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Seafood - Which seafood is halal? Are there any types of

seafood that Muslims are not permitted to eat?
Among the blessings that Allaah has bestowed upon us is the fact that He has made our religion easy for us,

and has not made it too difficult or unbearable. He has allowed us many things that were forbidden
according to previously-revealed laws. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): Allaah
intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you [al-Baqarah 2:185].
Hence all kinds of food from the sea are permissible, whether they are plants or animals, alive or
dead. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water-game and its use for food for the benefit of yourselves
and those who travel [al-Maaidah 5:96].
Ibn Abbaas said: Sayduhu (lit. hunting, pursuit) refers to whatever is taken from it alive, and
taaamuhu (lit. its food) means whatever is taken dead.
There are a few things certain types of water animals which some scholars exclude from the
permission outlined above. These are:
Crocodiles. The correct view is that eating these is not allowed, because they have fangs and live on
land even though they may spend a lot of time in the water so precedence should be given to
the reason for forbidding it (it is a land animal that has fangs).
Frogs. It is not permitted to eat them because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) forbade killing them, as is reported in the hadeeth of Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Uthmaan, who
said that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) 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.
Some scholars exclude sea snakes, but the correct view is that as they live nowhere except in the
water, we are permitted to eat them, because of the general nature of the aayah (interpretation of
the meaning): Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water-game and its use for food for the benefit of
yourselves [al-Maaidah 5:96].
Otters and turtles. The correct view is that to be on the safe side, it is permissible to eat them after
slaughtering them properly, because they live both on land and in the sea. Here the rule is that in
the case of animals that live both on land and in the sea, the rules concerning land animals should
be given precedence, to be on the safe side, so they must be slaughtered properly, except for crabs

which do not need to be slaughtered, even though they live both on land and in the sea, because
they do not have blood.
Everything that can cause harm is forbidden as food, even if it comes from the sea, because Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
And do not kill yourselves (nor kill one another). Surely, Allaah is Most Merciful to you. [alNisa 4:29] and: and do not throw yourselves into destruction [al-Baqarah 2:195].
(See al-Mughni, 11/83; Haashiyah al-Rawd, 7/430; Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/197; and Ahkaam alAtimah by al-Fawzaan).
And Allaah knows best.

Every fish and animals in the shape of fish are permissible. According to the Hanafi sect, fishes such
as turbot, carp, flipper and eel are permissible to eat. However, sea vermins such as crap, mussel,
oyster, lobster, crawfish and prawn are not eaten. Also, other water animals which are not in the
shape of fish such as walrus, sea pig etc. are not eaten as well. According to other three sects
(Shafi, Maliki, Hanbali), all of the sea foods are eaten.
The meaning of the ayahs which are It is He Who has made the sea subject, that you may eat
thereof flesh that is fresh and tender (1) and Lawful to you is the pursuit of water-game and its
use for food, - for the benefit of yourselves and those who travel (2) state that seas are a divine
benediction storage and man can benefit from them.
With the mentioned ayahs, Allah Almighty informs the permission of all sea animals without
exception of a certain kind of them and without putting the condition of slaughtering. In this way;
He provides His servants the easiness and wideness. Moreover, He gives man the permission of
using anything in order to entrap them, on condition that not causing animals pain.
As it is known, in point of where they live, animals separate into two as land and sea animals. In
regard with which animals of land are permissible, it is explained in the fiqh books. As for the sea
animals, there are different views between sects.
Complying to the ayahs of which we gave the meanings above, according to Shafi, Maliki and
Hanbali sects scholars; all of the sea animals, that is to say all of the animals which live only in the
sea but not in the land, -it does not matter where they are available, whether they are in the shape
of fish or anything else; they are permissible, they can be eaten. Nevertheless according to the
same sects, it does not matter whether the name of them different or they are alive or dead or a
Muslim cached it or a non Muslim; the judgment does not change.

While the sect of Maliki does not except any sea animal, Hanbali sect excepts eel as haram and
Shafi sect excepts frog, crap and crocodile as haram because they live both on the land and in the
sea.
And according to the Hanafi sect, eating the flesh of the animals which are not in the shape of fish
is haram. Accordingly, animals which perpetually live in the water can be eaten. Turbot, carp,
flipper and eel are in this group. But other water animals are not permissible. Mussel, oyster,
lobster and crap are not accepted as permissible, they are accepted as haram. (3)
According to the above explanations, while animals such as mussel, carp may be eaten in the sects
of Shafi, Maliki, and Hanbali; according to Hanafi sect they are not eaten. The reason why Hanafi
sect accepts them as haram is because these kinds of animals are accepted as dirty both in the
respect of appearance and the flesh they have. (Mehmet Paksu Halal- Haram)
(1). The Surah of an- Nahl, 14 (2). The Surah of Maida, 96

(3). al-Mazhibul-Arbaa, 2: 5.

VIEWS & REASONING OF FIQH E HANAFI

Note: The references for this article are from the fatwas of Mufti Ebrahim Desai , Madrassah Innamiyah,
South Africa.
When I was in university a few years ago, I faced a similar problem as to how to know what is halal for me
when it came to sea food. It is true that when you look at Quran it is very much simplified ( or so it seems)
that seafood in general is made halal but when you look at the opinions of the scholars, you find that there
is a difference of opinion.
Now, one should bear in mind that when we talk about Aimma-Mujtahideen, the imams of the 4 madhabs,
we should keep in mind that they were all mujtahids ( their opinions are highly revered), and so an opinion
coming from them has to have a strong reasoning behind it. I am not an expert on all madahibs, neither do I
know the dalaail (reasonings) of the verdicts from all madaahibs however, I have learnt from ulema who
follow the hanafi madhab. So I can only give you information based on this school of thought. It is also
noteworthy that one should adhere to one school of thought for all the problems since every school of
thought has a strong base of principles of jurisprudence that determines the validity and invalidity of certain
actions.
I have read that other schools, shafii, maliki and hanbali are laxed on this particular issue where they regard
most of the creatures of the ocean to be halal including fish. The view in Hanafi scholarship is very much
restricted, so much so that Hanafi school of thought only allows fish to be consumed from the sea. All other
creatures like crabs, prawns, etc. are considered non-halal creatures. Now ofcourse there is a daleel
(reasoning) for this verdict in Hanafi school of thought.

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Let's see the ayah that talks about seafood ( or shall I say, the ayah that is given as a proof that all seacreatures are allowed for consumption):

Translation: Lawful to you is the pursuit of water-game and its use for food,- for the benefit of yourselves
and those who travel; but forbidden is the pursuit of land-game;- as long as ye are in the sacred precincts or
in pilgrim garb. And fear Allah, to Whom ye shall be gathered back. (Abdullah Yusuf Ali)
Based on this ayah, it is usually interpreted that Allah SWT has made all creatures in the ocean halal. The
words that are used '...Sayd ul Bahr Wa Ta'aamuhu' which means 'Lawful is made unto you hunting in sea
and its food...'.
SAYD UL BAHR
Sayd can be translated in two different forms - Literally meaning hunting or figuratively meaning hunted
animal.
So if we try to translate ayah based on these two meanings we will get:
1)Lawful is made for you sea-hunting and its food. (literal)
2) Lawful is made for you sea-animal and sea-food. (figurative)

In the usool of fiqh, one cannot abandon the literal meaning at the expense of a figurative meaning without
a valid daleel. In this particular case, scholars of Hanafi school have adhered to the literal meaning, that is
'Lawful is made for you sea-hunting and its food'.
The reason for adhering to the literal meaning is because of the second part of the ayah. The meaning of the
complete ayah is:
Translation (5:96):
Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water game and its use for food for the benefit of yourselves and those
who travel, but forbidden is (the pursuit of) land game as long as you are in a state of Ihrm (for Hajj or
'Umrah). And fear Allh to Whom you shall be gathered back.
It should be noted that this ayah is talking about the people who are in Ahraam ( Pilgrimage garb) and
Shariah decrees that during the state of ahraam, one is permissible to hunt in the sea while it is unlawful to
hunt on the land and therefore we see in the ayah that the context of Saydul Bahr (hunting in sea) flows into
the context of Saydul Barr (hunting on land) and the meaning of the ayah becomes:

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Hunting of sea animals is halaal for a muhrim (one in ahraam) while hunting of wild animals on land is
unlawful for him.
If we take the figurative meaning, the meaning of the ayah will become:
Sea-animals are halaal for a muhrim while wild animals on land are unlawful to him.
But this is not true. We know that a person in ahraam is allowed to eat the halal wild animal meat as long as
he has not hunted that animal himself or was not involved in hunting or catching the animal. This proves
that we ought to stick with the literal meaning in this ayah and not the figurative (or interpreted) meaning.
WA TA'AAMUHU

Wa Ta'aamuhu - meaning its food.

We read and hear that when it is said 'its food' , it means all the creatures in the ocean and not just the fish.
To support this argument, often a hadeeth is quoted from Rasulallah SAW that:
'It's (the ocean's) water is pure and its carrion (the dead) are halaal."
Based on this hadeeth it is said that anything that is found in sea is halaal for us. But if one sees the hadeeth
of the Rasulallah SAW where he specifically mentions the carrions being halaal for us, one would see that
infact here carrion means only fish.
Rasulallah SAW is reported to have said:
"Two carrions are made Halaal for us; Fish and Locust" [ Mishkaat Vol 2: P361]
It means that fish and locust are the only two animals/insects that do not need to be slaughtered. So
Rasulallah SAW gave us the explanation of the carrion being halaal restricted only to fish and not the sea
animals in general.
Another hadeeth that is often quoted to prove that all animals in sea are halaal is:
"Everything in ocean is Madhbooh (slaughtered)." [Bukhari]
In the book Fathul Bari, we see with strong chains of narrations that Umar RA and Ali RA said:
"All fish are slaughtered already by Allah SWT"
So again it was clarified by the Sahaba that when it came to understanding of lawful from sea, it was only
fish that was meant as lawful.

Wallahualam.

VIEWS OF FIQH E JAFARIA - EATING MARINE ANIMALS

"Eat any fish that has scales, and do not eat what does not have scales."
(Imam Baqir a.s) [al-Kolayni, al-Kaafi, vol.6 p. 219]
HALAL WITH SCALES

NON-HALAL WITHOUT SCALES

Anchovies

Catfish Eels

Barramundi

Eastern Cleaner-Clingfish

Bass

Flake

Carp / bream

Grayfish

Cod / hake

Leather Jacket

Dory

Marlin

Flounder

Shark

Herring

Snake Mackerels

Hoki - Blue Grenadier ( doubtful )**

Squab

Jew fish

Sturgeons

Kingfish

Swordfish

Ling
Mackerel except for snake mackerel
Perch
Red fish
Salmon
Sardines
Snapper
Tailor
Trevally
Trout - But not including: European turbot

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(Scophthalmus maximus or Psetta maximus Trevally).
Tuna except for Dogtooth Tuna also known as Peg Tooth Tuna & Scale-less Tuna.
Whitefish
Whiting
Yellow tail
List of fish ( with fins/scales & without ) Link

EAT AND MARINE ANIMALS Q & A

Q. What kind of marine animals are Halal?
A. It is not permissible to eat from marine animals anything except fish that has scale; shrimp is considered
from that category (of permissible sea animals). But other than fish, like lobster, and similarly the fish that
does not have scale is forbidden. Allah knows the best.
Q. Is Kosher meat Halal? A. It is not Halal.
Q. On the package of meat that is produced in Muslim countries by non-Muslim Companies, it says,
slaughtered according to Islamic laws. Are we allowed to eat that meat? Can we eat that meat, if it comes
from Muslim Companies in non-Muslim countries? And what is the ruling, if the source is non-Muslim
company from a non-Muslim country?
A. The writing (on the package) has no value at all. If the producer is a Muslim or it was produced in a place
where Muslim are in the majority and it is not known that the producer is a non-Muslim then it is
permissible to eat it.But if the producer is a non-Muslim or it was produced in a place where Muslims are
not in the majority and it is not known that the producer is a Muslim, then it is not permissible to eat it.
Q. Is it permissible to eat hall food which has been steam cooked with the steam of meat not slaughtered
according to Islamic laws?
A. It is not permissible since the food, as mentioned in the question, will be considered impure (najis)
because of coming into contact with the wet parts from the steam of the impure meat.
Q. Commercial fishing vessels place their huge nets [in the sea] and catch tons of fish which are then sold in
the markets. It is well known that modern methods of fishing are based on catching the fish alive, and that
the fishermen throw the dead fish back into the water for fear of contamination.
Therefore, is it permissible for us to buy such fish in the markets of non-Muslims? Is it permissible for us to
buy such fish from Muslims who are not considerate of religious laws? In both the cases to ascertain that
this particular fish in front of me was taken out of the water alive, should seek the advice of an expert and
reliable witness to testify to that fact which may prove difficult, impractical, and unrealistic. So, is there a
solution for practicing Muslims who face difficulty in ascertaining whether or not the meat of chicken, cow
or sheep is hall, and therefore take to eating fish instead?

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A. There is no problem in buying it from Muslims or non-Muslims; as there is no problem in eating it, if they
are satisfied that the fish was caught by the method mentioned above and that it belongs to the category of
scale fish.
Q. At times we find the name or picture of fish on the cans and come to know that the fish is a scale fish. So,
is it permissible for us to rely on the name or the picture in determining the category of fish, knowing well
that a wrong statement of this kind would put the manufacturers in great loss or even more serious
[situation] than just a loss?
A. If one is satisfied it is the truth, it is permissible to act upon it.
Q. Is it permissible to buy a fish from a Muslim who is not a momin while we have no knowledge whether it
is from the category of scale fish or not?
A. It is permissible to buy it but one cannot eat it unless he makes sure that it is from the category of scale
fish.