Inside Saudi slaughter house

It was a sunny Tuesday in Mina, Saudi Arabia where most of the Hajj rites are conducted. It was under a blistering sun at over forty degrees Celsius when a team of officials from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), as well as some states pilgrims’ welfare boards visited the Mina Slaughter House which […]

It was a sunny Tuesday in Mina, Saudi Arabia where most of the Hajj rites are conducted. It was under a blistering sun at over forty degrees Celsius when a team of officials from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), as well as some states pilgrims’ welfare boards visited the Mina Slaughter House which is a  three kilometer walk from the NAHCON tent in the area. 
The team representing the over 70,000 pilgrims who performed the 2016 Hajj from Nigeria, was on a mission to see how the money paid by some of the pilgrims had been spent. Ordinarily, many pilgrims who paid for rams, sheep or any other sacrificial animal would have overlooked the part of the sacrifice, taking it as a trust handed over to the Saudi authorities. The visit of the team further confirmed that the trust bestowed on the authorities has been religiously discharged. 
Sauntering into the expansive premises, what obviously comes to mind was going into a big warehouse, but this was Mina Slaughter house in Saudi Arabia which is probably the largest abattoir in the world, going by the hundreds of thousands of animals slaughtered in the warehouse in a few days. 
At least 1.8m pilgrims performed the pilgrimage rites this year with each of them required to slaughter an animal as part of the Hajj rites. However, almost half of these animals were slaughtered in the Mina abattoir, as there are many other abattoirs serving the same purpose in Saudi Arabia. 
But the bulk of the animals were handled at the Mina Slaughter House which is a Saudi Arabia Project for the Utilization of Hajj Meat, managed by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), “a development organization providing Shari’ah-compatible funding and technical assistance to the Islamic world.” It was learnt that Jaiz bank, its sister in Nigeria,  collected the money for the Adha (sacrificial animals) on behalf of some states pilgrims and handed it over to IDB. 
Why Mina House?   
The Mina Slaughter House was a child of necessity and a project targeted at not only helping the less privileged, the needy and the famished around the globe, but one that is aimed at achieving a healthy environment in Saudi Arabia. As Muslims all over the world throng Saudi annually for the pilgrimage exercise, the fifth pillar of Islam, which is done at the prescribed times of Dhul Hija (the 12th month of  the Islamic calendar), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was faced with the challenge of managing the ever increasing crowd of over two million  million pilgrims flocking to the holy land to perform the pilgrimage exercise. 
The experience in the past has been that given the large number of pilgrims performing the exercise, with most of them slaughtering the sacrificial animals, a large percentage of the slaughtered animals got wasted, and eventually became pollutants to the environment. Hence, the authorities came up with the idea of the slaughter house which is like a one-stop arena for the slaughtering and butchering of the sacrificial animals. Besides, the project helps in sending the processed meat to the needy, unlike many years past when the meat was being consumed by the pilgrims themselves, having come to the holy land exhausted by the journey either on ships or by road.

So basically the problem of utilizing the Hajj meat gave birth to the slaughter house according to an IDB document obtained by Daily Trust. The document, a comprehensive report on the Saudi Project for the Utilization of Hajj, spells out the objectives, the challenges of slaughtering large herds of sheep and its environmental impact in a fast growing country like Saudi.       
The report read in part: “The huge investment in infrastructure in the holy land, developing modern roads and means of transportation, has increased the number of pilgrims coming to this Holy Land year after year. One would realize the increasing number of pilgrims coming to the country in the last few decades under circumstances that are totally different from those prevailing many years ago… 
“A quick look at the increasing number of pilgrims in recent years as a result of modern and fast means of transportation shows that they reached more than (2) million pilgrims from various parts of the world. Most of them spend a very limited period of time before and after the Hajj season. Then they go back to their countries by their means of transport. That is after they’ve completed their pilgrimage, gave charity, and offered their Adahi (sacrifice). 
“This led to an increase in the number of Hadi and Adahi and the accumulation of large heaps upon heaps of unutilized meat, a matter which necessitated getting rid of such heaps by the authorities, either by burying or cremation of unconsumed carcasses to protect the health of pilgrims, citizens and expatriates, as well as to protect the environment. Millions of Saudi Riyals were spent to get rid of carcasses left by pilgrims.”
This however gave birth to the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Project for Utilization of Hajj Meat in 1983, which management was transferred to IDB. By Royal Decree, IDB also has the sole exclusive right to sell all types of Adahi coupons. These coupons can be purchased by individuals or Hajj missions, or through registered and reliable sellers at numerous points of sale in the holy places. A special Adahi team follows up the performance of the rituals for every purchased coupon within the expected Shari’a compatible time, and the coupon owner is informed about the issue via SMS or email.  
The objectives include among others to: “Ensure that all animals meet all Shari’ah and health requirements and that their meat is fit for human consumption; Utilize the meat of animals by distributing it to the poor and the needy around the Holy Haram, with excess meat distributed in (27) countries in an effort to alleviate poverty in those countries.
“Take all technical, administrative and financial procedures necessary to achieve full utilization of the meat through the processes of hygiene, refrigeration, freezing, preservation, packaging, and transportation to ensure that the meats reach the poor and needy while it is still fit for human consumption; Expand the scope of beneficiaries’ base to include the poor and the needy in Makkah and other Muslim countries, to achieve greater and wider solidarity among Muslims.”
It was learnt that the 2016 project utilized over 712,000 herds of sheep and over 370 cows. The minimum paid by each of the pilgrims for a sheep, was 450 Riyadh which is about US$120. The slaughter house has two sections where the animals are slaughtered, butchered and processed. Each of the sections has about 10 slaughtering points. Inside the house were also the  Meat Distribution Areas, where pilgrims who bought coupons could go to claim part of the meat. Many pilgrims from Nigeria  were seen going there to claim part of the meat.  
Also around 40,000 people work in the Saudi Project including highly qualified Shariah scholars and veterinary doctors, who vet all the animals on display, to ensure that all Shariah and health requirements are met before the ritual is performed. 
The slaughter house was a beehive of activities when our correspondent visited, as the  personnel of the abattoir were seen slaughtering the animals, after pronouncing the name of the Almighty as stipulated in Islam, while others process the animals. Hundreds of slaughtered animals were spread on the floor. There is a separate room where live animals to be slaughtered are kept, as they are being brought out one after the other for slaughtering. Unlike an average dirty and unkempt environment used as abattoirs in some other climes, the Mina slaughter house is not only well maintained and sustained with good hygienic practices, the slaughterers are well dressed and good looking. Besides, there are state of the art facilities inside the house which are used to process the meat, before it is sent into waiting vans belonging to the Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim Foundation. An official of the project, Walid Mohammed disclosed that over 400,000 herds were slaughtered in one day.     
President of IDB, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali who hosted some media men covering the 2016 Hajj, emphasized that during its 34 years of service, the project has facilitated the performance of Hajj rites for pilgrims, by saving them the burden of finding livestock that meets all Shari’a and health standards.
Prior to entering the facilities, animals are screened by 670 veterinarians and 700 Sharia scholars to ensure full compliance of the processes with the required standards, he said.
According to him, Adahi distributes the utilized Hajj meat among the needy in the  Holy Mosque and adjacent areas, as well as in other parts in the Kingdom through charity organizations, while the excess meat is distributed among needy people in 23 countries around the world.
Ali expressed gratitude and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Crown Prince and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their valuable support for IDB and the Adahi Project, in facilitating the performance of the sacred Hajj rituals.
The NAHCON officials and state pilgrims’ board officials who were in the team, expressed satisfaction with the Adha project. Abubakar Zakir Bashiri Chairman, Tambuwal Local Government of Sokoto State and Chairman, Committee on the Adha project said, “There is no doubt that Jaiz has slaughtered the exact number of rams that were bought by Sokoto State pilgrims. So as far as we are concerned now, we are satisfied with the performance of IDB and in collaboration with Jaiz Bank. We are very grateful to Jaiz Bank and of course the IDB ,who have taken their time in spite of their commitments to supervise the slaughtering of pilgrims’ rams.” 
Also speaking, Musa Bayero, a Board member of Bauchi Muslim Pilgrims’ Welfare Board, said pilgrims have no fear whatsoever about whether their sacrificial animals have been slaughtered going by the confirmation of the team, adding, “We have been able to interact with the representatives of the IDB in the slaughter house. So far they have slaughtered over 400,000 animals and they are still slaughtering more. They have also spread cold rooms in Makkah ,where they are going to introduce some of us to get survey of this meat which we can use within Makkah. We are expected to have this sample, so that even our pilgrims who paid here can benefit from what is being slaughtered.”