Buying meat from a Hindu shop and consuming it

Question

Question: (1) What is the ruling on buying and consuming meat from a Hindu butcher at whose shop there is no supervision (watch) by any Muslim — when that meat was slaughtered by some Muslim? (2) If some Hindu buys meat from a Muslim’s shop and takes it away, and cooks it in his home or in his restaurant, can a Muslim eat it or not? (3) Many Muslim government employees go out from their homes on tours of the area and stay with some Hindu.

Answer

(1) When there is no Muslim supervisor present there, everything comes down to the word of that non-Muslim that this is halal meat, and in matters of lawfulness and unlawfulness the word of a non-Muslim is not accepted in the Shari‘a. However, in worldly transactions (mu‘amalat) his word is accepted too, when there is a presumption (zann) of his truthfulness.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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