بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Answer to Question
The Marriage and Slaughtered Meat of the Jews and Christians are Permitted
To: Kasozi Ramadhan
(Translated)
Question:
(Assalam alaikum Wa Rahamatullah Wa Barakatuh, our respected Sheikh. May Allah (swt) protect you.
My question is about "The people of the Book".
1. Who are the people of the Book?
2. The Quran says that we can marry them and eat their slaughtered meat. Do such people still exist today?
3. How are they different from the Christians and Jews?
I will be very grateful if you answer my question.
KASOZI RAMADHAN from Uganda) End
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh
As if by your question you are referring to Allah’s saying:
﴿الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ مُحْصِنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحِينَ وَلَا مُتَّخِذِي أَخْدَانٍ﴾
“This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you, when you have given them their due compensation, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse or taking [secret] lovers.” [Al-Ma’ida: 5]
This verse permits eating the slaughtered meat and marrying the women of the people of the Book.
The people of the Book, are "those who were given the Book" in this verse, they are the Jews and the Christians ... This is also the view of the majority of jurists as stated in the Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Jurisprudence ... The slaughtered meat and marrying the women of the Jews and Christians are permitted in the Shariah texts. This rule is not affected by the kufr (disbelief) and shirk (association) in Allah, the Jews and Christians in the time of the Prophet (saw) were on the kufr, Shirk and misguidance, but they were still considered as the people of the Book, and the Prophet (saw) acknowledged that, they were at the time of the Prophet (saw) as they are today: Christians associate Jesus, peace be upon him with Allah, and the Jews associate Uzair, peace be upon him
﴿وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ عُزَيْرٌ ابْنُ اللَّهِ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَى الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ اللَّه﴾
“The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allah "; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allah.” [At-Tawba: 30]
And yet the Prophet (saw) treated them as the people of the Book, in terms of the permissibility to eat their slaughtered meat and to marry their women.
As for non- Muslims who are not Jews and Christians, like the Zoroastrians, for example, the Prophet did not permit these matters from them:
Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated in his Musnaf from al-Hasan ibn Muhammad that the Prophet (saw):«كتب إلى مجوس أهل هجر يعرض عليهم الإسلام فمن أسلم قبل منه ومن لم يسلم ضرب عليه الجزية غير ناكحي نسائهم ولا آكلي ذبائحهم»“He wrote to the Zoroastrians of the people of Hajr, offering them Islam, those who accepted Islam, he accepted from them, and those who refused to enter Islam he ordered them to pay Jiziyah, and forbade marrying their women and eating their slaughtered meat”.
Al-Haythami mentioned this in his book, “Baghiyat Al-Bahith ‘Aan Musnad Al-Harith”. He said, Abdul Aziz bin Aban Thana Sufyan told us, from Qais bin Muslim from Al-Hassan bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Abi Talib said: «كتب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إلى مجوس هجر يسألهم الإسلام فمن أسلم قبل منه إسلامه ومن أبى أخذت منه الجزية غير ناكحي نسائهم ولا آكلي ذبائحهم»“The Prophet (saw) wrote to the Zoroastrians of Hajr, offering them Islam, those who accepted Islam, he accepted their Islam, and those who refused to enter Islam he ordered them to pay Jiziyah, and forbade marrying their women and eating their slaughtered meat”.
Therefore, the people of the Book mentioned in the noble verse are the Christians and the Jews, who are present these days. The verse does not include the verse other kuffar, who are not from Christians and Jews, it is permitted to eat the slaughtered meat and marry the women of these two types.
But there are two matters that must be mentioned here about the permissibility of eating the slaughtered meat of the people of the Book and to marry their women:
1- The slaughtered meat of the people of the Book, which are permissible to eat, are those permitted in Shariah and must be slaughtered according to the Shar’i method:
a- It is not permissible to eat their slaughtered meat if they are forbidden in Islam, such as pigs, for example, this is Haraam (forbidden) to eat, whether the slaughterer is a Muslim or from the people of the Book ... The permissibility to eat the slaughtered meat of the people of the Book is confined to animals and birds that the Shariah allowed us to eat.
b- It is also not permissible to eat what is not slaughtered correctly, i.e. it is not permissible to eat what the people of the Book did not slaughter according to the Shariah method, such as choking the animal or the bird, beating it on the head or stunning (with electricity) it to death ... as happens in some factories in the West these days. This is not permissible to eat because it is regarded as ‘maita’ (dead animal) in Shariah, so it is haraam to eat it. Just as it is not permissible to eat it if the slaughterer (not according to Shariah method) is Muslim, it is also not permitted to eat it if the slaughterer is from the people of the Book, there is no difference.
2- The noble verse required in marriage of their women that they are “chaste", the verse says:
﴿الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُم﴾
“This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you,” [Al-Ma’ida: 5]
Al-Muhasanah is the chaste woman known not to practice fornication; this is evident in Muslim women. As for the Jews and the Christians in our time, as in the countries of the West, fornication is common, such as eating and drinking, it is normal, practiced by men and women and no one denounced it, and rarely you find a woman who reached the age of puberty is far from fornication. Therefore, before getting married to a woman from the people of the Book, it must be confirmed that she is virtuous and is not famous for committing fornication.
Therefore it is permissible to marry a woman from the people of the Book if she is chaste and does not commit fornication (zina). If this is the case, then it is permissible to marry her ... Although it is permissible in this case, yet it is preferable to marry a Muslim woman. It is a confirmed narration that Omar (ra) used to advise the companions not to marry women from the people of the Book, but to marry Muslim women so that none of them remain unmarried.
I hope the answer made the issue clear to you.
Your brother,
Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
21 Shawwal 1440 AH
24/6/2019 CE
The link to the answer from the Ameer’s Facebook page.