Halal

Ḥalāl (Arabic: حلال ḥalāl, 'permissible') is any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term covers and designates not only food and drink as permissible according to Islamic law, but also all matters of daily life. The opposite of this word is haraam.

What is considered Halal

Generally, every object and action in Islam is considered permissible unless there is a prohibition of it in the Islamic scriptures. Clarification is given below in detail as to what is considered to be a permissible object or action in Islam, along with the exceptions.

Food

Main article: Islamic dietary laws

Halal is an Arabic word meaning "lawful" or "permissible." Halal foods are foods that Muslims are allowed to eat or drink under Islamic Shariʻah. The criteria specify both what foods are allowed, and how the food must be prepared. The foods addressed are mostly types of meat and animal tissue.

The most common example of non-halal (or haraam) food is pork. While pork is the only meat that cannot be eaten by Muslims at all (due to perceived hygienic concerns), foods other than pork can also be haraam. The criteria for non-pork items include its source, the cause of the animal's death, and how it was processed.

The food must come from a supplier that uses halal practices. Specifically, the slaughter must be performed by a Muslim, who must precede the slaughter by invoking the name of Allah, most commonly by saying "Bismillah" ("In the name of Allah") and then three times "Allahu akbar" (God is the greatest). Then, the animal must be slaughtered with a sharp knife by cutting the throat, windpipe and the blood vessels in the neck (while the animal is conscious), causing the animal’s death without cutting the spinal cord. Lastly, the blood from the veins must be drained.

Muslims must also ensure that all foods (particularly processed foods), as well as non-food items like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, are halal. Frequently, these products contain animal by-products or other ingredients that are not permissible for Muslims to eat or use on their bodies.

Explicitly forbidden

A variety of substances are considered as harmful (haraam) for humans to consume and, therefore, forbidden as per various Qurʼanic verses:

• Pork^{[Quran 2:173]}
• Blood^{[Quran 2:173]}
• Animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but "Allah". All that has been dedicated or offered in sacrifice to an idolatrous altar or saint or a person considered to be "divine"^{[Quran 2:173] [Quran 5:3]}
• Carrion (carcasses of dead animals)^{[Quran 2:173]}
• An animal that has been strangled, beaten (to death), killed by a fall, gored (to death), savaged by a beast of prey (unless finished off by a human)^[Quran 5:3]
• Food over which Allah's name is not pronounced ^{[Quran 6:121]}
• Alcohol^{[Quran 5:090]}
• These verses also have information regarding halal foods: 2:173, 5:5, and 6:118-119, 121.

Meat from Christians and Jews

Main article: Islamic and Jewish dietary laws compared

In Surah 5:5 of the Qurʼan, it is written: "The food of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] is lawful for you as your food is lawful for them." Interpretation of this verse cannot and should not be oversimplified to include any food of the People of the Book as lawful for the Muslims. Just as pork offered by a Christian cannot be lawful for the Muslims, similarly carrion offered by a Muslim cannot be lawful for the People of the Book. Thus the lawful food prescribed for the People of the Book is lawful for the Muslims, subject to the express restrictions set up in v. 3 above and reiterated in 6:145 and 16:115, particularly about mentioning Allah's name at the time of slaughtering . The word ṭaʻām is the verbal noun of the root ṭaʻama (lit. to eat, to feed) meaning food, including crops, fruits, meat, vegetables, etc. Since the permitted and prohibited food are connected to the manner an animal meat is prepared, evidently the word ṭaʻām refers to animals slaughtered by the People of the Book, provided that during the time of slaughtering Allah's name is invoked (6:121). The requirement to invoke Allah's name is a must. In other words the word ṭaʻām refers to dhabīḥah meat; i.e., the meat prepared after slaughtering an animal by cutting the throat (jugular vein, carotid arteries, and trachea) and during slaughtering Allâh's name is invoked (Ibn ʻAbbās, Mujāhid, ʻIkrimah - all quoted by Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr).

Some scholars from the Muslim world agree that this verse speaks about the Christians of Muhammad's time and say that Christian methods of slaughtering and consumption have drastically changed over time as the diet played lesser importance in the daily practice of Christians. They also point to Deuteronomy, chapter 14, verse 8, in the Bible, which says "Thou shall not eat of the swine nor shall you touch its dead carcasses." Pork and pork related products, which are forbidden in Islam, are consumed by Christians and used widely in food and food products. Kosher meats, which are consumed by Jews, are permissible if no halal meat is available. This is due to the similarity between both methods of slaughtering and the similar principles of kosher meat which are still observed by the observant Jews today.

Exception if no halal is available

If there is absolutely no other food available, then a Muslim is allowed to eat non-halal food. Surah 2:173 states:

If one is forced because there is no other choice, neither craving nor transgressing, there is no sin on him.

"This day (all) the good things are allowed to you; and the food of those who have been given the Book is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them; and the chaste from among the believing women and the chaste from among those who have been given the Book before you (are lawful for you); when you have given them their dowries, taking (them) in marriage, not fornicating nor taking them for paramours in secret; and whoever denies faith, his work indeed is of no account, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers."

— Qurʼan, Surah 5 (al-Maʼidah), ayah 5

Dhabihah: method of slaughter

Main article: Dhabihah

Dhabīḥah (ذَبِيْحَة) is the prescribed method of slaughtering all meat sources, excluding fish and other sea-life, per Islamic law. This method of slaughtering animals consists of using a well-sharpened knife to make a swift, deep incision that cuts the front of the throat, the carotid artery, windpipe, and jugular veins. The head of an animal that is slaughtered using halal methods is aligned with the qiblah. In addition to the direction, permitted animals should be slaughtered upon utterance of the Islamic prayer "in the name of God."

Sex

Main article: Islamic sexual jurisprudence

According to Islamic law, sex is permissible and limited to between those who are married, between a man and his female slave and between a man and a female captive in wars even if she is still married at the time of the war and her husband alive.

See also

• Al-Jamia, Shia text which contains all the details of halal things.
• Beurgeois
• Dhabīḥah
• Islamic dietary laws Template:Nb10
• Istiḥlāl
• Ital
• Kashrut (kosher)
• DIALREL

• Makrūh
• Mubāḥ
• Scottish pork taboo
• Taboo food and drink
• Sattvic diet, also commonly referred to as Vaishnav bhojan or Swaminarayan food
• Veganism
• Vegetarianism

External links

• Laws of Islam concerning food
• Learn more through Halal Knowledge Centre
• Halal World certificate
• ASIDCOM report. Benefits of Religious Slaughter
• Consumers increasingly perceive kosher and halal food as safer Scientist Live
• Article on Halal and Haram from an Islamic perspective

• Template:Fr Jurisprudence of the Halal food according to the Maliki school (from Sharḥ Muqaddimat al-ʻIzzīyah by Imam al-Ābī al-Azharī)