Fatwa ID: 06651
Answered by: Maulana Mohammed Dilwar Hussain
Question:
Is it permissible to eat meat and poultry products certified by Halal Monitoring Board (HMB)?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Allāh Ta’ālā says, “So, eat of what Allāh has provided for you [which is] lawful and good. And be grateful for the favour of Allāh, if it is [indeed] Him that you worship.” [Surah An-Nahl; 16:114]
Information in regards to the service they provide can be found on their website. [2]
According to their website, they attempt to come to agreements with the slaughterhouses to provide Halal, non-stunned meat. However, they do also certify some slaughterhouses that carry out stunning.
The issue with stunning an animal first is that it then becomes very difficult to know whether or not the animal is still alive when the butcher goes to slaughter the animal. If the animal dies from the stunning before the slaughtering occurs, then this will render the animal Haraam and impermissible for Muslim consumption. Due to the sheer number of animals, slaughterhouses go through on a daily basis, it is not possible for them to individually check every animal after stunning to see if they are still alive. Because of this, it would be advisable to be cautious when acquiring food certified by HMB.
There are many organisations that claim to provide Halal certification. However, we find the most reliable of them all to be the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC). A link to their site is provided below. [3]
HMC does not allow for stunning to occur at all and they are very stringent in their method of checking from the abattoirs up to the restaurant or butchers who supply your meat and poultry. [4]
Only Allāh knows best.
Written by Maulana Mohammed Dilwar Hussain
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
[1] فَكُلُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ حَلَٰلا طَيِّبا وَٱشۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَتَ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ إِيَّاهُ تَعۡبُدُونَ {
[2] https://www.hmbhalal.com/hmb-procedure-of-slaughter/
