Hanbal said:
“My uncle stated: ‘I dislike everything that is slaughtered for other than God, and likewise whatever is slaughtered for churches. Whatever the People of the Book slaughter simply to render the meat lawful is unobjectionable, but anything they slaughter intending it for other than God I will not eat, and what they slaughter for their festivals I regard as reprehensible.’

Ahmad narrated—through al-Walīd ibn Muslim from al-Awzāʿī—who said: I asked Maymūn about the animals Christians slaughter for their festivals and their churches, and he considered eating them disliked.

Hanbal said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say, ‘It is not to be eaten, for it has been dedicated to other than God. Everything else may be eaten. God, Mighty and Exalted, has only permitted us of their food that over which His name is mentioned. He, Exalted is He, says, “Do not eat of that over which the name of God has not been mentioned” (al-Anʿām 6:121), and He says, “and that which has been dedicated to other than God” (al-Baqarah 2:173). Thus, whatever is slaughtered for other than God is unlawful to eat.’

Hanbal also transmitted from ʿAṭāʾ regarding a Christian’s slaughter in which he pronounces the name of Christ. ʿAṭāʾ said, ‘Eat it.’ Hanbal added: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh asked about this and he replied, ‘Do not eat it.’ He cited the Almighty’s words, “Do not eat of that over which the name of God has not been mentioned” (al-Anʿām 6:121), and said, ‘I do not regard this as a valid slaughter,’ quoting as evidence, “and that over which a name other than God’s has been invoked” (al-Māʾidah 5:3).

Abū ʿAbd Allāh’s appeal to these verses shows that, for him, the term “disapproval” here signifies prohibition.