Lutfi and Ruby Ridwan’s Halal Organic Farm

There is pressing debate going on in the Muslim world in the moment – well, one of the more interesting ones, at least. It’s about what really constitutes ‘halal’ food; much of what is sold as such is actually the worst kind of battery farmed chicken, pumped with hormones (even porcine ones) and water to plump them up, antibiotics to keep them vaguely healthy despite the horrific conditions they have to live in….and then slaughtered en masse in machine-driven abbatoir with a tape of Qur’an playing in the background. Hardly what I’d call a religious ritual, unless the religion is capitalism.

On the other hand, the recommendations surrounding the food we eat, from an Islamic perspective, go way beyond just slitting an animal’s throat. Animals, fish, plants and every living creature falls under the khulafa (or custodianship) of human beings; therefore, we not only have to care for these creatures, but also the soil, air and water that keeps them and us alive. Animals in particular should not see or even hear other animals being slaughtered, or even hear the knife being sharpened; they need to be especially pampered for the last few days of their lives, and the knife must be so sharp they do not feel the incision.

With regard to horticulture, so much imagery about gardens and orchards abound in the Qur’an that it really makes you want to get your wellies on and go gardening. The astonishing feat that nature performs every day, every minute, infinitessimal shreds of matter bursting into life and creating not only food, medicine, fibres, oil and dozens of other things, but also hundreds of other seeds to do the same all over again, is really enough to give you some kind of green-thumbed epiphany.

I watched this video and remembered why I am living in the sticks!