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Fatwa CenterEating meat slaughtered in USA
Question
ASALAM ALAIKUM BROTHERS IN ISLAM. I AM IN UNITED STATES AND I AM NEW HERE. I HAVE READ IN THE QURAN THAT WE MUSLIMS ARE ALLOWED TO EAT FROM THE PEOPLE GIVEN THE SCRIPTURES. ARE WE ALLOWED TO EAT WHAT THEY SACRIFICE? THE PLACE WE GET MEAT FROM BELONGS TO CHRISTIANS AND WE DON'T KNOW HOW THEY SACRIFICE THE ANIMAL. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW FURTHER THAT SHOULD THE CHRISTIANS OR THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, SACRIFICE AS PER THE ISLAMIC WAY, I MEAN THE WAY OF IBRAHIM (PBUH)? PLEASE GIVE ME DETAILS UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF QURAN AND SUNNAH. JAZAK ALLAH
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
1)There is a consensus among all Fuqaha (Jurists of Islam) that the animals slaughtered by the people of the Book (Jews and Christians) are lawful to us even if they don’t mention the name of Allah or instead mention the name of the Christ, before slaughtering the animal. This consensus is restricted to the animals which have been slaughtered in the same way as Muslims do. I.e. (cutting the throat with a sharp object); otherwise they are considered “Maytata” (a dead animal by any form other than cutting the throat). Evidence from the Qur’an: {Forbidden to you are Al-Maytatah) [5:3] 2)It is well known that the Jews and Christians are no longer on the path of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). On the contrary, they are on a very different path opposed to the path of Ibrahim. Allah says: {Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was true Muslim and he was not of the al-Mushriku’n (unbelievers). [2:105]. Indeed, there is no relation whatsoever now between Ibrahim 
and the Jews or Christians. They changed the true religion before Muhammad was sent. And Allah made their slaughtering lawful to us to ease life for us. 3)The rule of Friday (sermons) Khutbas is different from the prayer itself. During the Friday Khutba, the Imam can for instance, move backwards and forewords, he could talk to somebody for some reasons. He is not confined to look towards the Ka’ba. 4)Muslim scholars have made it lawful for us to translate the Friday Khutba into a language understood by the audience to help the people who are present understand the speech and profit from it. Otherwise the Khutba loses the objective for which it was ordered to us. The Imam should, however read the verses and Hadith in Arabic before translating them into the language of the audience. 5)Since the translation is lawful the Imam could just give the sermon in the target language (language of the audience) and the prayer is valid and correct. Allah knows best.
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