HMC was established to help ensure that all Muslims could be confident that the meat and products they consume are ‘genuinely Halal’. The HMC organisation is an independent, not for profit, registered charity which monitors, inspects and certifies Halal products for the benefit of the Muslim community.
This article highlights one of the biggest halal certification bodies in the UK.
Many of us have come across ethanol or ethyl-alcohol, or just alcohol in products. In this post, we will consider the Islamic Stance of these substances. We must first remind you that Alcohol is a very complex topic and still debated by scholars. We will present a number of views, however, our overarching view is the Hanafi position. If you want to skip the evidence and just want an answer, click here.
Bacon is not allowed for Muslims to eat in any form. This also includes wearing materials made from pig leather or eating bread which contains pig hair.
Halal Gelatine is not necessarily suitable for vegetarians as Muslims can eat gelatine from cattle, but require the animal to be slaughtered according to Islamic principles.
Squid are not from the fish species. According to Britannica.com, “Mollusks are soft-bodied invertebrates of the phylum Mollusca, usually wholly or partly enclosed in a calcium carbonate shell secreted by a soft mantle covering the body.”
Scallops may refer to the seafood, or a thin potato slice fried in batter or a thin potato slice paired with some fish (cod/haddock) in batter. Consider the images below.
There are a multitude of opinions in the Hanafi School, these vary based on whether prawns and shrimp are considered fish or not, biologically and/or colloquially. You can read more on Seafood Fiqh here first.
Lobster and Crab are not from the fish species from a family of large marine crustaceans. Therefore, they will be considered haram under the Hanafi School.
Octopuses are not from the fish species.
This includes Clams, Mussels, Oysters, Scallops, Octopus and Squid.
Considering Octopus is not a fish they will be considered haram under the Hanafi School.
It is not permitted to eat them because the Prophet ﷺ forbade killing them, as is reported in the hadith of ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Uthmaan, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the killing of frogs. (Narrated by Imaam Ahmad and Ibn Maajah; see also Saheeh al-Jaami, 6970). The rule is that everything which we are forbidden to kill, we are not allowed to eat; if we are allowed to eat it we are allowed to kill it.
The Islamic Understanding of Seafood according to the four schools of thought.
Turtles and Tortoises are reptiles and all reptiles are considered haram according to Hanafi, Shafi and Hanbali schools. Maliki school of thought views that all the non-poisonous/hazardous land and marine animals are Halal to consume (except for what is expressly forbidden). You can read more on Seafood Fiqh here.
Sushi is often said to be raw fish, but it is in fact a way to prepare rice with fish as an accompaniment. You can see from the picture below there are various type, each with different names. Shashimi is the only one without rice, it is small thin slices of fish.
Here we consider the basic principles of permissibility and impermissibility in the Hanafi School with regards to animal consumption, as mentioned in the classical books of Hanafi jurisprudence. (Culled from: al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 5/289-291, Bada’i al-Sana’i, 5/35-39 and Radd al-Muhtar, 304-308)
We can also conclude that:
If a non-fish sea creature was considered as a fish by the early Arabs, then we will consider it as a fish, e.g. a Whale.
If a non-fish sea creature was unknown or never mentioned by the early Arab community then we will either use Analogy or we will use a modern biologically definition, i.e. we will say it is not a fish biologically therefore haram.
If the sea creature is a fish, regardless of size or predatory nature, it will be halal.
Taste, texture, freshness and appearance are a few of the major contributions food ingredients and food additives make toward the enjoyment of food. By aiding in the processing and preparation of foods, ingredients also help to maintain certain desirable qualities that are associated with various foods.
Some Muslims consider Kosher to be halal, as in, if it’s kosher then it’s halal. But we must remember that KOsher and Halal are not the same, although there may be some cross over, such as the slaughter process, likewise, there may be a cross over between halal and vegetarian. Further, you will note kosher is far more strict than halal. Muslims do not make haram what is not haram.