AR-News: (U.S. - Va.) county orders end to lamb slaughter

[Mary Finelli]

PR. WILLIAM ORDERS END TO LAMBS' SLAUGHTER
Man Says County Failed to Tell Him of Permit Requirement Before Muslim 
Holiday
The Washington Post, Eric M. Weiss, February 4, 2004; Page B04

complete article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10857-2004Feb3.html


Prince William County officials have ordered a man who they say illegally 
slaughtered and sold about 100 lambs over the weekend near Haymarket to stop 
the operation or face criminal sanctions. Ahmed Rababeh said yesterday that 
the slaughter was an important part of celebrating the Islamic holiday of 
Eid-al-Adha, which commemorates sacrifice at the end of the annual 
pilgrimage to Mecca. The lambs were then sold to families to prepare for a 
traditional feast.

But neighbors of his property objected to what they considered a 
slaughterhouse. They complained that their horses were spooked by all the 
killing and the vultures it attracted and that roads were jammed with 
customers.

Rababeh said he was angry at what he described as cultural insensitivity 
that bordered on discrimination. He said no one complains when Christmas 
trees are sold at temporary locations during the holidays, or when fireworks 
are sold around the Fourth of July. "This is a very special holiday, and 
there is a big demand that we provide sheep for the Muslim community," he 
said. "We live in America. We respect the law and other religions, and we 
would like to be respected, too."

Dorothy Hulsey, who lives across the road, watched as dozens of customers 
arrived at the property.
"It might have been a religious holiday, but it was a money-making business 
there over the weekend," she said.

The lambs were slaughtered in Islamic halal fashion: their throats cut and 
their carcasses hung upside down, the blood collecting in a barrel. They 
were then skinned, gutted and sold whole to families.

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