Further Issues Regarding Food

This is an addendum to a previously written article "Issues Regarding the Food of the People of the Book", and discusses further issues on the meat on which God's name is not pronounced.

God says in Quran,

The underlined list in the above verse contains various categories of dead animals that are prohibited to Muslims. An important principle to note is that all these forms of dead meat are impermissible if not slaughtered before the death of the animal as evident from the last part of the underlined phrase "unless you are able to slaughter". As a result, anything that is not slaughtered would be considered dead and thus impermissible.

Quran uses the word 'Tadhkiya' for slaughtering which is the Sunnah of the prophets of God: 'Dhabihah' in the case of goat, cow, sheep and similar animals and 'Nahr' in case of camels and similar animals.1 Both these methods entail taking the name of God at the time of slaughter as well as draining the blood of the animal out of it. Animals not slaughtered in one of these methods will be said to not have been slaughtered according to the Shari'ah recommendations and considered dead.

The verse allowing the food of the people of the book follows in the context of the verse above and in no way allows dead animals to be consumed when served by non-Muslims.

The second set of verses that discusses the issue begins with the following verses:

The style of these verses is quite clear that it is an address about the pronouncement at the time of slaughter. When Quran asserts "why will you not have meat on which God's name is pronounced," it cannot imply, in the opinion of this author, pronouncement of God's name at the time of taking the food, for the verse then does not make much sense.

In addition, the same verse also talks about the 'forbidden' meats, which, as we have seen in Al-Maidah 5:3, are forbidden based on the source (e.g. flesh of swine, blood) or the method of slaughter (taken a name other than Allah's, death without slaughter), but not based on any happening other than that.

In the same context, then comes this verse:

Seen in this context, pronouncement here can only mean the name of God pronounced at the time of slaughter. Consequently, the commandment of this verse is not fulfilled by taking God's name at the time of consumption.

It is pertinent to add that this verse was addressing the issue of the meat which died naturally and non-Muslims used to ask Muslims why they would not have meat of the dead animals.2 This verse addressed this particular issue and, in the process, disallowed the consumption of the meat of dead animals on which name of God had not been taken at the time of their death. Once again, under the implication of this verse, any meat on which God's name is not taken at the time of slaughter would not be permissible to be consumed and the name of God must be taken at the time of slaughter.

It must also be said that animals are a species and a creation of the Almighty, and humans do not have the right of taking the life except by the leave of the Almighty. This taking of the name of God is a permission from Him to cause death to one of His creations for the benefit of man and showing gratitude to Him for providing man with the best of the foods to fulfill his needs.