Q: Is it permissible for us to eat meat slaughtered in non Hanafi countries, such as Malaysia or Saudi Arabia? The reason I'm asking is that we can't be 100% that the meat is halaal according to Hanafi standards. For example, in Malaysia (Shafie) there is a possibility that it would have been slaughtered intentionally without the tasmiyah being pronounced, as this is valid in the Shafie madhab. Also, there is a difference of opinion on how many veins that needs to be cut in the different schools - not all require three veins to be cut like the Hanafis do. Since the asl of meat is hurmah, do these doubts make it impermissible to eat the meat in non-Hanafi countries? If yes, would the ruling be different if a person permanently moves to one of these countries, since it would be difficult to permanently live as a vegetarian there.
A: If you are confident that they follow the correct shar`ee procedures of slaughtering you may eat it.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)
Q: You mentioned that if I am "confident that they follow the correct shar`ee procedures of slaughtering you may eat it".
(a) With shar`ee procedures, do you mean shar`ee procedures according to the Hanafi madhab, or any of the four madhabs?
(b) With "confident" do you mean that I must be 100% sure or is it enough for me to have "ghalabatu-zann" i.e. more than 50% sure?
The problem is that I am 100% confident that the meat in e.g. Malaysia is slaughtered according to Shafi shar`ee procedures since they have rigorous regulation, but I am not 100% confident that it would be in accordance to Hanafi standards too.
A: If you are a hanafi then it should conform to hanafi procedures.
Ghalabtuz zann is sufficient.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)
Q: I have a follow up question. You mention that "Ghalabtuz zann is sufficient" in the scenario where a person (Hanafi) is not sure that the meat is slaughter correctly according to the Hanafi madhab, although he is sure it is slaughtered correctly in accordance to another madhab. My question is, how far can we apply the "Ghalabtuz zann" principle. For example, personally I have restricted myself to eating HMC certified chicken (HMC is a Halal certification in the UK) since I am 100% sure that a HMC certified chicken is halal. However I haven't eaten HFA certified chickens (HFA is another certification), since HFA are less rigorous in its controls and they might miss certain things. If I have a HFA certified chicken in front of me I am thus not 100% percent certain that it is halal, only about 90% certain. But since this 90% is more than 50%, will it be counted as ghalabtuz-zann and this be permissible for me to eat the HFA slaughtered chicken?
Similarly, in the extreme scenario where there is a butcher who tries to slaughter halal but is not very careful and thus only 60% of the chickens turn out to be halal - is it permissible to eat a random chicken from this butcher since you have ghalbatu-zann (60% chance) that the chicken is halal?
A: Since you are a Hanafi, you should follow the Hanafi mazhab. According to the Hanafi mazhab if the chickens were not slaughtered according to the Shar'ee method of slaughter or tasmiyah was not recited at the time of slaughter, the meat will not be halaal.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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