Please, my son is studying in Scotland. He is staying in a catered accommodation. He does not know how to cook and there is facility for cooking. Can he eat their cooked meat?

In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.

Answer

Three conditions needs to be found for a slaughter to be considered valid in Islam. If one of these conditions is not found, the slaughter will be invalid.
1. Most of the four veins (including the Jugular vein, according to some) must be cut with a knife or a tool that is sharp.
2.  The name of Allah must be taken at the time of slaughtering.
3.  The slaughterer must be either a Muslim or from the People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab). (Jawahirul Fiqh p.375 v.2)

Mufti Abdur Rahman Bin Yusuf (D.B) has written the following in his article “Zabiha- Meat Madness”

“Many people assume that the United States—and, for that matter, Canada, the UK, and many other European countries—are Christian nations. This is erroneous. Although many of the inhabitants of these countries profess to be Christian, this affiliation of theirs does not extend much past a personal or perhaps communal level. On the state level, these countries are openly secular, promote separation of church and state, and would hardly accept being labelled Christian nations. Some Muslim scholars from abroad, many of whom are not accurately informed of the religious composition of the US, sometimes pass the fatwa that the meat in the United States is lawful, citing that the country is Christian. No doubt, meat slaughtered by a Christian or Jew in accordance with the injunctions of their scriptures cannot be considered impermissible, as Allah has made it lawful in the Qur’an: “And the food of those who have been given the Book is permitted to you” (Qur’an 5:5). However, carelessly purchasing or eating meat from any source in the US with the excuse of being in a Christian country and thus eating the meat of the People of the Book is a gross error in judgment born out of ignorance of the true circumstances.” (http://www.whitethreadpress.com)

From the aforementioned information, we can derive that if the meat from this accommodation has been slaughtered by Non Muslim besides the People of the Book or by the People of the Book but without condition 1 & 2 then it will be impermissible for your son to eat the meat. Your son will have to suffice on vegetarian food. There are many vegetarians nowadays who do not eat meat at all, and yet manage to obtain sufficient protein and other nutrients from other sources.

Only Allah Knows Best

Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham