What is the Islamic ruling on the Conditions To Make an Animal Halal?

Yasir Qadhi outlines five conditions for an animal to be halal: the animal itself must be a permissible species; there must be intention to slaughter; the slaughterer must be Muslim, Jewish, or Christian; the blood must gush out by cutting the jugular; and — most controversially — the name of Allah must be mentioned (the Shafi'i school considers this recommended only, while three other madhhabs consider it obligatory). He holds the stricter position (mentioning bismillah is required), considers most Western-slaughtered meat problematic, and concludes that kosher meat from observant Jews is halal.

Is the Conditions To Make an Animal Halal halal or haram in Islam?

Yasir Qadhi outlines five conditions for an animal to be halal: the animal itself must be a permissible species; there must be intention to slaughter; the slaughterer must be Muslim, Jewish, or Christian; the blood must gush out by cutting the jugular; and — most controversially — the name of Allah must be mentioned (the Shafi'i school considers this recommended only, while three other madhhabs consider it obligatory). He holds the stricter position (mentioning bismillah is required), considers most Western-slaughtered meat problematic, and concludes that kosher meat from observant Jews is halal.

What does Yasir Qadhi say about the Conditions To Make an Animal Halal?

Yasir Qadhi outlines five conditions for an animal to be halal: the animal itself must be a permissible species; there must be intention to slaughter; the slaughterer must be Muslim, Jewish, or Christian; the blood must gush out by cutting the jugular; and — most controversially — the name of Allah must be mentioned (the Shafi'i school considers this recommended only, while three other madhhabs consider it obligatory). He holds the stricter position (mentioning bismillah is required), considers most Western-slaughtered meat problematic, and concludes that kosher meat from observant Jews is halal.

What Are The Conditions To Make an Animal Halal?

Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)

The Question — 0:00

Why do scholars differ over halal meat? In a nutshell, what are the conditions to make an animal halal?

Condition 1: The Animal Must Be a Permissible Species — 0:20

The animal itself must be halal. If you have a pig, you can never make it halal. Cow, chicken — these are halal animals. This is unanimous.

Condition 2: Intention to Slaughter — 0:30

The one who slaughters must have the intention to slaughter. If an animal is killed accidentally, it can never be halal. This is unanimous.

Condition 3: The Religion of the Slaughterer — 0:40

By unanimous consensus, the slaughter of an atheist, agnostic, Hindu, or Buddhist is not valid. It must be a Muslim, or a believing Jewish or Christian person. This is from the text of the Quran: "The food of the People of the Book is halal for you." So the slaughter of a non-believing Jew or a secular Christian who has abandoned his own Sharia would not count.

Condition 4: Blood Must Gush Out — 1:10

The blood must gush out by cutting the jugular or any major vein in the neck. This is based on the hadith in Bukhari and Muslim where a man asked: "O Messenger of Allah, sometimes we are in the desert without a knife — what can we do?" The Prophet said: "Anything that causes the blood to gush out, and the name of Allah is mentioned over it."

You cannot take an animal and electrocute it to death, beat it to death, or trap it until it starves — that would be maitah (carrion) by unanimous consensus.

Condition 5: Mentioning the Name of Allah (The Controversy) — 2:30

This is where the major disagreement lies. Three of the four madhhabs — Hanbali, Maliki, and Hanafi — are strict on the bismillah. They say you must mention the name of Allah when slaughtering for the meat to be halal. The evidence is from the Quran:

"Eat over that which Allah's name has been mentioned"
"Do not eat over that which Allah's name has not been mentioned"
"And eat what they have caught for you, and mention the name of Allah when you send them out"

Ibn Taymiyya has an entire treatise on this and says the evidences for the bismillah being obligatory are more numerous than the obligation to recite al-Fatiha in prayer. He then cites the most explicit hadith: a man found both his trained hunting animal and wild animals at the prey, not knowing which killed it. The Prophet said: "Do not eat of that mixture — because you said bismillah over your animal and you did not say bismillah over the other." This is in Bukhari and Muslim.

The Shafi'i madhhab is the exception. They say all these evidences merely indicate the bismillah is Sunnah, not wajib. Hence if a Christian or Jew with the intention to slaughter does so without saying bismillah, the Shafi'i position says it is okay.

The Issue of Stunning — 6:00

Modern abattoirs stun animals before slaughter. Stunning itself is makruh. If the animal dies from the stunning before the slaughter occurs, the meat is haram. Scientific surveys differ on the death rate — some say 2-3%, others say 20-30%. If it's 2-3% we might be able to ignore it. If it's 20-30%, we cannot.

Furthermore, modern slaughterhouses have pioneered a technique to minimize blood spurting (which they want to reduce for cleanliness), cutting horizontally rather than vertically. This reduces the gushing of blood, which is another issue.

My Personal Position — 7:00

I hold the Hanbali and Maliki position: the bismillah is required. The hadith is very explicit — "do not eat; you said bismillah over your animal and not over the other." That is about a 50/50 uncertainty. How about when we know 100% that no bismillah was given? That is even more clear.

That said, the Shafi'i madhhab is a legitimate madhhab. If you follow it, no problem. You can pray behind a Shafi'i Muslim. Don't make Islam difficult — this is a legitimate position we respectfully disagree with.

The Kosher Question — 9:00

I have written an academic paper, "Is Kosher Halal?", presented at an academic conference. My conclusion: kosher meat is halal. Allah says in the Quran: "The food of the People of the Book is halal for you." In my paper I prove that this refers to kosher slaughter specifically.

The key is: are they following their Sharia? When the Jewish person says a blessing over the animal invoking the God of Abraham — that is the bismillah. When the Hindu says "in the name of my gods," that is not the same. But the God of the Ahle Kitab and the God of Islam is the same, as the Quran itself states.

However, once they have abandoned their Sharia, the permissibility changes. Medieval Christians once slaughtered properly in the name of God. They have long since abandoned that. A believing Christian who slaughters in the name of God — that is valid. A factory using non-kosher methods is a different matter.

Ethical Treatment of Animals — 11:00

Farmers who mistreat and abuse animals are sinful before Allah and must repent. However, the farmer's mistreatment does not technically make the meat haram — the meat is halal if slaughtered properly. Whether you personally wish to boycott unethical farms is a separate ethical question. Personally, I try to find ethically sourced meat, but I cannot make it wajib on the ummah.