or if they mix into the dish any portion of their unlawful slaughtered animals or pork and its derivatives, then it is forbidden for a Muslim to eat anything they have cooked.
Yet should the food be free of those objections, there is no harm in the Muslim eating what they have prepared—while, as we have already stressed, he must still keep his distance from them and not entrust them with his personal affairs.
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Uttering the basmalah is among the duties of minor ablution
Question: If a person is in the restroom and wishes to perform minor ablution for the prayer, how is he to say the basmalah there? Is the ablution valid without it? Please clarify.
Answer: Pronouncing the basmalah at the start of ablution is, in the view of Imām Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him—one of the obligatory acts of ablution, because of the Prophet’s statement: “There is no ablution for the one who does not mention the Name of Allah over it.” Although the hadith has been critiqued, a number of other narrations support it in the overall sense.
The majority of the scholars, however, consider the basmalah during ablution to be recommended rather than obligatory.
In any event, the restroom is not a place for the remembrance of Allah; indeed, mentioning Allah in the places where one relieves himself is forbidden, for such spots are filthy and debased, while the Name of Allah, majestic and exalted, is far above being uttered in unsuitable locations. Thus, when a person wishes to enter the lavatory to perform ablution, he should say Bismillah (In the name of Allah) before he enters. That pronouncement suffices for the basmalah required at the beginning of ablution, for it precedes the act, and it is sufficient, God willing.