Muslim-majority Michigan city votes to allow animal sacrifices

Muslim-majority Michigan city votes to allow animal sacrifices

The City Council of Hamtramck, Michigan voted 3-2 in favor of allowing residents to sacrifice animals at home for religious purposes. The matter had been voted on last month at which time the city council kept a ban against the practice in place. The issue was voted on again after objections from resident Muslims, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The council members are all Muslims. Mayor Amer Ghalib cast an additional vote in favor making it 4-2. After the vote to approve, applause broke out from members of the public, who packed the meeting to speak out before the vote.

“If somebody wants to do it, they have a right to do their practice,” Council Member Mohammed Hassan said.

Qurbanī, as referred to in Islamic law, is a ritual animal sacrifice of a livestock animal during Eid al-Adha, the second and the larger of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam honoring the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismail. The meat from the sacrificed animal is preferred to be divided into three parts. The family retains one-third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends, and neighbors; and the remaining third is given to the poor and needy.

Hamtramck residents will be required to notify the city in advance of the animal sacrifice, pay a fee, and make their property available for inspection. The Detroit Free Press reported that the changes approved by the council include:

• A sentence was added to a section prohibiting local ownership of various animals such as cows, sheep and goats that reads: “This section does not apply for temporary religious sacrificial purposes as permitted by law.”
• A new section was added that is titled “Religious Animal Sacrifice.” It says that the other parts of the ordinance, which prohibit animal cruelty, can’t be used to “hinder the religious freedom of any person or group.” It also says animals slaughtered must be killed in a humane way, whether by mechanical or electrical means; or by means often used in kosher and halal practices, “whereby the animal suffers loss of consciousness by anemia of the brain caused by the simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument. ”
•   Residents doing animal sacrifices need to “dispose of all waste in accordance with local, state, and federal law.”
• Any and all actions necessary to restrict the act of sacrifice from public viewing must be taken without exception. 

Advocates cited constitutionally protected religious freedom as the basis for permitting the practice. In the United States, animal sacrifice is protected under the First Amendment as a form of religious expression. This means that, even though animal cruelty laws exist, religious groups are exempt from them when it comes to animal sacrifice.

“Do we want to risk the city getting sued?” Councilwoman Amanda Jaczkowski (D.) said at the meeting.

Residents also voted against the flying of an LGBT pride flag on city property, calling it offensive to their religion at the Tuesday meeting.

Hamtramck has a population of 28,000. About 30% to 38% of Hamtramck’s residents are of Yemeni descent, and 24% are of Asian descent, largely Bangladeshi, according to 2020 census data. A majority of the two groups are believed to be Muslim. Last year, Hamtramck became the first city in which Muslims make up the entire elected city council. Also, Ghalib became the first Muslim mayor of Hamtramck, which previously had only Polish American mayors in its history.

Animal rights groups have come out against the practice. PETA spokesperson Ashley Byrne addressed the issue on “Jesse Watters Primetime“. 

“[The Constitution] does [protect religious freedom],” Byrne said. “But animal sacrifice should be a thing of the past because it’s cruelty to animals, plain and simple.”

“We see ritual slaughter in many different places in the country, but we also see people working to find alternate traditions, like some Santería priests use red wine instead of animal blood now,” she said. “There are rabbis who encourage their orthodox followers to use money instead of chickens in Kaporos rituals.”

Kaporos is not a sacrifice but merely a tradition practiced by a few Haredi sects. Though animal sacrifices are a significant part of the Torah observance, Jews are only permitted to perform sacrifices on the Temple Mount.

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