Fatwa #840717 April 2003United States of America
Is it permissable to eat Halaal meat purchased from Jews and Christians?
Question
Is it permissable to eat Halaal meat purchased from Jews and Christians? Here in the LA area the meat is purchased from a wholesaler, and then sold to Muslims by small butcher shops. Some of these are not Muslim owned, but Arab Christians or Jews. Also there is a Jewish Company (AL SAFA)(http://www.alsafa.com/) supplying these stores with pre-packaged foods like burgers, chicken nuggets. This company has Muslims working for it, but the profits go to the Jews here in the States and In Israel. And it is preventing Muslim owned companies from succeeding, because the Muslims are supporting the Jews. http://www.soundvision.com/Info/halalhealthy/alsafa1.asp HOW CAN THIS BE STOPPED??
Answer
There are two aspects to your query; a) The meat being Halaal, and b) Permissibility of consuming Halaal meat purchased from non-Muslims.
You did not query about the meat being Halaal or not, hence, we cannot comment on that. If the meat is Halaal according to the Shari?ah laws of Zabah as outlined in our attached article, then only will it be permissible to consume the meat even if it is sold by a non-Muslim company. However, in matters of Halaal and Haraam, a non-Muslim statement on behalf of the company is not valid.
If a Muslim is employed by the non-Muslim company to oversee the Halaal aspect and he is knowledgeable in the matter of Halaal and Haraam, he strictly adheres to the Shari?ah and is pious, then his statement on Halaal and Haraam will be valid. Ideally, Muslims should open their own companies of Halaal meat instead of relying on a non-Muslim company to supply Halaal meat.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
You did not query about the meat being Halaal or not, hence, we cannot comment on that. If the meat is Halaal according to the Shari?ah laws of Zabah as outlined in our attached article, then only will it be permissible to consume the meat even if it is sold by a non-Muslim company. However, in matters of Halaal and Haraam, a non-Muslim statement on behalf of the company is not valid.
If a Muslim is employed by the non-Muslim company to oversee the Halaal aspect and he is knowledgeable in the matter of Halaal and Haraam, he strictly adheres to the Shari?ah and is pious, then his statement on Halaal and Haraam will be valid. Ideally, Muslims should open their own companies of Halaal meat instead of relying on a non-Muslim company to supply Halaal meat.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai