“Today, all good things have been made lawful for you. The food of those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them”. 5:5
According to this verse, the food of a practicing Jew/ Christian is permissible to eat?
Bismillahi Ta’ala
Walaikum Assalam Warahmatullah
In principle the above verse does establish the basis that those who are accepted as the “people of the book”, their food is made permissible for us as Muslims. Imam Ibn Katheer rh. has mentioned that “food” in these verses is referring to animal slaughters or its byproduct.
However, the ruling should not be misunderstood. Allah has stated in Surah An’aan, verse 121 : “Do not eat of what is not slaughtered in Allah’s Name…”
The above verse establish that any animal upon whose slaughter Allah’s name was not recited is haram for us. This is aside from the prohibition of animals upon which name of anyone besides Allah is taken, as that is also explicitly established from other verses.
In the times of Rasulullah ﷺ and Sahaba radi allahu anhum, even Jews and Christian had a universal practice of slaughtering in the name of Allah. This was despite the fact that they may not believe in the same beliefs of Islam.
Moreover, their slaughter also followed the general guideline of cutting the four vessels while slaughtering as well.
The permissibility of food (especially slaughtered animal and food therefrom) demands that these basic criteria are fulfilled.
a. Slaughterer must be a Muslim, Jew or Christian
b. Animal is slaughtered with a sharp knife (as opposed to bludgeoned, bashed etc)
c. severing the four vessels (or at least three of the four)
d. Name of Allah is taken by the mubashir (slaughterer) at the time of slaughter.
In regards to #d, if the slaughterer mistakenly forgot to recite the tasmiya (name of Allah), then the slaughter will be considered halal. However, if it is deliberately left out or intentionally skipped, then the slaughter will not be Halal. (At this time we will not discuss the difference of opinion with Imam Shafi’ rh. on the issue of deliberate skipping)
In retrospect of our current day practices, if a Jew or a Christian, fulfills the above conditions then their slaughter will be permissible for us, just as a Muslim fulfilling the above conditions for a slaughter. But unfortunately, that is not the case in least bit. One will be hard pressed to find a Christian who says anything at the time of slaughter. The practice of blessing and thanking God at the time of slaughter is all but abandoned in our times. This is also besides the point that atheisms, belief of godlessness or agnosticism is a considerable chunk of the society here.
Hence, it is obvious to state that regular foods (meat and consumer good including meat byproducts) in general public and stores does not fulfill the conditions of permissible food of the people of the book, and cannot be treated as Halal Suitable.
Wallahu A’lam
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi