Halal or Zabihah: what is the difference?
The list of what is forbidden is short. Most of the confusion lives in the middle.
You are standing in the grocery store holding a pack of chicken. The sticker says halal.
Your friend only eats zabihah. Your uncle eats anything that is not pork. Your cousin says just say Bismillah.
So who is right?
What does halal actually mean?
Halal means allowed. Haram means forbidden.
Most food is halal. Allah says all good things have been made lawful for you.
He also told Nabi ﷺ to say this: in everything revealed to me, I find nothing forbidden to eat except a few things. Then He named them.
So food does not need a reason to be halal. It needs a reason to be haram.
So what is forbidden?
From the Quran: an animal that died by itself, blood that pours out, pork, and anything slaughtered in the name of someone other than Allah. Also an animal killed by strangling, a beating, a fall, goring or a wild animal, unless you reach it while it is still alive and slaughter it.
From Nabi ﷺ: animals with fangs that hunt, like lions and wolves. Birds with talons, like eagles. And donkey meat.
And anything that makes you drunk. If a lot of it makes you drunk, even a handful of it is haram.
What about fish?
Nabi ﷺ said the sea’s water is pure, and what dies in it is halal.
Most scholars read that as all sea food. The Hanafi school allows fish only, so many Hanafis do not eat crab or lobster.
Then what is zabihah?
Zabihah means an animal slaughtered the way Nabi ﷺ taught. Three things make it.
The blood has to flow. A companion asked what they could slaughter with when they had no knife. Nabi ﷺ said if it makes the blood pour out and Allah’s name is said, eat. Just not with a tooth or a nail.
Allah’s name is said over it. Allah tells us not to eat what His name was not said over. If the person forgets, most scholars say the meat is fine. If he leaves it out on purpose, it is not. The Shafi’i school counts saying it as sunnah, not a condition.
What do you say? بِسْمِ اللهِ وَاللهُ أَكْبَرُ, Bismillah, wallahu akbar. In the name of Allah, and Allah is the Greatest. When Nabi ﷺ slaughtered with his own hands, that is what he said. Bismillah is the part that counts. Allahu Akbar is his sunnah.
The person is a Muslim, a Jew or a Christian. Allah says the food of the People of the Book is lawful for you.
It also has to be done kindly. Nabi ﷺ said Allah wants excellence in everything, so sharpen your knife and let the animal go easy.
So why do people argue about supermarket meat?
Not over the rules. Everyone agrees on the rules.
They argue over whether today’s factories follow them. Machines that kill thousands of birds a minute. Animals stunned before the cut. Slaughterhouses that do not slaughter the way their own scripture teaches.
Some scholars accept that meat. Many do not.
When people say zabihah, they usually mean hand slaughtered by a Muslim, with Allah’s name said over every animal. That is the one nobody argues about.
What if I do not know how it was slaughtered?
Some people came to Nabi ﷺ with this exact worry. Others were bringing them meat, and they did not know if Allah’s name had been said over it.
He told them to say Allah’s name over it themselves and eat.
The people bringing the meat had only just become Muslim.
So when a Muslim friend puts food in front of you, do not question him. Say Bismillah and eat.
Scholars point out this is about meat from Muslims. It does not make every piece of meat in the world halal.
And the gray area in between?
Nabi ﷺ said halal is clear and haram is clear, and between them are doubtful things most people do not know. Whoever stays away from them protects his religion and his honor.
Halal is clear, and haram is clear, and between them are doubtful things.
If you are not sure, you are allowed to walk past it.
Why does it matter this much?
Nabi ﷺ said Allah is good, and He only accepts what is good. Then he gave an example.
A man has been traveling for a long time. His hair is messy and he is covered in dust. He raises his hands to the sky and begs, O Lord, O Lord.
Everything about that moment should get his dua answered. Nabi ﷺ said the dua of a traveler is answered. He also said that when you raise your hands and ask Allah for something, He does not like to send you away with nothing.
But this man’s dua is not answered. Nabi ﷺ said why: his food is haram, his drink is haram, his clothes are haram, and he grew up on haram. So how can he be answered?
How was his food haram?
There are two ways food becomes haram.
The food itself is haram. Pork, alcohol, meat that was not slaughtered properly.
The money that paid for it is haram. Money that was stolen, cheated out of someone, taken as a bribe, or made from interest.
Look at his clothes. There is nothing wrong with a normal shirt. His clothes were haram because of the money he bought them with. The same goes for his food.
So the chicken on your plate can be perfectly zabihah. If you paid for it with money you cheated someone out of, it is still haram food.
What if there is nothing halal at all?
If you are truly forced by hunger, not looking for an excuse and not taking more than you need, there is no sin on you.
What to do
- Learn what is haram to eat. It is a short list, and most food is halal.
- Find a butcher you can ask, and ask him how the meat is slaughtered.
- When a Muslim host serves you, say Bismillah and eat.
- Check where your money comes from as carefully as you check the label.
What not to do
- Do not question a Muslim host about his meat.
- Do not call something haram because you personally avoid it. A difference between scholars is not a sin.
- Do not treat a halal sticker as the end of the question when you have real doubt.
- Do not be strict about the haram people can see and relaxed about the haram nobody sees.
One last thing
Most of us have met this person.
He will not touch a burger unless it is zabihah. He will argue about it at the table for twenty minutes. He checks every label and warns everyone else.
The same man lies at work. Cheats on a deal. Talks about people behind their backs. Misses his prayers. Looks at things on his phone that he would never look at in front of anyone.
Why is food the one thing he is strict about? Because food is public. Everyone can see what is on your plate. Nobody can see the rest.
But Allah sees the rest. Nabi ﷺ said Allah does not look at your looks or your wealth. He looks at your hearts and what you do.
And go back to that hadith about the doubtful things. Nabi ﷺ finished it by saying there is a piece of flesh in the body. If it is good, the whole body is good. If it goes bad, the whole body goes bad. That piece is the heart.
Before we point at that man, it is worth asking if we do a smaller version of it ourselves.
Be careful with your food. Just do not let it be the only place you are careful.
Source: Quran 5:3; Quran 5:5; Quran 6:145; Quran 6:121; Quran 2:173; Sahih al-Bukhari 5527; Sahih Muslim 1934; Sunan Abi Dawud 3687; Jami` at-Tirmidhi 69; Sahih al-Bukhari 5503; Sahih al-Bukhari 5558; Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1521; Sahih Muslim 1955; Sahih al-Bukhari 5507; Sahih al-Bukhari 52; Sahih Muslim 1015; Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1905; Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3556; Sunan Ibn Majah 4143
SM
The teaching in this post comes from the Quran and the hadith listed above. I only put it in plain words. The tips on what to do and what not to do are my own advice. If you want to talk about anything in this post, write to me at salam@sunnahdaily.com.
For a ruling on your own situation, please speak to a qualified local scholar. You are welcome to email me about it as well, and I will help if I can, or point you to someone who can.