Quick answer Hand Zabiha Halal means each animal is slaughtered by hand, one at a time, by a Muslim who says the name of Allah, rather than by a machine blade. At Taj Restaurant and Banquet, 247 S Bolingbrook Dr, Bolingbrook, IL, every piece of meat is certified Hand Zabiha Halal and monitored by Halal Monitoring Services (HMS), a division of the Shariah Board of America.
What does "zabiha" mean?
Zabiha (also written dhabiha) is the Islamic method of slaughter that makes meat halal. In general terms it has a few parts that Muslims around the world recognise:
- The animal is a halal animal — chicken, goat, lamb or beef, for example — and is healthy and alive at the time of slaughter.
- The person slaughtering is Muslim and says the name of Allah (the tasmiyah, "Bismillah, Allahu Akbar") over the animal.
- A sharp knife makes a single swift cut across the throat, and the blood is allowed to drain fully.
The aim is to take the animal's life with respect, with God's name, and as quickly and cleanly as possible.
What is the difference between hand and machine slaughter?
In hand slaughter, a person performs the cut on each animal individually and says the name of Allah over each one. In machine slaughter, which is common in large poultry plants, a mechanical blade makes the cut as birds pass along a line, so the name of Allah is not said by a person making each individual cut.
Scholars and certifying bodies take different positions on machine slaughter. Hand slaughter is the method that every school of thought accepts, which is why many Muslim families look specifically for Hand Zabiha on a restaurant's certificate rather than just the word "halal".
What does HMS certified mean?
HMS stands for Halal Monitoring Services, a division of the Shariah Board of America. A monitoring service does more than issue a one-time certificate: it checks on an ongoing basis that a restaurant's meat comes from approved hand-slaughtered sources and that what is served matches what is promised.
For a diner, that is the practical difference between a restaurant that says "halal" and one that is monitored. You are not relying on a menu line or on a server's best guess — there is an outside body whose job is to keep checking.
Is all the meat at Taj Hand Zabiha Halal?
Yes — every piece of meat, not some of it. The chicken in the biryani and on the grill, the mutton in the haleem and the shahi mutton, the beef in the nehari: all of it is certified Hand Zabiha Halal and monitored by HMS. That covers the dining room, online orders for pickup, catering trays and every event in the banquet hall.
So whether you are picking up a family biryani on the way home to Romeoville, ordering trays for a dawat in Naperville, or booking the hall for a walima, you never have to ask which dishes are safe to eat.
How can I check a restaurant's halal status myself?
A few simple questions work anywhere:
- Who certifies you? A named certifying or monitoring body is a better sign than "halal" on its own.
- Is it hand slaughtered? If that matters to your family, ask for Hand Zabiha specifically.
- Is it every meat, or some? Some places serve halal chicken but not halal beef or lamb.
At Taj the answers are HMS, yes, and every meat. Call us at (630) 808-1832 if you want to ask anything else before you visit.
Hand Zabiha Halal questions
Is zabiha the same as halal?
Who certifies the meat at Taj?
Is the catering and banquet food at Taj also Hand Zabiha Halal?
Where is a Hand Zabiha Halal restaurant near Bolingbrook?
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