The Slaughtered Animals of the People of the Scripture

The Slaughtered Animals of the People of the Scripture Are Permissible, Even Though They Have Deviated From Their Religion and Slaughtering Using Machines is Permissible on Certain Conditions

Question :

Our country (Egypt) imports meats meats from from Christian Christian and and countries. Information has reached us that most of these countries do not slaughter in accordance with the Islamic way. In addition to this, some people say that the Christians present at are disbelievers in their religion and in the Bible which they have, and that most of them are apostates having abandoned their religion, and some of them adhere to what they call the Holy Book, which is a book which the highest priests have produced, taken from a number of Gospels. For this reason, they are considered disbelievers in the Bible which existed during the time of the Messenger of Allah, even though it was a corrupted form of the Bible.

Some people say that regarding the method of slaughtering by automated butchery even if it is in accordance with Islam-the employee who presses the button (the operating switch) must be a Muslim, or from among the People of the Scripture. And according to their aforementioned opinion, there are no People of the Scripture now. And they say, were we to consider that it is the automated butchering machine which slaughters the animal without consideration to the employee who operates it, then the slaughter is considered killing, like one who was cut with a knife and then died.

If we assume that the producing country is communist, but they slaughter with an automatic butchering machine, in accordance with the Islamic Law, what is the ruling on this type of slaughter? I request from you that you examine all sections of these requests for legal verdicts and reply to them in detail, because these matters cause problems for many of the Muslims and we have not eaten these meats for about a year.

Answer:

Firstly: The Jews and Christians were disbelievers in many of the fundamentals of faith which were brought in the Tawrah and the Injil: The Jews disbelieved in the Prophethood of some of the Prophets, such as 'Isa and Muhammad, peace be upon them, and they killed the Prophets unlawfully and corrupted many of the Laws of the Tawrah. A number of them said that 'Uzair was the son of Allah etc. And the Christians used to say that Allah is the third of three (in a trinity), and that 'Isa is the son of Allah, and they disbelieve in the Prophethood of Muhammad... etc.

In spite of this, Allah called them the People of the Scripture and He made it permissible for the Muslims (to eat) their slaughtered animals and to marry their chaste women. Their disbelief, their polytheism and their corruption of their Scriptures did not prevent the rulings of the People of the Scripture being implemented regarding them during the time of the Prophet. So it does not prevent them from being implemented regarding them until the Day of Resurrection.

Secondly: Automated slaughtering of those animals whose

meat is permissible to eat, in accordance with the method of the Islamic Law, is no different from slaughtering with a knife. So if the person who operated the machine intended to slaughter by any means and he invoked the Name of Allah Alone when doing so, the animal which he has slaughtered may be eaten, whether he is a Muslim, a Jew or a Christian, because every animal whose blood is spilled, and over which the Name of Allah is invoked is permissible to eat, except by usage of teeth and nails.

Source:
The Permanent Committee
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 6 Pages 246-247