report. Also the mosques are under severe political pressure to adopt a form of speech that serves the Danish political agenda and are pushed to abandon the role they have been assigned by the Shari’a, which is to educate the Muslims in the provisions of their Deen. Similarly Islamic schools are not immune to these pressures, as they are forced to teach their Muslim students the secular values contrary to Islam. One of the teachers has been punished for his refusal to shake hands with female students. On top of all of this, Danish politicians under the pretext of combating social control are trying to limit the role of Muslim parents in the education and care of their children.

Oh Muslims in Denmark,

In view of these challenges, we should not lose sight of the fact that the preservation of our Islamic identity requires us to unite forces in order to receive our rights, and to confront the discriminatory policy which we are exposed to in various fields, especially the political and social ones. The submission and pragmatic approach by some, particularly standing out in election seasons, do not achieve any of the Muslims’ interests, as imagined by the owners of these approaches.

We should not, while exposed to the issue of slaughtering or the like of certain rights, forget that we are ambassadors of Islam in this country. We must carry out this role by demonstrating the greatness of this Deen and the elevation of its ideas and values, as well as the correctness of its systems and solutions. We must also demonstrate the falsehood of Western thinking and values:

وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

Who could say anything better than someone who summons to Allah and acts rightly and says, ‘I am one of the Muslims’?

(Fussilat: 33)

It is the idea of achieving our interests through flattery and the abandonment of some Islamic values that has to be slaughtered, with or without anesthesia.

وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ الذِّكْرَى تَنْفَعُ المُؤْمِنِينَ

And remind them, for truly the believers benefit from being reminded.

(Adh-Dhariyat: 55)

Hizb ut Tahrir Scandinavia

20/02/2014 CE 

20 Rabii’ II 1435 AH