A ll animals
killed for
food, except
fifh and lo-
cufts, mull be
flain by Zah-
bah.
H E D A
B O O K XLII.
O f Z A B B A H , or the Slaying o f Animals fo r Food*.
AL L animals, the flefli of which is eatable, except fifh and lo-
cufts, are unlawful, unlefs they be flain by Zabbah:— but when
flain by Zabbah they are lawful, as by means o f Zabbah the unclean
blood is feparated from the clean flefli,— whence it is that all animals
not eatable, (fuch as rats, dogs, or cats,) are rendered clean f by
Zabbah, excepting only hogs and men.
* T h e Arabic lexicographers define Zabbah to fignify, in its literal fenfe, th e a£l o f culling
the throat-, in the language o f the l a w it denotes the a£t o f flaying an animal agreeably
to the preferibed forms, without which it is not confidered as eatable.
.j. T h a t is to fay, their flefli may be ufed in medical compofitions j but ftill it cannot be
eaten as ordinary food.
Z a b b a h
Z a b b a h is of two kinds;— I. Jkhtiaree, or o f choice, (that is, vo- ZMat is of
luntary, or at pleafure,) which is effedted by cutting the throat above *™rr,lnand^
the breaft;— and II. Iztirdree, or rfnecejjity, (that is, at random, from ’““JP'y•
necefity,) which may be effedled by a wound on any part of the animal’s
body.— T h e latter kind, however, is merely a fubftitute for the
former, and accordingly is not of any account unlefs. the former be
impracticable, as the former is,more effectual in extracting the blood:
but the latter fuffices where the other is impracticable; as mankind are
required to adt only according to their ability.
I t is one o f the laws o f Zabbah that the perfon who performs it It mull: he
be either a Mujfulman or a Kitdbee.— T h e Zabbah o f a Mujfulman is p
therefore lawful; and fo alfo the Zabbah of a Kitdbee, although he or o. Kitdbee
Ihould not be a fubjedt o f a Mujfulman Hate,— provided, however, that
it be done in the name of G o d , for in the K o r a n we find thefe
words* “ t h e v i c t u a l s o f Kit&bees a r e l a w f u l t o y o u . ”
T he Zabbah is lawful provided the flayer be. acquainted with the (provided he-
form of the Eafmeea, or invocation in the name of G od, the nature acquaimed
o f Zabbah, and the method of cutting the veins of the animal; with the form
and it fignjfies not whether the perfon.be a-man or a woman, an infant tion,) whe-
or an ideot, a circumcifed perfon or an ztvzcircumcifed. WSKKBa
or ideot.
A n animal flain,by a Magian is unlawful;, becaufe the prophet has it cannot be
laid, “ Ye may deal with them, as w ell as with K it a b e e s ; but ye pel?™edby
- »• . . “/ a Magian,
mujt not marry their women, nor eat o f animals fain-by themy*— and
alfo, becaufe a Magian is a. polytheift, and does not acknowledge the
unity of G od.
T he Zabbah performed by an apaftatehs unlawful; becaufe he is an „.„flat,,
not permitted to continue in the faith to which he has turned, but
mull rather fuffer death.— It is otherwife with refpeft to a Kitdbee-,
for if he change his religion, he is permitted (according to our dodtors)
7 to