We were recently lucky enough to get a chance to see A Son's Sacrifice, a new documentary directed by Yoni Brook and produced by Musa Syeed. The film follows Imran, a first generation American Muslim, as he takes a leadership role in the family's business: a Halal butcher shop. Unlike other butchers, because Imran's is Halal, he keeps live animals at his shop. The traditional slaughter is performed at the shop itself, by Imran and his employees, after a customer has selected which animal they'd like. The film itself is incredible. Its story centers on Imran's struggle to be accepted into the Muslim community during Eid ul-Adha, not only the holiest day of the Islamic year, but also Imran's busiest. The camera is fixed on Imran as he tries to organize the flocks of people at his store, all of whom are vying for what will become their Qurbani feast. Imran's composure is impressive, as he wrangles the crowds and, at one point, begins performing the slaughter himself.
You can view the website for the film here, which includes upcoming screening information, and we would definitely recommend seeing it if you get a chance. But for as good as the film is, we found ourselves wanting to know more about Halal butchers in general, which is something that the film itself touches on only briefly. We were happy to learn, then, that Imran's store is in Ozone Park, Queens. We were even more surprised that there's a newly opened Halal butcher in Brooklyn, about a 15 minute walk from Ian's apartment (like, 20 from Alan's). Needless to say, we're intrigued, and starting to get hungry. In a city filled with aisles of industrially processed meat, the idea of fresh—really fresh—killed chicken and goat is something we don't feel we can pass on. We're headed to Ozone Park. Update: Evidently, we weren't on the mark with our understanding of the butcher. The film's director, Yoni Brook, sent us the following email, which is much more accurate:
…the sentence "Unlike other butchers, because Imran's is Halal, he keeps live animals at his shop." isn't quite accurate. Keeping live animals at the shop has no relation to whether the animal is considered halal or not. In fact, there are quite a few storefront slaughterhouses in NYC run by Jews, Chinese, and Mexicans where the animals are not Halal. Basically the animals are slaughtered on the spot because they're fresher and customers can ensure that the animal was slaughtered in accordance with their religious practices (they pay a premium to do so, as trucking in animals is pretty expensive). I believe live slaughterhouses are making a comeback because immigrants want to show their children this unique cultural/religious practice of their homelands. Thanks again! Yoni
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