Ive read your fetwa on the subject mentioned but according to our country’s context, its a little bit different which forced me to ask further explanation. You mentioned that a meat slaughtered by ahlel kitab can be eaten provided that it is slaughtered in the name of Allah. In another fetwa in your site, it is also mentioned that we don’t need to ask whether that specific meat is slaughtered in the name of Allah, as long as it is slaughtered by a Muslim or a kitabiy. In our country (Ethiopia), we already know that Christians most of the time slaughter after saying: ” In the name of the father (referring to God), the Son, and the holy spirit”. So, can we consider their being ahlel kitab and eat their meat with out asking about what has been mentioned during slaughtering, or do we have to take all their meat as unlawful?.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is permissible to eat meat slaughtered by a Kitaabi (a Jew or a Christian) subject to two conditions:
1. That the meat is slaughtered as the Muslims slaughter it, by cutting the trachea and oesophagus and draining the blood. If he kills it by strangulation, electric shock or drowning in water, then the meat he has slaughtered is not halaal. The same applies if the Muslim does that; the meat he has slaughtered is not halaal.
2. That no name other than the name of Allah, such as the name of the Messiah or any other name, is mentioned over it, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “Eat not (O believers) of that (meat) on which Allah’s Name has not been pronounced (at the time of the slaughtering of the animal)” [al-An‘aam 6:121]. And He says concerning haraam foods: “He has forbidden you only the Maytatah (dead animals), and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah (or has been slaughtered for idols, etc., on which Allah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering)” [al-Baqarah 2:173].
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: What is meant here is that on which a name other than the name of Allah was mentioned at the time of slaughter, such as saying “In the name of the Messiah” or “in the name of Muhammad” or “in the name of Jibreel” or “in the name of al-Laat” and the like.
End quote from Tafseer Soorat al-Baqarah. Continue reading