Question: It is stated in a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari via Aa'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) that some people said to the Prophet (peace be upon him) that a people come to them with meat which they do not know whether they have mentioned the name of Allah upon it or not. The Prophet replied "Mention the name of Allah upon it and eat it."

When I'm talking to some muslims about not eating from the people of the book in todays time, the muslims quote the above hadith.

Can you explain this hadith to me in detail? Were these people ahle kitab or were they new muslims?

Answer: The Hadith which has been reported by Ummul Mumineen Aisha (r.a) states that some people asked the Messenger of Allah (s.a.s), 'Some people bring meat to us and we do not know if the name of Allah was recited upon it or not.' He, the Prophet (s.a.s) answered, 'You should recite the name of Allah upon it and eat.' Aisha (r.a) adds, 'these people were new Muslims.' (Sahih Al Bukhari - Chapter of the Slaughtering of the bedouins and others like them).

The above hadith clearly shows that the people who slaughtered the animals were Muslims and not Ahl Kitab. This is clear from the above statement of Aisha (r.a.) when she said, "these people were new Muslims." Hence, it will be totally wrong to use this hadith as a proof for what you have mentioned about.

The reason that the companions had asked the question, is that they knew that these people were new Muslims and they thought that they would not probably know about the law of saying the tasmiya (that is
saying Bismillah) while slaughtering. The Prophet's (s.a.s) response, made it clear to them that they can consume the meat coming from these new Muslims, and they should not entertain doubts concerning their Muslim brothers. This is so since the action of a Muslim will be assumed to be correct unless it is known with certainty that he does not know the correct thing.

A misunderstanding that has come about, is that it is seen that some Muslims continue to eat at many food outlets, without asking whether the meat is halal or not.They go about eating freely saying that it is sufficient to say the tasmiya over the meat while eating it. It should be clearly understood that this is totally wrong and it is opposing to the teachings of the Holy Quran which tells us that the name of Allah must be said while slaughtering the animal or chicken.

Others who do the same, justify their eating of such meats by saying that it is from the slaughter of the Ahlul Kitab. This is also a wrong assumption, since most of these food outlets who purchase from processing plants and also from foreign, do not know who the slaughterers are. Hence, if they are asked, they would not be able to say if the slaughterer was a Jew, Christian, Muslim, Magian or Atheist.

Muslims must therefore be conscious of the meats being halal before consuming them. The loose conduct of eating at every and any food outlet assuming the meats to be halal is not in accordance to the guidelines given in Islam. One must verify the halal status of foods before consuming them. Alhamdulillah, Allah has made everything very easy for us that we would not find ourselves having to turn to haram and unlawful foods in order to survive.


And Allah knows best.
Mufti Waseem Khan