Eat that Which is Lawful - Sheikh Hafeezullah Khan

Khutbah: Eat that Which is Lawful

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help and we ask His forgiveness, and we believe in Him and trust in Him. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, no partner. And I bear witness that our Master and Protector is Muhammad, His servant and Messenger. As for the rest, the best hadith is the Book of Allah. And the best guide is the guide of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And the worst of things are their innovations. And every innovation is an invention. And every invention is a misguidance. And every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Effect of Deeds on the Heart

Brothers and sisters, the Prophet says in a hadith: if one repents, then that spot is cleared. If he continues to sin, then the spot also increases.

Brothers and sisters, whether we do good deeds or bad ones, they have an effect on our actions and our thoughts. Good deeds take us towards more goodness. And bad deeds lead us towards evil and bad. We can easily see some people who never come towards any goodness, whereas bad and evil seems very easy for them. And there are many reasons for this — such as bad company, etc. But one of the main reasons which we often don't think about is that those who make halal for themselves what has been made haram by Allah — this is what creates those black spots on their hearts. And eventually they stop coming towards any good deeds.

The Quran defines halal and haram as pure and evil. As Allah says about the Prophet that he is the one who makes lawful for them what is good and forbids them from what is evil. The Quran and Sunnah tell us all those things which have been made lawful or unlawful for us.

Categories of What is Forbidden

Matters of Aqeedah

In terms of our aqeedah, Islam has made unlawful shirk, idol worshipping, grave worshipping, etc.

Matters of Actions and Deeds

In terms of actions and deeds, Allah has made unlawful for us: doing magic, gambling, dealing with interest, etc. Allah says especially about magic that it is not merely a matter of Islam and kufr — but it clearly is kufr. And it has no benefit at all but has loss for those who do it and for whom it is done.

Matters of Material Things

In terms of material things, gold and silk have been made haram for Muslim men. And likewise many food items and all intoxicants have been made haram. Especially with regards to alcohol, we must know that it has been made haram just like pork. And all those who are involved in every aspect of alcohol — producing and using — will be cursed by Allah in the same way.

Matters of Food — What is Prohibited

In food items, the Quran and hadith give a detailed explanation about meat and what is halal for us and what is haram. As Allah says:

Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and those animals killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a headlong fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten — except what you are able to slaughter before its death — and those which are sacrificed in the name of anything other than Allah.

Making the Haram Lawful is an Act of Shirk

But our problem is that we are going astray from the deen. We are making excuses to make these things lawful for us. Whereas making something halal which has been made haram for us — and vice versa — is like interfering with the laws of Allah. And this is classed as shirk.

Ibn Abi Hatim once said to the Prophet that Allah says: "We made our scholars as our lords." But that was not the case, he said. The Prophet asked him: was it not the case that whatever the scholars declared halal, you made it halal, and vice versa? He replied: yes. And the Prophet then said that this is what is referred to as worship.

Nowadays we see people presenting excuses to make things such as alcohol, lottery, and interest as lawful. In the same way, with relation to food items and especially meat, we are very careless in trying to find out whether the meat that we consume is halal or haram.

The Importance of Halal Food

Allah has given great importance to food being halal. Allah addresses the Prophets saying:

O Messengers, eat from that which is pure and lawful and do good deeds. Indeed I know what you do. This means that if you want to be blessed by Allah to do good deeds, then even your food needs to be halal.

Allah addresses the Muslims saying:

O you who have believed, eat from the good, lawful things which We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah if it is indeed Him that you worship. In this ayah, Allah says that without halal food you cannot be truly thankful to Allah, nor can you be upon Tawhid.

Allah also says, addressing all human beings:

O people, eat from the earth that which is lawful and pure.

And the Prophet gives a beautiful example of a person who comes a long distance making du'a to Allah, saying: "O my Lord, O my Lord." But his clothes, his body, his food are all from haram. Then how will Allah accept such a person's du'a?

(Sahih Muslim, Book 12, Hadith 2214)

The Issue of Halal Meat in the UK

Nowadays the meat that we eat has become an important issue for us. According to surveys, Muslims in the UK are less than 3–4%. But we consume more than 20% of the British lamb produce. And of all the meat and chicken that is slaughtered in the UK, almost 50% is done by halal means, and 50% by western methods.

But the main issue is within that 50% done by halal means — only 10% of that is slaughtered without stunning. We need to consider: does the other 40%, which is stunned, count as halal or haram? For that we need to understand the Islamic and non-Islamic methods of slaughtering, and which methods cause less pain for the animal.

The Islamic Method of Slaughter

Brothers and sisters, Islam allows the sacrifice of an animal that:

— Is of a species that is halal to eat — that is the basic condition.
— Is alive when slaughtered.
— Is healthy.
— Is slaughtered only for the purpose of eating.
— Is slaughtered in the name of Allah.
— Has been fed before being slaughtered — not starved.
— Is fit and well.

Then the person doing the slaughter must be a Muslim or a person from the People of the Book. He must not be intoxicated, and must have experience of slaughtering. Likewise the knife must be very sharp, and the slaughter must be instant in such a way that the throat, the food pipe, and the two veins around the pipe are all cut.

This is the method taught to us by Islam. This does not imply that the method of Islam is inhumane or barbaric. This method has been taught by Allah, and Allah knows best what is better for the animal and what is less harmful for it. Because Allah is the Most Merciful to all His creations. And Allah sent His Prophet as a mercy for all mankind — not only for humans, but for animals too.

We know that one can enter Jannah for quenching the thirst of a dog, and one can enter Hell by starving a cat. This is why Allah has forbidden any method which hurts or harms an animal — for example, killing an animal for the sake of pleasure, making it a shooting target, cutting the meat of a live animal, fox hunting, cock fighting, dog fighting — all haram.

The Issue of Stunning

Coming back to the issue of stunning — we need to see how much the animal suffers because of it, and then whether that renders the meat halal or haram. The methods of stunning nowadays include the use of an electric shock, hitting the skull of the animal with a heavy weight, or passing the animal through a gas-filled chamber. In all these cases, the animal may become partly paralyzed, suffer brain hemorrhage, be suffocated, or have its bones fractured. In all these methods, a living animal — even if for a short while — goes through very severe pain.

The scientists of the west have admitted that an animal slaughtered by Islamic methods without stunning becomes unconscious within a few seconds of slaughter. So you can see clearly what is better for the animal.

And secondly, some animals — we don't say all of them, but especially chickens — die from stunning before being slaughtered. Even if only one of them dies this way, then all the animals in that lot become doubtful. And the Prophet says in this regard: leave that which is doubtful and accept that which is not doubtful.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2518; Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 5711 — declared Sahih)

And in another hadith, the Prophet explains:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599)

The halal things are clear, and the haram things are also clear. In between these are some matters which are doubtful, and the majority of the people do not know about them. So he who saves himself from the doubtful things has saved his deen and his honour. And whoever puts himself in doubt will be putting himself in haram.

And in anything which has two factors — one that makes it halal, while the other makes it haram — it is the consensus of the scholars that the factor which makes it haram must be given preference, and it should be taken as haram.

Our Responsibility

So brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to make sure that the meat and all other things that we consume are lawful. Because we are all accountable in front of Allah on the Day of Judgement. And all haram that we eat will have an effect on our lives and our aqeedah.

Whether it is meat, gold, silk, shirk, or anything else — if these things are a tradition in our lives, then these are the things that are hindering us from getting closer to Allah, hindering us from getting closer to goodness. We should try to make our lives pure and clean. And it can only become pure and clean when we remember: Allah is good and accepts only that which is good. Allah does not like haram things and bad things.

May Allah enable us to understand and to act. I say this, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you and the Muslims. Indeed He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.