Usually muslims eat at fastfood chains here, such as Mc Donald`s, KFC etc
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:
Salam
Alaikum Burhan and the crew,
I wrote a lot of times to Islamhelpline.com, and none of my questions got
answered. However, I`m patient and I understand that you must have a lot of
questions on a daily basis, and you`re trying your hardest to get all of them
answered. May Allah bless you and all your crew on this holy month and for life
for the hard work and determination.
I live in the U.S. and study Business Administration at Harvard Law, and my
question was that, usually muslims eat at fastfood chains here, such as Mc
Donald`s, KFC etc. Many people say, it`s okay to eat meat and chicken from such
places if you yourself say `Bismillah` and not have the intention of eating
something which is wholly haraam.
However,
many people also say, that if it is slaughtered by neck, it is permissible to
eat it whether or not the specified verses was said before the slaughter.
Here, when we ask the people that work at the FastFood Chains, they don`t know
how the meat was processed. This gets a bit frustrating and I don`t know what
to do. If I could get an answer, this will not only solve my problem but many
of the muslims that study here at Harvard and live in doubt.
Jazak Allah Khair, for taking your time in reading all this. MayAllah Bless all
of your crew, and yourself and serve you all Jannah for this splendid work.
*Ameen*
(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:
McDonalds fast food in US
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.
Your
Statement I wrote a lot of times to Islamhelpline.com, and none of my questions
got answered. However, I`m patient and I understand that you must have a lot of
questions on a daily basis, and you`re trying your hardest to get all of them
answered.
Dear and Beloved Brother in Islam, we sincerely seek your
forgiveness and the forgiveness of Allah Subhanah for our severe short-comings
in not being able to answer your questions to date. Allah is our witness brother, we strive to respond to every
question we receive on our forum, but sometimes the number of questions from
our brothers and sisters who wish to learn the deen are so overwhelming that it
is truly beyond our capacity to address all of them on time. Even if I were to write all day, I would not
be able to do justice to the number of questions received on this humble forum
by our beloved brothers and sisters whom Allah Subhanah has blessed the quest
to seek the Knowledge of Truth!
We sincerely hope for your understanding if there has been
a delay in receiving a response to your valuable questions on the deen; and we
sincerely appreciate your patience.
Your
Statement: I live in the U.S. and study Business Administration at Harvard Law,
and my question was that, usually muslims eat at fastfood chains here, such as
Mc Donald`s, KFC etc. Many people say, it`s okay to eat meat and chicken from
such places if you yourself say `Bismillah` and not have the intention of
eating something which is wholly haraam.
However, many people also say, that if it is slaughtered by neck, it is
permissible to eat it whether or not the specified verses was said before the
slaughter.
If
a few conditions (which are listed below) can be met, then the meat served at McDonalds (or any other restaurant) in
the USA can be termed halaal. It does
not matter if the meat 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.
Your
Statement: Many people say, it`s okay to eat meat and chicken from such places
if you yourself say `Bismillah` and not have the intention of eating something
which is wholly haraam.
If any of the above five listed conditions of Shariah are
violated, the declaring of ‘Bismillah’ would not make the food halaal for the
believers!
Your
Statement: However, many people also say, that if it is slaughtered by neck, it
is permissible to eat it whether or not the specified verses was said before
the slaughter.
If one amongst our muslim, or a Jew, or a Christian
brethren slaughtered the animal when it was alive, regardless of whether the
name of Allah Subhanah was pronounced or not, it would be halaal for the
believers to consume the food. What is
important is that the person who slaughtered the live animal was a believer or
a Jew or a Christian, and no other name (except Allah’s) was mentioned when
slaughtering the animal.
If a polytheist (Hindu, Budhist, etc.) were to take the
name of Allah Subhanah when slaughtering the animal, then the meat would not be
halaal for the believers to consume.
Your
Statement: Here, when we ask the people that work at the FastFood Chains, they
don`t know how the meat was processed. This gets a bit frustrating and I don`t
know what to do. If I could get an answer, this will not only solve my problem
but many of the muslims that study here at Harvard and live in doubt.
Dear and Beloved Brother, because it is actually difficult
to ascertain whether the person who slaughtered the animal was a believer or a
Jew or a Christian; and because it is difficult to ascertain whether the animal
was alive at the time of being slaughtered, this confusion of whether a
believer can eat from the available fast-food restaurants in the West will
remain! Until one can determine these
two vital issues, one cannot say with conviction that the food served is
halaal, nor can one say with absolute conviction that the food served is
haraam.
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 3.267 Narrated by An Numan bin Bashir
The Prophet (saws) said: "Both legal (halaal) and illegal
(haraam) things are obvious, and in between them are (suspicious) doubtful
matters. So whoever forsakes
those doubtful things lest he may commit a sin, will definitely avoid what is
clearly illegal; and whoever indulges in these (suspicious) doubtful things
bravely, is likely to commit what is clearly illegal. Sins are Allah's ‘Hima’ (i.e. private
pasture) and whoever pastures (his sheep) near it, is likely to get in it at
any moment."
In our humble opinion, the best path would be to take the
guidance of the Messenger of Allah (saws) as stated in the above narration,
fear Allah, and stay away from a matter wherein there is a reasonably clear
doubt. If one abstains from consuming
something which is reasonably suspicious and doubtful only for the fear and
sake of Allah Subhanah even though it is inconvenient and tempting, one will
secure his reward from his Lord Most Gracious, Most Bounteous.
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