Tuesday, the all-Muslim City Council of the Detroit suburb Hamtramck decided to permit religious animal sacrifices on private land.

Since the elections of 2021, the council has consisted of three members of Yemeni ethnicity, two members of Bangladeshi descent, and one member of Eastern European background who converted to Islam.

The vote for permitting animal sacrifice was 3 to 2. According to the Detroit Free Press, Mayor Amer Ghalib, who is also a Muslim, cast an extra vote in favor of the motion.

Muslims butcher animals on the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha. A substantial percentage of Hamtramck’s population are Muslims.

According to the Associated Press, Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan section of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, framed animal sacrifice as no big deal saying it was “not something new or novel.”

“This is when Muslims recognize Abraham sacrificing a sheep instead of having to sacrifice his son,” Walid said.

City Attorney Odey Meroueh stated that if the council did not enact the bill, it would be on unstable legal basis.

“Animal sacrifice is allowed in every city of the state,” he said, according to the Detroit News.

According to him, a 1993 judgement by the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the capacity of local governments to prohibit animal sacrifice.

We thank the Hamtramck City Council for upholding the right of Muslims and people of other faith communities to conduct animal sacrifices. This is an important rite in many faiths and is protected by our first amendment. pic.twitter.com/O1HXVnYd4m

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) January 11, 2023

More on this story via The Western Journal:

Councilwoman Amanda Jaczkowski noted that there was a conflict between public opinion and the city attorney’s advice.

“Do we want to risk the city getting sued to respect the majority public opinion?” she said.

Some criticized the proposal. CONTINUE READING…