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 impermissible for a Muslim to eat meat of animals slaughtered by atheists or those who slaughter in the names of idols.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
We are not allowed to eat meats slaughtered by atheists, agnostics or those who slaughter in the names of idols.
The wisdom behind the halal slaughter is to get the permission of the Creator of life to take life; since we did not create life, we have no right to take any life without God’s permission.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us that halal is clear and haram is clear and there are some dubious cases in between; so we ought to shun it in order to save our faith and honor.
In other words, we should go for that which is purely halal and avoid everything that is doubtful. By doing so, we are better enabled to guard our faith and honor.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.