Muslims in America have to overcome all sorts of obstacles and hardships. For the 100,000 Muslims in Northern Virginia, the latest trouble comes from well-heeled Beltway denizens grossed out by the halal slaughter of chickens.

Abdulsalem Mused wants to open a butcher’s shop on Colvin Street in Alexandria, where customers choose their bird, which is then slaughtered according to halal principles — without stunning the bird, the butcher slits its throat to bring about as swift a death as possible.