Meat slaughtered by the People of the Book

Eating of the animal slaughtered by a Christian or a Jew: the authorizing verse exists, the scholars' unanimity is recorded, and the discussion bears on its conditions.

The authorization and the unanimity on the meat of the People of the Book

Today the good things are permitted to you; the food of those who were given the Book is lawful for you as yours is lawful for them.

surah al-Ma'ida 5

The commentators cited by the encyclopedia (Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Qatada) specify that « their food » designates their slaughtered animals. Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Hubayra, Ibn Rushd, an-Nawawi, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim record the scholars' unanimity on the lawfulness of their slaughter; their hunting is admitted by most scholars, Malik alone having excluded it. No difference is made between the upright Book member and the sinner, nor between the one at war and the one under protection.

The meat slaughterer must be discerning

The animal counts only if the slaughterer is sane and aims at slaughter: Ibn Hubayra records the agreement on the animal slaughtered by the sane Muslim man or woman, and by the sane People of the Book.

If he does not pronounce the name of Allah over the meat

The majority teaches that the Book member's animal is eaten whether he invoked Allah or not, so long as he invoked nothing other than Allah: Ibn Abd al-Barr records unanimity on this, Ibn Rushd reports it from Ali, an-Nawawi states it as the jumhur's view. The Hanbalis require the invocation and invalidate the animal slaughtered without it when the omission is deliberate, forgetfulness being excused (Ibn Qudama).

The meat on which other than Allah is invoked

If the Book member slaughters in the name of Christ, a church or a feast: Umar and Ali refused to eat it on hearing it, al-Hasan taught abstaining if one hears and eating in doubt. Conversely, al-Sha'bi, Ata, al-Zuhri, Makhul, al-Awza'i and the Syrian jurists allowed it, the generality of the verse covering their worship too. Malik disliked church meat and forbade that slaughtered in Christ's name; an-Nawawi and most scholars exclude it; Ibn Qudama specifies that if a Muslim slaughters for them, it is lawful.

Practical note on meat slaughtered by the People of the Book

Contemporary debates on industrial slaughterhouses extend this page: the conditions laid down here (a discerning person, no invocation for other than Allah, a sharp tool) are precisely those modern jurists examine.