Q&A: Muslim Breaking Fast with Food from non-Muslim

Question

Can a Muslim break his fast with food from the non-Muslim?

Answer

A Muslim's consumption of foods prepared by non-Muslims comes in three forms:

• Food with slaughtered meat; slaughtered and prepared by non-Muslim
• Food with slaughtered meat; slaughtered (the Islamic way) by a Muslim but prepared by non-Muslim.
• Food without meat, prepared by non-Muslim

Food with slaughtered meat, which is slaughtered and prepared by non-Muslim are of two types:

• A Non-Muslim who is either a Christian or Jew (Ahlul-Kitab)
• A Non-Muslim, who is neither Christian nor Jew

If the meat is of animals, which we are allowed to eat, such as goat, sheep, cow, duck, chicken and others, and the slaughter is a Christian or a Jew (People of the book / Ahlul-Kitab), then it's permissible for us, to consume it. The slaughter doesn't have to be done the Islamic way. This is also provided the food doesn't consist of ingredients which are considered as Haram in Islam, i.e., extractions from pork, dead animals or blood.

If the meat is slaughtered by non-Christian nor non-Jew, and certainly not a Muslim, then we are not allowed to consume it, neither for Ramaḍān, nor for non-Ramaḍān, even if it's goat, sheep, cow, and the other permissible.

If the meat is slaughtered the Islamic way (by a Muslim), but prepared by a non-Muslim, we are allowed to consume it. Again, provided non-Halal ingredients are not included.

If the food is without meat, but prepared by a non-Muslim, regardless of his or her religion, we are allowed to consume it, provided, no non-halal ingredients are added. Food of this type can be fish, vegetables, and the likes.

What is applicable to fish and vegetables, is also applicable to drinks.

These are general rules for Muslim's consumption of food in Islam. They are applicable at all times. I mean, whether it's Ramaḍān or not Ramaḍān.

Let's notice, that the difference lies when there's meat involved in the food. This is because, Muslims, Christians and Jews slaughter for the One God, but idolators slaughter for idols, and it's fundamental that we, Muslims, can only consume what's slaughtered for the One God.

Also, as much as the subject matter is concerned, non-Halal food is not only pork, or non-Muslim slaughtered meat, but it encompasses many more. Allah says:

حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّـهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُوا بِالْأَزْلَامِ، ذَٰلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ

It means, “Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience.”

Allah knows best.

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Allahu Hafiz 🙂