14 DAY TRIAL // By now, it is no news that members and supporters of Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers are not exactly the best of friends. However, what might surprise folks are the reasons behind the latest clash between the organization and Japan's whaling industry.
Thus, it looks like Sea Shepherd is terribly upset about the fact that, in an attempt to stay afloat, the Japanese whaling industry has tried to convince more people to eat whale meat by saying that, under Islamic law, there is nothing wrong with feasting on marine mammals.
Writing on the organization's website, Sea Shepherd France President Lamya Essemlali, who was raised in a Muslim family, explains that labeling whale meat as halal, i.e. something approved by Islamic law to eat, is nothing but a “trickery” of the “demonic whaling industry.”
More precisely, the vegan conservationist argues that, contrary to what Japanese whalers would have people – especially the 100,000 Muslims who currently live in Japan – believe, the marine mammals slaughters that occur on a yearly basis do not abide by Muslim law.
Lamya Essemlali explains that, in order for meat to be considered halal under Islamic law, people who are in the business of killing animal must respect very strict rules when doing their job. The conservationist claims that, contrary to a certificate that attests otherwise, Japanese whalers abide by no such rules.
The Sea Shepherd members say that, first off, whales are currently an endangered species, which means that they cannot be hunted. Besides, these marine mammals are not killed in the blink of an eye, but instead experience a slow and agonizing death at the hands – better said, harpoons and riffles – of Japanese whalers.
What's more, the whales are not killed in the direction of Mecca, simply because handling these marine mammals and forcing them to assume a certain position is not a very easy thing to do. “Whales have not proven to be very cooperative in positioning themselves in the direction of Mecca in order to be slaughtered,” the conservationist jokes.
Lamya Essemlali goes on to argue that, although they claim otherwise, Japanese whalers do kill pregnant whales, and odds are nobody ever bothers to invoke either Allah or the prophet Mohammed before taking the life of a marine mammal that chances to cross paths with the Japanese whaling fleet.
“Claiming that the floating slaughterhouse, the Nisshin Maru, has been granted with a halal certificate, making it lawful for Muslims to eat whale meat that results from the horrible agony of animals belonging to an endangered species, just emphasizes once again how immoral and despicable the whaling industry is,” Sea Shepherd France President Lamya Essemlali writes.
“Truth is, if the rules of Islam regarding the treatment of animals were followed, millions of Muslims would immediately turn vegetarian as neither whale meat nor any sort of industrial meat can ever be halal. Calling those meats halal is shameful heresy,” the conservationist further stresses.