Is it possible for food to be both jhatka and halal?

Question

Wikipedia says:

In the Shechita and Halal method, the animal is slaughtered by one swift, uninterrupted cut severing the trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins, and vagus nerves, followed by a period where the blood of the animal is drained out. In the Jhatka method, a swift uninterrupted cut severs the head and the spine.

It seems to me that all of these parts could be severed in one cut, and then the appropriate prayers could be said for halal meat, thus making it both jhatka and halal. But perhaps this isn't the case.

Can meat be both jhatka and halal? And, if so, could it also be kosher while maintaining its jhatka and halal status?

Answer 1

The main difference between the two slaughter methods is that severing the head entirely kills the animal before the blood has a chance to drain; slaughtering it in the common Islamic manner keeps the animal alive although unconscious so the heart continues to beat, draining more blood than you normally could otherwise.

This is important because improper draining of the blood is what would make the meat haram — moreso than the exact method of slaughter itself — as explicitly forbidden in the Qur'an itself:

Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood...

^{[Al-Ma'idah 3]}

If the blood could be effectively drained even after the head has been severed, then arguably the meat would still be halal (presuming, of course, that all the other rules of dhabihah were followed, e.g. it wasn't slaughtered in the name of a false god) but it seems unlikely even then that most Muslims would partake of it due to the doubts involved, especially since the common method of Islamic slaughter is also an established sunnah of the prophet while jhatka is not.

Answer 2

Jhatka involves cutting through the entire neck including the spine. There can be two cases for this: Either the neck is cut from the behind or from the front.

In the first case it will sever the spine before the required vessels in the neck. This would make it الميتة and hence haram according to the Maliki madhab because the animal would be considered dead before the slaughtering has begun. ( الفقه الإسلامي وأدلته , الموسوعة الفقهية )

In the second case the required vessels in the neck would be cut first, but the spine would also be severed before the animal has died. This is makruh but the meat may be consumed. ( الفقه الإسلامي وأدلته , الموسوعة الفقهية )

نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عن الذبيحة أن تفرس قبل أن تموت

^{(My own translation so can contain mistakes)}

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade breaking the neck of the slaughtered animal before its death.

^{— Al-Mu'jam al-Kabir - Tabarani & Sunan al-Kubra - Bayhaqi}

There are also other rules of dhabihah that must be followed for the meat to be halal. In particular the slaughterer must be a Muslim\Jew\Christian and the slaughtered should be dedicated to Allah alone before the act of slaughtering.