Fatwa ID: 05012

Answered by: Maulana Naieem Mohammad

Question

At Poultry farms due to sicknesses or other causes mortality rate is high. Can these Chickens be donated (not sell) to a zoo or crocodile/animal farm as animal feed?

Burying them is not practical here because scavengers dig the pits and take them away for consumption.

Poultry farms have incinerators but difficult to operate because of the high volume of mortality

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Allah has given us the most beautiful way of life which is the deen that he has revealed to His Messenger s.a.w. and consuming Halaal food is part of our religion. The laws of the Shariah govern the races of men and Jinn because both are accountable for their deeds. Allah has not made any of the laws of Shariah compulsory upon animals. Therefore something which is Haraam for a human to practice will not be Haraam upon an animal.

In the natural world, predators and carnivores usually prey upon the weak, old, injured, or sick animals for their food source. Thus, feeding carcasses to animals is of no harm to them as some of these carnivores themselves also would scavenge off carcasses in the wild. This is the natural system that Allah has created in the world in which we live in.

Allah will judge your actions based upon your intentions, [1] thus if your intention is to donate towards the care of these animals by sending the carcasses to the farms then you will be rewarded accordingly through the mercy of Allah.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Naieem Mohammad

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

[1] Maqaasid Shariyya, pg 12