Meat of the people of the book

Q. You have explained that the animals slaughtered by the people of earlier divine religions are permissible to eat by Muslims. There are some fine points to clarify still: 1) What if during the slaughter the head of the animal is separated from the body? 2) What if the stunning shock actually kills the animal? Please explain.

S. N.

A. God in His glory told us of the Children of Israel and how they reacted when the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) told them that in order to find out the killer of a murdered person, they needed to slaughter a cow. They first felt that this was a joke and told their prophet so, but when he assured them that it was serious, they started asking questions: What type of cow; what color; what distinctive marks, etc.

This is told in the Qur’an: Surah 2, Verses 67-74. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) explained to us that had the Israelites acted on the order as they received it, any cow would have been good enough to fulfill their duty.

When they were so scrupulous, God progressively narrowed their choice until they could find only one cow that met all the qualities and distinctive marks specified for them. When they wanted to buy this one cow from its owner and he learned the purpose of their keen desire to buy the cow, he asked for an exceedingly exorbitant price. God wanted him to benefit because He was a good person who deserved help. The Prophet warned us against following this example of the Israelites.

Unfortunately Muslims nowadays are doing the same thing. Here is one such example of many I can cite on the basis of my readers’ letters. I explained that the concession God has given us means that we are permitted to eat what the people of earlier divine religions consider as lawful in their faith, provided that it is not something that Islam specifically forbids, such as the meat of pigs. The method of slaughter thus becomes of little consequence. What happens is that readers write to ask totally unnecessary questions about remote possibilities that they have no means to ascertain.

What if the head separates, or the animal dies before it is slaughtered? To start with, how will you know? Are you going to ask the butcher, or are you going to the slaughterhouse to check? Even if you do, can you be sure?

If your investigation cannot be conclusive, but leave you uncertain, will you carry out further investigations or will you abandon them? If the latter, will this mean you buy the meat? What purpose will all this investigation have served then?

It is very important to realize that when God gives us an order we are expected to do our level best to comply with His order. Since He has given us a concession in this case, we accept it from Him. The Prophet specifically told us so. He said: “God has granted this to you, so accept it from Him.” Accepting does not mean that we start questioning Him: What do you mean by granting it? Is it only for this time or for all times? Is it this or that? Such questioning does not enhance our position with God. On the contrary, it is against Islamic teachings. The ruling that applies here is that stated by Umar: “We have been commanded not to ask about what is not readily known.”

Besides, what if the slaughterer is a Muslim, keen to do his job in accordance with Islamic rules, but finds that the animal’s head has accidentally separated from its body. Does this make the animal forbidden to eat? Certainly not. So, where is the problem?

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