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:

hello my Islamic brother! well brother i have just recently come in USA & i wanted to know that here all chicken is considered halal but i dont beleive so,coz everybody knows that here chicken is slaughtered by jerk (+they r non-muslims,so they obviously don`t slaughter by Sunnah),so is that chicken halal to eat whereas the islamic scholars here consider it as halal to eat.(as i think they say it is halal as we r compelled to eat)...so plz. help me in this regard.Allah hafiz. 

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Answer:

Meat in U.S.A. halaal or haraam?

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 no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

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 does not matter what kind of meat is served, whether it be chicken, beef, lamb, or any other meat, the Shariah is standard in its law. There is no separate law for chicken and the other animals.

We cannot generally state that all food served in the USA is halaal or haraam, unless a few things are determined:

All meat presented by your muslim brother to you is halaal.

All meat slaughtered by a mushrik (other than the Jews and Christians) is haraam. It does not matter if all the rites of Islamic slaughter are followed, if the person slaughtering the meat is a mushrik (like Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, whatever), the meat is haraam.

If the one slaughtering the meat is a Jew or a Christian, the following have to be determined:

The animal itself should be halaal in Shariah. (Even if they slaughter a swine, it will not make it halaal).

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.

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 we are satisfied that the electric shock did not kill the animal.

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.

All the above laws apply only to the People of the Book (Jews and Christians).

The Holy Quran is extremely clear regarding the food of the People of the Book (Jews and the Christians). 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.

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

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan