Fatwa ID: 02216

Answered by Molana Muhammad Adnan

Question:

If you receive food from your Non Muslim neighbour or non muslim friend and they say that there is no pork in it. So would you eat?

Answer:

Something to consider is, are all non-muslims aware of all the E numbers and all the other things besides pork which render food un-consumable to Muslims? Are they aware of Muslim dietary needs in its totality?  If its cooked food, do they know that us Muslims are not allowed to cross contaminate food with Haram? Were all utensils used to cook cleaned thoroughly so there’s no residue? These are just some of the subsidiary issues we need to be sure on before we consume food given to us by non-muslims and in some instances Muslims as well.  After considering all of that, If there is a guarantee without any assumptions or doubts that the food is Halal it will be permissible to eat food given to you by a non-muslim.

One must be extremely cautious when consuming doubtful food.

On the authority Abi Ab’dillahi al-Nu’man ibn Basheer who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “That which is lawful is clear and that which is unlawful is clear and between the two of them are doubtful [or ambiguous] matters about which not many people are knowledgeable. Thus, he who avoids these doubtful matters certainly clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor. But he who falls into the doubtful matters falls into that which is unlawful like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Verily every king has a sanctuary and Allah’s sanctuary is His prohibition. In the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be sound, all the body is sound and which, if it be diseased, all the body is diseased. This part of the body is the heart”.

 [Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Only Allah Knows Best

Written by Molana Muhammad Adnan

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham