On 17 May we reported that a Facebook user Faizal Gentlenerd who is a student at Singapore polytechnic, answered a question of if Muslims can eat food that is offered by non-Mulims.
One of our readers, Eman Lim, has now said that Faizal reposted  a Terence Nunis post dated 8 October 2015 without properly crediting him. Meanwhile another Facebook user, Khairul Annuar, has disagreed with Faizal that Muslims can say a prayer and eat anything a non-Muslim offered without any further questioning.
We republish Khairul Facebook post in full:
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I am not a scholar who is fit to be discussing about the Islamic Jurisprudence on the permissibility of consuming food given by a non-muslim.
However, I am part of the 21st century crowd, who needs to do fact checks when information is given because we live in an age where information is in abundance yet its truth is found wanting.
Hence, in an effort to understand more, I have tried finding out more about a certain alleged claim of Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi.
And Alhamdulillah, his wisdom as a scholar emanates from his words and that wisdom is beneficial when taken in its entirety, and it is not wisdom when cherry picked.
In his lengthy, and I mean lengthy, address, he states what is permissible in Islam as stated in the Quran, provided a summary of what is prohibited as stated in the Quran, breaks down the definition of those terminologies used in the Quran, provided supporting authentic narrations from the prophet (pbuh) supplementing what is stated in the Quran, and all of which you can never get in skimpy Facebook posts.
Then finally, he addresses the issue on the permissibility of consuming food given by a non-muslim… and it was never like what it seems on a skimpy Facebook post.
The quote from the prophet (pbuh) is accurate but the conditions when it was quoted was never representative on the skimpy Facebook post.
Because prior to the quote, the Sheikh made it clear the conditions of Islamic slaughtering or zabiha and that the quote was meant to address the issue should one of the conditions, mentioning the name of Allah (swt) while slaughtering the animal, was left out.
And similarly, the Sheikh put conditions to which one does not question the manner the meat is handled during slaughtering by another muslim or the people of the book.
And those conditions fulfil the conditions of Islamic slaughtering or zabiha.
Hence, it is not what it appears to be… that one says the name of Allah (swt) over any meat and eating it is halal for us.
Masya Allah… the beauty of fact checking.
And indeed Islam is made simple.
But Einstein did mention to never make something “simpler”.
Because then you only attained some knowledge but not truth.
Wallahualam.
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Faizal has edited his initial post to add a side-note. In the side note he said:
“To my fellow respected MUSLIM brothers and sisters, this whole thing is about ettiquettes, its about what you should do if you receive food from your neighbours and you’re unsure and having doubts about the sources, how the food is prepared, its contents etc. you can either feed to animals or give it to other non-muslim friends but to discard the food, that is your privacy, don’t need to tell the whole world about throwing the food away. The message is not extensively definite in saying that whatever food we receive is automatically HALAL when we say bismillah upon it. And it certainly does not serve as a loophole for us to actively and voluntarily seek out non halal food when we are certain of its origins, or we know for sure its prohibited in islam to consume it. Saying bismillah over those doesn’t make it halal because we are of the knowledge that it already is not halal.
To my fellow respected and loving non-Muslim(sorry if I used this word) friends from different races, religions and all walks of life. Possibly best to avoid buy food from shops that states “No Pork No Lard” as many Muslims would prefer Halal Acknowledgement. Just a friendly reminder, you still are strongly encouraged to learn about Islam and understand what are the Halal food that Muslims can consume as some can be sensitive about it. But I thank you guys for the love and positive responses. God bless!”
Faizal has also issued an apology to the original author of the post saying, “I apologize if the original author of this post has his qualms about me sharing the post to the masses but I always believe that knowledge should be shared so people besides myself can benefit from it.”
