Halaal meat

04/04/2010| IslamWeb

Question:

I would like to know the difference between Halaal and Thabah (slaughtering). Please help me.

 

Fatwa:

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

 

Your question is not clear. However, we say that a slaughtered animal is called lawful (Halaal) if it is slaughtered according to Islamic rites. If the animal is not slaughtered according to Islamic rites, then is not considered as lawful meat.

 

In order for the meat of the slaughtered animal to be lawful to eat, the animal has to be slaughtered according to Islamic rites with the following conditions:

 

1)     The person who slaughters the animal has to be a sane Muslim or a sane person from the people of the book. The animal slaughtered by an insane person, like a drunken one is not permissible; the same thing applies to the animal slaughtered by an idolater, a Magi, an apostate, or an atheist.

 

2)     The slaughtering has to be with a sharp tool, like a sharp knife or stone, but it is not permissible to slaughter with teeth or nails.

 

3)     The throat, the gullet and the two jugular veins should be severed.

 

4)     To mention the name of Allah when slaughtering: if the person who slaughters deliberately does not want to mention the name of Allah, then the meat of this animal is not permissible to eat, but if he forgets to mention the name of Allah, then it is permissible to eat the meat of this animal.

 

So if all the above conditions are met when slaughtering the animal, and the animal is among those that are permissible to slaughter like being a livestock animal or the like, like chicken, then the meat of the animal becomes lawful to eat. [Note that pork and dead meat are examples of meat that are prohibited for us to eat].

 

Allah knows best.

 

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb