Food of the People of the Book — The Broader Permissibility
fiqh
Level: intermediate
halal-food
fqh-028
وَطَعَامُ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمۡ
— المائدة 5
Verse: "And the food of those given the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them." (5:5)
"Food" meaning: The slaughter of the People of the Book — Jews and Christians. Islam opened this door as facilitation and to enable social coexistence.
Condition of permissibility: That Allah's name is mentioned or intended with sincere purpose — the default is that they name over their slaughter. If it's known to have been slaughtered for idols, it is forbidden.
Lesson: Halal and haram are not built on personal feeling — but on the Sharia ruling. A kitabi's slaughter is halal until the opposite is established.
Source: Al-Qurtubi (6/76); Ibn Al-Arabi (2/26); Ibn Qudama (9/322)
Question: What is the ruling on eating the slaughter of the People of the Book in Islamic law?
Answer: Lawful by Quranic text — "the food of those given Scripture is lawful for you" — except when it is definitely known it was slaughtered for other than Allah.