Is it true that camels must be slaughtered while they are standing? Is it wrong to slaughter them in the usual way of laying them down on their side and so on? Is the standing method of slaughter only for camels? And if so, then why is that?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The Sunnah in slaughtering a camel is to slaughter it while its front left leg is tied and it is standing on the other three legs, as Abu Daawood narrated in his Sunan that the Prophet and his Companions used to slaughter camels while their left front leg was tied and they were standing on the other three legs.

An-Nawawi said in Sharh Muslim, “The scholars unanimously agreed that the Sunnah in slaughtering a camel is ‘Nahr’ (stabbing the neck and then making a horizontal cut).”

Slaughtering in this manner is particular to camels because it is easier to slaughter them in this way. Some scholars said that the giraffe is also to be slaughtered by Nahr if it is tamed, but if it is wild, then it is hunted like any other animal.

Nonetheless, if it is not possible to slaughter the camel while it is standing on its legs, then it becomes permissible to slaughter it while it is sitting on the ground, or in any other position that is easy to slaughter it in.

Ibn 'Uthaymeen, may Allaah have mercy upon, said, “The manner in slaughtering a camel is to slaughter it while tying its front left leg and leaving it standing on other three legs, but if it is difficult to slaughter it in this manner, then one may slaughter it while it is sitting on the ground... ”

According to the majority of the scholars, it is permissible to slaughter the camel by Thabh (horizontal cut, without stabbing first), because the purpose is to cut the pharynx and the jugular vein and to make the blood flow out of the body so that the meat would be good, and because both methods (Nahr and Thabh) are acceptable in slaughtering.

However, the Maaliki scholars held that it is not permissible to slaughter the camel by Thabh unless one is forced to do so.

Ibn Juzayy, from the Maaliki School of jurisprudence, said in Al-Qawaaneen Al-Fiqhiyyah, “If an animal that should be slaughtered by Thabh is slaughtered by Nahr, or vice versa, then its meat is not to be eaten (according to our Maaliki School of jurisprudence). It was also said that it is to be eaten in accordance with the Hanafi and Shaafi’i Schools of jurisprudence.”

Allah knows best.