Food & Drink
Questions about food are questions about labels, kitchens and travel. Readers ask what an additive is made from, how meat is slaughtered, and what to do when eating away from home. The pages below cover slaughter and meat, ingredients and additives, eating in non-Muslim countries, doubtful foods, and the etiquette of eating. Every answer here is a sourced summary of a fatwa published on Ftawy, with the full ruling one tap away. Where a question turns on one detail, like an ingredient or a method, the full answer carries it.
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Questions · 3,405 questions
Is it permissible for a Muslim woman to reside with a Kafir?
Does the owner of a halal meat shop committing minor Shirk, such as hanging and selling amulets called "Fatima's Hand" (or "Hand of Fatima" or "Hamsa"), affect the ruling on buying meat and other items from his shop?
How can one reconcile the permissibility of a Muslim working for a company that is generally acceptable, even though some of its branches might sell alcoholic beverages or engage in unlawful activities—based on the principle, "What is permissible subordinately is not permissible independently"—with the impermissibility of assisting someone in purchasing or repairing a phone, knowing with high probability that they will use it to congratulate Christians on their holidays?
What is the meaning of "a fire that emerges from Yemen will drive people to their place of gathering (mahshar)" in the hadiths about the major signs of the Hour, and does it mean gathering the living before their death to the land of gathering, or gathering them to the place of their death, and how is that possible when the earth will be changed on the Day of Resurrection?
What is the ruling on resorting to foreign project funding websites that allow fundraising through financial contributions, whether for a return or without a return, and are these contributions similar to fundraising campaigns for charitable projects in terms of fatwa?
What is the ruling on marrying a Muslim woman who does not wear a hijab, while fearing that she will persist in this, and what sin would the husband incur in this case?
What is the ruling on selling squirrels, and are they considered pets even though they belong to the rodent family? Is it obligatory to give in charity the money earned from them, and is expiation required? Is it permissible to give that money in charity?
What is the ruling on eating meat available in the Czech Republic, given the unavailability of halal slaughter and the consequent fear for the family's health?
Is it permissible to hunt and eat crows, which fall under the category of omnivores—meaning they consume both plants and meat—based on Fatwa No. 28892?
What is the ruling on watching anime and reading manga that contain love stories between boys, knowing that they are cartoons and not real, and that I do not condone them in reality?
Is it permissible for a brother who works as a supervisor in an educational center to take a beardless young student with him daily to a horse farm, out of fear for him of mixing [with others], when they are often alone, or is this considered seclusion with him?
What should I do with the money of my deceased apostate father, and should I pay off his debts, knowing that a Muslim does not inherit from a non-Muslim and that my paternal uncles and aunts claim that the money originally belongs to them?
Is it permissible to eat with or from the food of the Qadiyanis "Ahmadis"?
Can Salāt al-Istikhārah be beneficial in determining the ruling on an act, whether it is permissible (halal) or forbidden (haram)? And does it absolve from sin one who proceeds with an act after performing Istikhārah, if it later becomes clear that the act was forbidden? This is asked while taking into consideration historical and contemporary examples such as: the conflict between Ali and Mu'awiyah, the struggle during the Great Arab Revolt, martyrdom operations in Palestine, and the revolutions in the Arab world.
Is it permissible to donate blood to save a non-Muslim from perishing?
Is it permissible to interact with a lesbian female colleague—through touching and jesting—as if she were a normal girl, knowing that our religion forbids lesbianism, and that there is frequent mixing with her at work?
Is eating meat in Ramadan forbidden? Is it true that whoever wishes to become a great sheikh should look for an intermediary to help him appear on television?
Is it obligatory to get out of the car to remove a palm frond from the road, or is it sufficient to try to swerve to avoid running over it while driving? And how should I act if this situation reoccurs in crowded places?
Are the new terms of use in Windows 10 forbidden (haram) or permissible (halal)?
Is it permissible for a Muslim woman not to wear the correct hijab that fulfills the Islamic legal conditions, and instead wear a fashionable hijab or remove it completely, for fear of being accused of following extremist Wahhabism?
To what extent is the legitimacy of the mentioned standards and ratios for determining halal companies, and what are the suggestions to avoid the unlawful (haram)?
What is the ruling on a Muslim man marrying a disbelieving woman who embraced Islam while her disbelieving husband has not divorced her? And does her waiting period (iddah) begin from the day of her divorce or from the day of her embracing Islam?
Is it permissible to rely on astronomical calculations to determine the beginning of Eid, and should one follow the sole mosque in the city that adopted this, or should one follow Saudi Arabia or their home country, and what are the implications of breaking the fast with them without the sighting being confirmed?
What is the ruling on studying under immodestly dressed female teachers, and what is the effect of that on the weakness of the heart and lack of humility [khushu'], and what is the ruling on taking online educational courses offered by an immodestly dressed non-Muslim woman, knowing the importance of that for academic achievement?