Conditions for eating meat of Ahl al-Kitab among Hanbalis

[Shaghuri]

as salam alaykum Abu Zubair,

My friend has some salafis in his community who are spreading this Fatwa of Shaikh Ibn Uthaimin: http://www.islamlife.com/print.php?type=N&item_id=118

What im wondering is, what is the actual Mu'tamad ruling on this issue according to the Hanbalis. Of course, those who choose to take his Fatwa are free to do so, but I cant help thinking that his view doesn't represent the relied upon ruling among the Hanabilah.

Can you inform me if his Fatwa represents the Mu'tamad view in the school, and if not, what is the actual Mu'tamid ruling (the general Mufta bihi in the books)?

jazakum Allah Khaira

[Abuz Zubair]

One of the two conditions of a Halal meat in the Hanbali madhab is that a) Allah's name must be said during slaughtering, and b) windpipe and gullet must be cut.

Definitely, none of these conditions are met in the UK slaughter houses.

Another things to note is that Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin does not dispute the above two conditions. He is coming from a different fiqhi angle. He says that by default, the meat of Ahl al-Kitab is Halal. In situations where we know for certain that the above two (and other) conditions are not fulfilled, then their meat is Haram.

Likewise, if we know for certain that they did fulfil the four conditions of Halal meat, then definitely it is Halal.

The dispute comes when we do not know whether they fulfilled the four conditions or not. His argument is that in such cases, we should revert to what is default, that is the permissibility of the meat slaughtered by Ahl al-Kitab, and it is also Sunnah NOT to enquire deeply about the meat.

Majority of the scholars from Saudi argued against this opinion saying that in reality, it is common knowledge that MOST of the meat slaughtered in MOST of the Western countries does not fulfil the Shara'i conditions. And therefore, the default with respect to such countries is that their meat is Haram, unless we know for sure that the slaughtered fulfilled the four Shara'i conditions.

Also, there is a legal maxim which dictates that issues relating to conjugal relationships and slaughtering, where there is a conflict between lawfulness and prohibition, then prohibition is given priority. For instance, if a person cannot differentiate between two women, which of the two is his sister, and which one is not related to him at all, it become forbidden for him to marry both of the women.

Halal meat isn't only our problem as minorities. It is also a huge problem in Saudi Arabia due to imported meat, and many of the senior scholars such as Ibn Humayd and others have declared that it is impermissible to eat such meat. Hay'at Kibar al-'Ulama has a really good research on the topic, too.

Allahu Alam