Ruling on working in a slaughterhouse in which the sheep are stunned with electric shocks, to be eaten by non-Muslims
Question

                As an official in an Islamic centre in Sardinia, Italy, I received the following question. Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good.

In this city there is a slaughterhouse of which the manager is a Muslim, and he has approximately twenty Italian non-Muslim workers. In this slaughterhouse, the sheep are slaughtered in a non-Islamic manner and are sold to non-Muslims. They are stunned with electricity, then the vein is cut, then they are skinned. But some Muslim brothers who want to seek work in this slaughterhouse are asking: is it permissible to work in this slaughterhouse? Is it permissible for them as Muslims to kill the sheep in this manner? Is it permissible to clean them after they have died? Is it permissible to carry them with their hands for shipping and to touch them? Is it permissible to clean the slaughterhouse from their blood? Is it permissible to pray in clothing contaminated with some of the blood of those sheep? Please advise us, may Allah reward you and benefit others by means of your knowledge, ameen.
Praise be to Allah.
    It is not permissible for a Muslim to work in a 
    slaughterhouse in which the sheep are killed by means of electric shock and 
    not slaughtered in the manner prescribed in sharee‘ah, for two reasons: 

    1.Because this work involves 
    helping in something haraam, which is eating dead meat (that which has not 
    been slaughtered in the prescribed manner). It is established in sharee‘ah 
    that the minor issues of sharee‘ah are also addressed to the kuffaar, so it 
    is haraam for them to eat dead meat just as it is haraam for the Muslims, 
    and it is not permissible to help them in that by slaughtering, carrying or 
    offering the meat.

    2.This is destruction of the 
    animal and a waste of its monetary value.

    Ash-Shaafa‘i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If we 
    besiege the mushrikeen and acquire their horses or livestock of any kind, or 
    any creatures belonging to them that it is permissible for Muslims to eat, 
    it is not permissible to stab any of them or kill them in any way except 
    slaughtering them (in the prescribed manner), as Abu Bakr said: “Do not kill 
    any sheep or camel unless it is to eat, and do not drown or burn any palm 
    tree.” I do not think that Abu Bakr went against the Qur’an and Sunnah with 
    regard to animate beings, and neither did any of his peers among the 
    Companions of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
    him), as far as I have learned. If the matter involved nothing more than 
    following the example of Abu Bakr, that would be sufficient evidence, 
    although the Sunnah supports what Abu Bakr said with regard to the livestock 
    among their property. 

    If someone were to ask what the Sunnah is, our response would 
    be that Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah told us, from ‘Amr ibn Dinar, from Suhayb, the 
    freed slave of Banu ‘Aamir, from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas, that the 
    Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever 
    kills a small bird or anything bigger unlawfully, Allah, may He be glorified 
    and exalted, will question him about his killing it.” It was said: O 
    Messenger of Allah, what is the legitimate reason (for doing so)? He said: 
    “He should slaughter it (in the prescribed manner) to eat it, and not cut 
    off its head.” 

    The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
    him) forbade masboorah (killing a captive animal for “sport”). I find that 
    Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has permitted killing animals that 
    may be eaten in one of two ways. One way is by slaughtering it in the 
    prescribed manner to be eaten, if one is able to catch it; the other way is 
    killing it with arrows, if one is not able to catch it. But I did not find 
    that He permitted killing it for no purpose. And in my opinion, killing it 
    for any other purpose is forbidden. 

    End quote from al-Umm, 4/258 

    The prohibition on masboorah means means capturing it and 
    killing it (for “sport”). Al-Bukhaari (5513) and Muslim (1956) narrated that 
    Hishaam ibn Zayd said: I entered, along with Anas ibn Maalik, the house of 
    al-Hakam ibn Ayyoob, and there were some boys or young men who had made a 
    hen a target and were shooting arrows at her. Anas said: The Messenger of 
    Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade taking animals as 
    targets. 

    Muslim (1959) narrated that Jaabir ibn ‘Abdillah said: The 
    Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade 
    capturing any animal for the purpose of killing it (for sport). 

    An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Messenger 
    of Allah blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade capturing any 
    animal for the purpose of killing it (for sport); according to another 
    report, he said: “Do not take any animate being as a target.” The scholars 
    said: This refers to detaining a live animal in order to kill it with arrows 
    and the like. This is what is meant by the words, “Do not take any animate 
    being as a target”. In other words: do not take any live animal as a target 
    to shoot at like a target made of leather and the like. This prohibition 
    means that it is haraam. Hence the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be 
    upon him) said, according to the report narrated by Ibn ‘Umar that follows 
    this report: “May Allah curse the one who does that.” And because this is 
    tormenting the animal and destroying it, and is a waste of its monetary its 
    value, and missing the opportunity to slaughter it in the prescribed manner, 
    if applicable, and is squandering its benefits if it is not an animal that 
    may be slaughtered for meat. End quote. 

    Killing animals by means of electric shocks, without 
    slaughtering them in the prescribed manner, is a waste of their value and 
    failing to slaughter them in the prescribed manner. So it is not permissible 
    to do that or to help others in doing it. 

    And Allah knows best.