وطعام الذين اوتوا الكتاب حل لكم

[Qualities of Allah]

Assalamu Alaykum Brothers,
In Suratul Maidah Verse 5 it says:

"Today all good, pure foods have been made lawful for you. Similarly, the food of the People of the Book is permissible for you(وطعام الذين اوتوا الكتاب حل لكم)and yours is permissible for them. And ˹permissible for you in marriage˺ are chaste believing women as well as chaste women of those given the Scripture before you—as long as you pay them their dowries in wedlock, neither fornicating nor taking them as mistresses. And whoever rejects the faith, all their good deeds will be void ˹in this life˺ and in the Hereafter they will be among the losers."

This verse says that meat sacrificed by the Jews or Christians (people of the book) is Halal for us Muslims. I heard we could eat Kosher food but we can't eat the Christians' food. That's why we have a rule for Halal and Haram meat. The problem is if we could eat the food of the Christians, that means we could eat the McDonald's Big Mac and meat burgers! That doesn't make sense though because Muslims believe that McDonald's and Burger King and whatever are Haram because they are not sacrificed in the ritual Muslim way! So what does this verse actually mean?

[QuranSearchCom]

Wa Alaikum As'salam,

Please visit

www.answering-christianity.com/people_of_books_food.htm
www.answering-christianity.com/eating_healthy_in_quran.htm

Take care,
Osama Abdallah

[Qualities of Allah]

But I think the Christians have to be religious at least, don't they? Anyway, do all Christians clean the blood of their meat? Because most Christians are not religious.

Another thing, what about these Verses (6:118-121):

"[6:118]So eat only of what is slaughtered in Allah’s Name if you truly believe in His revelations.

[6:119]Why should you not eat of what is slaughtered in Allah’s Name when He has already explained to you what He has forbidden to you—except when compelled by necessity? Many ˹deviants˺ certainly mislead others by their whims out of ignorance. Surely your Lord knows the transgressors best.

[6:120]Shun all sin—open and secret. Indeed, those who commit sin will be punished for what they earn.

[6:121]Do not eat of what is not slaughtered in Allah’s Name. For that would certainly be ˹an act of˺ disobedience. Surely the devils whisper to their ˹human˺ associates to argue with you. If you were to obey them, then you ˹too˺ would be polytheists."

This raises another question: Do the People of the Book sacrifice their meat pronouncing the name of God? Even if they did, the Jews' god is the same as our god but the Christians' god is not the same as ours! Only 1/3 of their god is the same as ours! I know that your article said the trinity existed during the Prophet's times but the Verses in Surah Anaam say to eat meat sacrificed only in God's name. I understand why the meat sacrificed by the Jews would be Halal (because their god and ours is the same) but I don't understand why the Christians meat would be Halal (because they have 2 more gods and Surah Anaam says to only eat meat sacrificed in God's name!)


It seems like there is a contradiction between Verses 5:5 and 6:118-121 but I know there isn't! Please help me clear this confusion up!

[Qualities of Allah]

Sorry I forgot to take off the red font

[QuranSearchCom]

The people of Book include both Jews and Christians, which many of them were blasphemers at the time of these Noble Verses.  So the food of the people of the Book is allowed.  I personally eat from American restaurants here in the US.  Most of my food is halal Muslim food, but I sometimes also eat from big franchise restaurants, because they're owned and operated by Christians and Jews.

We don't eat pagans' food.  Food prepared for idols or in the name of idols we don't eat from at all.  However, the Jews' and Christians' food, we recite the Basmala before we eat it.  We do this with all food, regardless.  We of course don't eat any pork product (sausage, bacon, ham, etc...).

Personally, when I shop for meat, I go for Halal or Kosher, since they're both bloodless and have the Holy Name of GOD Almighty recited over them at the time of slaughter.  But sometimes we also buy deli meat from regular American stores.  And when we go to restaurants, we eat any non-pork food if the restaurant is owned by Jews or Christians.

[Qualities of Allah]

So does that mean meat sacrificed by Jews or Christians that have no name pronounced on them is Halal (and if GOD'S name is pronounced then it is definitely Halal) as long as you say Bismillah before eating? And that means meat sacrificed by pagans in the name of false gods like Zeus, Athena, Bob, and others are all Haram, right? If I am wrong on one part, correct me. If I am right, then thanks and jazakallah for answering my question.

[QuranSearchCom]

The Muslim is supposed to pronounce Allah Almighty's Holy Name on everything he/she eats, and before anything they do.  So that suffices pronouncing Allah Almighty's Name. 

Again, Christians existed during the days these Noble Verses came down.  They never pronounced Allah Almighty's Holy Name on their food.  The fact that the Glorious Quran gave us permissions to eat from their food (except what Islam prohibits, like pork) shows that the issue of prohibition and permission was addressed.

Certainly Islam considers many of them as polytheist trinitarian pagans.  But their food is Halal for us, and Muslim men are also allowed to marry from their women.  This is not the case with none-people-of-the-Book pagan food and women.

[Qualities of Allah]

Ok jazakallah for that. But I realized one thing. Lets say you eat from a Christian restaurant. Don't they cook chicken and pork in the same grill? Wouldn't the chicken be contaminated with the pork?

[QuranSearchCom]

They usually clean it thoroughly to prevent mixing of taste.  But yes, if a restaurant mixes things or doesn't clean well, then it should be avoided.  It is also best and always most preferred to eat Halal meat.

I hope this helps, insha'Allah.

[Qualities of Allah]

Yes that has answered my questions. But one last question, this verse (5:5) says that we can eat the people of the book's food and they can eat ours. But Jews don't believe in eating Halal, they only eat Kosher (if they actually care about their religion). So why does this Verse make a generalization that they can eat our food when they can't (this doesn't apply to Christians, only Jews)?

[Qualities of Allah]

The Muslim is supposed to pronounce Allah Almighty's Holy Name on everything he/she eats, and before anything they do.  So that suffices pronouncing Allah Almighty's Name. 

Again, Christians existed during the days these Noble Verses came down.  They never pronounced Allah Almighty's Holy Name on their food. The fact that the Glorious Quran gave us permissions to eat from their food (except what Islam prohibits, like pork) shows that the issue of prohibition and permission was addressed.

Certainly Islam considers many of them as polytheist trinitarian pagans.  But their food is Halal for us, and Muslim men are also allowed to marry from their women.  This is not the case with none-people-of-the-Book pagan food and women.

Sorry to keep distracting and bothering, but tafsir ibn Kathir said that the Christians (in the Prophet's time) used to pronounce Allah's name on their meat. Here is his tafsir,

"(The food of the People of the Scripture is lawful to you..) meaning, their slaughtered animals, as Ibn `Abbas, Abu Umamah, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ikrimah, `Ata', Al-Hasan, Makhul, Ibrahim An-Nakha`i, As-Suddi and Muqatil bin Hayyan stated. This ruling, that the slaughtered animals of the People of the Book are permissible for Muslims, is agreed on by the scholars, because the People of the Book believe that slaughtering for other than Allah is prohibited. They mention Allah's Name upon slaughtering their animals, even though they have deviant beliefs about Allah that do not befit His majesty." 

So now I have two questions,

1. (Let me quote my last post)

Yes that has answered my questions. But one last question, this verse (5:5) says that we can eat the people of the book's food and they can eat ours. But Jews don't believe in eating Halal, they only eat Kosher (if they actually care about their religion). So why does this Verse make a generalization that they can eat our food when they can't (this doesn't apply to Christians, only Jews)?

2. The Christians did used to pronounce Allah's name on their food before, but not anymore according to Tafsir ibn Kathir. So why did you say that Christians never pronounced Allah's name on their meat in the Prophet's times?

[QuranSearchCom]

I read these nonsensical tafsirs in the past.  Some of them are quite ludicrous like their interpretation about the Miracle of the number 19 in the Glorious Quran:

www.answering-christianity.com/100_percent_guarantee_that_quran_is_divine.htm


There is no proof for Ibn Kathir's claim.  He just made it up.  Christians are very dismissing to religious customs.  This is due to the hard burdens and chains (as the Glorious Quran describes it) of the Jewish Law that only Islam came to free the Jews from:

www.answering-christianity.com/was_muta_immoral.htm


Christianity did not free the Jews from the Law.  Christianity is a war on GOD Almighty that turned sinful into lawful and lawful into sinful.  Examples of this are pork became lawful, polygamy became sinful and many other blasphemies:

www.answering-christianity.com/jesus_problematic_hyperboles.htm



Christianity boasts that it did not come to invalidate the Jewish Law.  Yet, it tramples all over it!  Only Islam is the Divine Truth, and even the Jews' scriptures thoroughly speak about the New Covenant and NEW SONG, and new Gentile Prophet that will all come from Arabia:

www.answering-christianity.com/predict.htm
www.answering-christianity.com/paran.htm

[QuranSearchCom]

Also the NT has unsettled open debates that their Holy Spit on the ground did not settle for them, such as must the the long list of  the 600+ Jewish Laws be upheld and followed, also conflicts rose on whether must one eat Kosher meat or not, must one get circumcised, can one eat food offered to idols, and many other issues that the disciples fought each other on:

www.answering-christianity.com/12th_disciple_and_rolling_of_dice_lie.htm



Christianity was inspired by the lying spirits that GOD Almighty sends to false prophets and people in the OT.  The real Holy Spirit is innocent from this war on GOD called "christianity":

www.answering-christianity.com/spirit.htm

[QuranSearchCom]

Yes that has answered my questions. But one last question, this verse (5:5) says that we can eat the people of the book's food and they can eat ours. But Jews don't believe in eating Halal, they only eat Kosher (if they actually care about their religion). So why does this Verse make a generalization that they can eat our food when they can't (this doesn't apply to Christians, only Jews)?

Again, Islam came to free them from the burdens and chains that GOD Almighty put on them.  Please read the link above.  By this, Allah Almighty made the Muslims' Halal meat lawful for them, and any meat that was previously forbidden for them, such as camel's meat for example.

[Qualities of Allah]

Jazakallah brother Osama. My questions have been answered.