Green Zabiha provides organic, halal, and spiritually nourishing meat – and not just to Muslims

Ever
wonder about the meat you eat? Was the animal treated humanely? Was it
fed all sorts of harmful substances? Was it harvested according to
Islamic principles?

God (swt) has also told us to eat of the good things that He has provided and be grateful for our blessings:

O
you who attained to faith! Partake of the good things which We have
provided for you as sustenance, and render thanks unto God, if it is
[truly] Him that you worship. (The Message of The Qur’an, 2:172)

In
many non-Muslim areas it is relatively easy to find meat that has been
killed according to Islamic tradition. Organic meat can also be found.
Finding meat which is both halal and organic presents a far greater
challenge.

Fortunately, Green Zabiha to the rescue!

Green
Zabiha provides grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured poultry and goat. All
of the animals are raised without hormones, antibiotics, or chemicals.
The feed contains no animal byproducts (e.g., blood, pork, bones,
rendered protein), GMOs (genetically modified organisms), pesticides or
herbicides. The animals live outdoors, as intended.

Co-founder
Karima Shamma started Green Zabiha many years ago with a personal quest
to provide pure, clean, halal meat to her family. As she learned more
about the meat industry, the more concerned she became. She wanted to
know that the meat she ate did not come from animals who had been fed
carcinogens and animal byproducts or had been subjected to the cruel
treatment of modern factory farm methods. She was also concerned with
the impact industry farming had on the environment. Spiritual
implications were paramount:

There was
time when the raising, harvesting, cooking, and eating of food was
infused with a deep consciousness, and we seek to remind ourselves that
food is not simply nutrition, but the most intimate way we interact
with our world. Restoring sacredness to food is restoring sacredness to
our own bodies and souls, and creation as a whole. By striving to eat
food that nourishes our body and spirit, we hope to attain a level of
consciousness that allows us to develop a relationship with our food,
our Creator and ourselves where we truly experience ‘A Blessing In
Every Bite’.

Initially Karima provided meat to her family and
then to friends. Soon the demand encouraged her to start a business.
The name Green Zabiha was chosen for several reasons:

The
meat we provide is far more than just ‘organic’, and though there are
different terms used by some, including ‘beyond organic’, ‘clean’, we
decided to go with ‘green’ because the color signifies natural and
holistic. In a somewhat similar vein, we went with Zabiha, instead of
the term halal, because we wanted to make sure consumers knew our
products are hand harvested by Muslims. Also we liked having a name
with a ‘z’, since it is more unique and memorable.

The owners
carefully choose their meat suppliers and look for “farmers who share
our ideals and principles, and heal the earth through sustainable
practices.” They form close partnerships with the farmers, insuring
that no animal is purchased from an auction or stockyard and that the
animals go straight from the farm to harvest.

The Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, stated:

Allaah
has decreed excellence (al-ihsan) for everything, so when you kill,
then do the killing excellently well, and when you slaughter then
perform the slaughter excellently well, and let any of you sharpen his
knife and let him put the animal at ease. (Muslim)

One of Green Zabiha’s suppliers is Polyface Inc.
perhaps the most famous organic/pastured/ biodynamic farm in the United
States. It has been highlighted in the New York Times best selling book
The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the documentary Food, Inc. (trailer below).

In addition to meat, Green Zabiha sells prepared products, including beef jerky, corned beef brisket, hot dogs, and sausage—none of which have MSG, sodium nitrates, or any additives.

Their customers are not only Muslims:

Green
Zabiha customers are first and foremost folks who are very conscious of
their food choices, regardless of religious tradition. We have been
very excited to see that they are from a wide spectrum of people, from
‘conservative’ to ‘progressive’, inner city to suburbs, White, Black,
immigrant, young and old. Also, they are CEOs of multimillion dollar
firms and bus drivers. The thread that links us all is that we seek to
nourish our body and spirit.

When asked by Examiner.com
whether the business might expand to allow Muslims to sacrifice animals
themselves for Eid al-Adha, Karima replied, “We hope to be in a
situation to offer such a service, stay tuned!”

We will! And may
your efforts to make available healthy, halal, and spiritually
nourishing meat be rewarded both in this life and the Hereafter.