Magfirah Dahlan’s Sacred Rituals and Humane Death joins the debate over the question of killing for food in Islam, but instead of repeating the rehearsed question of whether it is possible to build a case for vegetarianism on Islamic grounds, she analyzes and critically assesses the very processes that have led to this question. Paradoxically, these processes—she demonstrates—are rooted in the same civilizing narrative that gave rise to the postdomestic era, with its concealment of animal pain and distancing between humans and other animals. Approaching the subject from this fresh angle, Dahlan’s eye-opening insights enrich the field of animal ethics in Islam and beyond.

Sarra Tlili, University of Florida

Dahlan contests the commodification that impels secular meat consumption as well as the assumption that halal status depends on the slaughter method alone. She challenges her fellow Muslims to take farm animal diets, housing and flourishing just as seriously while also calling into question the poor animal welfare in so much modern farming. This book launches a two-way critical dialogue that must continue.

David Grumett, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics, University of Edinburgh