Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Burhan Bhai,

Asalam u alikum,

It is indeed a pleasure to have you around to answer even the smallest of the issues.

My Questions pertains to the food being termed as Halal. I have been through through your previous issues on the same subject, which has clarified to me a lot. Since I was holidaying in Canada, i relaized this thing. What is the take on eating at non muslim outlets over there, say KFC. How can we judge that the meat there if not halal is not haram too. As KFC serves only chicken and if fulfills the basic criteria that you had mentioned, then is it suitable for consumption. By mistake once or twice should be OK but it should not spoil the taqwa. Now my second is Macdonalds or other houses where in with chicken and beef, pork and bacon are also served. Now even if you prefer the chicken we are not sure that they fry or thaw it alongside pork or if separate but in the same oil as they did bacon / pork. So how to deal with it.

Now in restaurants it would be safe to eat fish or vegetables, but if we are sure that they sell haram things too, would be be OK to eat there, though made seperately but still the cutlery, spoons, pots etc can be same to cook all the kind of food.

Well I dont know what you or my fellow muslim brothers / sisters might think of me, but when it comes to food I am very very particular, I would prefer to starve alonwith my family rather than eating where even for a moment i am not sure about the food.

Would appreciate your feedback on this and I would also not mind some lierature or books refered so that i can gain more knowledge on the subject.

W Salam and Best regards

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Vessel utensil haraam food

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Q-1: food served in fast-food outlets (KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.) in predominantly Christian nations:

If a few conditions (which are listed below) can be met, then the meat served at McDonalds (or any other restaurant) in a predominantly Christian Nation like Canada can be termed halaal. It does not matter if the meat served at these restaurants is beef, or lamb, or chicken, or any of the halaal animals: the terms remain the same.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 5:

All the good and pure things have today been made ‘halaal’ for you; the food of the people of the Book (Jews and Christians) is ‘halaal’ for you, and your food for them.

It is evident from the above aayah of the Holy Quran that the food of the People of the Book (Jews and the Christians) is halaal for the believers. Some people say that the People of the Book today commit ‘shirk’ and since the food of the mushriks is ‘haraam’, therefore the food slaughtered by the People of the Book is also ‘haraam’. This deduction is incorrect, as the Quran itself condemns the Jews and Christians for invoking their Prophets as the son of Allah and thus committing shirk. But Allah has made the food of the People of the Book halaal as seen in the above aayah of Surah Maidah in the Holy Quran.

If the below five conditions are met, the food served by the People of the Book will be termed halaal for the believers.

1.      The animal itself should be halaal in Shariah. (Even if a muslim (Allah forbid) were to slaughter swine, it will not make it halaal!!).

2.      The one who slaughters the animal must either be a Muslim, or a Jew or a Christian. If any other person slaughters the animal, it will not be considered halaal.

3.      The animal has to be slaughtered and the blood should be oozed out naturally. It does not matter if the animal is slaughtered by hand or by a machine, from the front of the neck or from the back. What is important is that the veins must be cut to allow the blood to be oozed out of the body.

4.      The animal should have been alive at the time of slaughter. It is a routine in most slaughterhouses in the West, that they electrocute or sting the animal with an electric shock, and then slaughter the animal. That is fine, as long as one is satisfied that the electric shock did not kill the animal before its slaughter!

5.      The condition that Allah’s name has to be pronounced is not a condition for the People of the Book, as long as nobody else’s’ name is pronounced. If anybody else’s name other than Allah is pronounced at the time of slaughter, it does not matter who slaughters the animal, the meat is haraam.

If even one of the above listed five conditions are violated, that food would not be lawful for the believers to consume.

Q-2: Now my second is Macdonalds or other houses where in with chicken and beef, pork and bacon are also served. Now even if you prefer the chicken we are not sure that they fry or thaw it alongside pork or if separate but in the same oil as they did bacon / pork. So how to deal with it.

If a believer has sufficient reason to believe that the duely slaughtered and lawful food has been cooked in the same oil, or vessel, or the same utensil or vessel has been used to serve the unlawful pork or bacon, then indeed the believer should fear Allah and abstain from consuming such food; that would be akin to piety and righteousness in the Sight of Allah and the believer will be rewarded for his obedience and abstinence from what is doubtful.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 1.49 Narrated by An Numan bin Bashir

I heard Allah's Messenger (saws) saying, “Both, ‘halaal’ and ‘haraam’ things are evident, but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things, and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these suspicious things, saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the ‘Hima’ (boundaries) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a ‘Hima’, and the ‘Hima’ of Allah on the earth is His illegal (haraam) things.”

Your Question: Now in restaurants it would be safe to eat fish or vegetables, but if we are sure that they sell haram things too, would be be OK to eat there, though made seperately but still the cutlery, spoons, pots etc can be same to cook all the kind of food.

If one is convinced that the lawful and the unlawful foods are cooked and served separately, and the same vessels and the cutlery (without prior washing and cleansing) are not used to prepare and serve the foods….then there is no harm in the believers consuming the lawful foods from such an establishment.

But if one has sufficient reason to believe that the vessels and the cutlery used to cook or prepare the lawful and unlawful foods are the same, or without proper washing and cleansing are inter-mixed when preparing or serving the lawful and unlawful foods….it would be best for the believers to fear Allah and abstain from consuming food from such establishments.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan