Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
It is not at all forbidden or haram for you to partake of such non-slaughtered meat occasionally with non-Muslim friends so long as the meats are coming from the People of the Book and so long as they do not contain pork or its by-products, and so long as they are not cooked in wine or other ingredients that are considered purely haram.
In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
A Muslim should be good with all people. A Muslim may have non-Muslim friends and professional acquaintances. However, he has to keep his Islamic identity and set a good example for them in morality, goodness and gentleness. He has to observe the Islamic ethics in all aspects of life.
Prohibited foods and drinks should be avoided as well as all other aspects of un-Islamic items and values. By doing so, he will translate the Islamic teachings into practice and at the same time call them to Islam, the religion of morals and goodness.
In conditions you have described in your question, it is not at all forbidden or haram for you to partake of such meats occasionally so long as the meats are coming from the People of the Book and so long as they do not contain pork or its by-products, and so long as they are not cooked in wine or other ingredients that are considered purely haram.
Most scholars of the past, belonging to the four schools, have ruled that meat of the People of the Book is lawful for us to consume based on the Quranic verse, “This day are (all) good things made lawful for you. The food of those who have received the Book is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them.” (Al-Maidah 5:5)
This verse, according to Ibn Abbas, refers to the meat slaughtered by the People of the Book (i.e., Christians or Jews). We find in the sources that the Prophet’s Companions used to eat the food of the Christians and the Jews whenever entered their territories.
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Having said this, however, I must add: If you have a choice of going for meats provided by Muslims and those that are served by non-Muslims, you should definitely go for that which is provided by Muslims.
May Allah help us to be steadfast on the straight path.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.