Section: Verses on foods, game, and related matters

1. Allah, exalted is He, says: “It is He who created for you all that is on the earth” (2:29); “He has fully explained to you what He has forbidden for you” (6:119); “Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet whom they find described in the Torah and the Gospel with them—he enjoins upon them what is right, forbids them what is wrong, makes lawful for them what is wholesome, and makes unlawful for them what is foul” (7:157); “Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, and anything over which a name other than Allah’s has been invoked, and the strangled, the beaten to death, the fallen, the gored, and that which a wild beast has partly eaten—unless you slaughter it” (5:3). Immediately after it comes: “They ask you what has been made lawful for them. Say: Lawful to you are all good things, and the game caught for you by trained hunting animals—teaching them from what Allah has taught you. Eat of what they catch for you and pronounce Allah’s name over it” (5:4); “Do not eat of that over which Allah’s name has not been mentioned” (6:121); and “Say: In what has been revealed to me I find nothing forbidden to one who wishes to eat it except carrion, flowing blood, or the flesh of swine—for that is loathsome—or a sinful offering over which a name other than Allah’s has been invoked. Yet whoever is compelled by necessity, neither desiring it nor transgressing, then surely your Lord is All-forgiving, Most Merciful (145)” (6:145).

These noble verses establish that the default ruling for all created things—food, drink, and everything else—is permissibility. Allah has created for us everything on earth so that we may benefit from it in every way: eating, drinking, and other forms of use. He has also set out in detail what He has prohibited. Therefore, whatever the Quran and Sunnah do not designate as forbidden remains lawful. In short, He has permitted everything wholesome and has forbidden everything foul.