Section: The Second Ground

The second ground for objecting to those who eat animals slaughtered by the People of the Book is that it is not known whether those living today descend from people who embraced their religion before its abrogation and alteration. This is the ground indicated by the questioner’s words, and it is a matter over which Muslim scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah have differed. It rests on a fundamental question concerning the words of Allah Most High:

“The food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them. And lawful to you are chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you.”

Does this mean anyone who, after the revelation of the Quran, follows the religion of the People of the Book? Or does it mean someone whose ancestors embraced the religion of the People of the Book before its abrogation and alteration? Scholars hold two views on this.

The first view is held by the majority of Muslims of both the early and later generations. It is the position of Abū Hanīfah and Mālik, and one of the two views within Ahmad’s school; indeed, it is the position he explicitly stated.

The second is the position of al-Shāfi‘ī and a group of scholars within Ahmad’s school.

[The basis of this view is that ‘Alī and Ibn ‘Abbās disagreed concerning animals slaughtered by Banū Taghlib. ‘Alī said:

“Neither the animals they slaughter nor marriage to their women is lawful, for they have retained nothing of Christianity except drinking