When killing an animal the butcher lays it on the ground with its
feet to the west and head stretched towards the north and then cuts
its throat saying:
In the name of God;
God is great.
This method of killing an animal is known as zibah. The Muhammadan
belief that an animal is not fit for food unless its throat has been
cut so that the blood flows on to the ground is thus explained in
Professor Robertson Smith's Religion of the Semites [334]: "In heathen
Canaan all the animals belonged to the god of the country; but it
was lawful to kill them if payment was made to the god by pouring
out their life or blood on the ground." The Arabs are of the same
Semitic stock, and this may be partly the underlying idea of their
rite of zibah. It seems doubtful, however, whether the explanation
suffices to explain its continuance for so long a period among
the Muhammadans who have long ceased to reverence any earth-deity,
and in a foreign country where the soil cannot be sacred to them;
and a short summary of Dr. Robertson Smith's luminous explanation
of the underlying principle of animal sacrifice in early times seems
requisite to its full understanding.