Message #18240

[Heba E. Husseyn]

Reflection on Verses 16:5 and 16:8 was superb observation.  Mash'Allah.

Brother TS, as we all know fish is Halal with direct evidence from the Noble Quran. 

"And it is He who subjected the sea for you to eat from it tender meat and to extract from it ornaments which you wear. And you see the ships plowing through it, and [He subjected it] that you may seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful."  (16:14)  An-Nahl. 

In my opinion the reference "tender meat" refers to the standard types of fishes cooked in the kitchens of households, eateries and restaurants such as pomfret, tuna, mackerel, haddock, cod, carp, salmon, sardine, herring and several more if you check the Halal list of fishes.    The ones I named are definitely Halal even from the viewpoint of all different Muslim groups and schools.  Also in my opinion, these are ENOUGH for seafood lovers to relish. 

But marine life is vast with many plants, animals and other organisms living in salt water (sea or ocean) and brackish water (near estuaries).

While most decisions on Halal and Haram picking seafood are subject to one's personal opinion and thoughts, I would personally exclude some river or seafood (a similar connotation as Sister Zeynab mentioned  "excluding carnivore sea life and the reptilian species ... since blood and carcass are forbidden in the Quran)."  Reference Verses 2:173 and 5:3, in addition to pork and foods dedicated to false deities, blood (Arabic word "wal-dama" in the Noble Quran) and animals that die of natural or violent causes such as death by strangulation, beating, falling from a height or fatally injured/killed by another animal are also Haram.  Since blood is Haram, I would personally avoid its by-products too.  Those animals or various species of living beings with fangs that devour other creatures including humans, consume the blood of what they devour.  So, in my opinion, I would not want to consume those animals as food or let's say the 'yucky' element.  Everyone in our family and extended family agrees.   I reiterate, this is simply our personal opinion and there are no guarantees that anyone's personal opinion is flawless.  Final Judgement comes from Allah only.   

Since the Quran does not go into details to define precisely what types of sea life are Halal and Haram, we cannot dub any seafood as Haram, including lobster and shrimp.   

"Lawful to you is game from the sea and its food as provision for you and the travelers .."  5:96 Al-Maidah. 

Thus, it's all about personal likes and dislikes, choices and one's own opinion.  While everyone is entitled to adhere to the types of seafood they wish to eat or avoid, no one is entitled to make a fatwa or law out of it with universal endorsements of Halal or Haram.  That is only up to Allah Almighty.    While my husband, children and me do not at all like lobster and shrimp, and we'll vomit-scream at the idea of eating crocodile or shark, we do not have the authority to officially declare these as Haram.  Just terribly distasteful, disgusting and yucky as the way we feel.

If you try to survey this aspect, the notions of each sect and sub-sect of Muslims are different.  It's not possible to find a standard decision or a standard list of seafood that can be officialized and accepted by all Muslim groups as Halal.  Nor any standard list for Haram.   As I already referred, that's okay.  Everyone has a right to their opinion, just as long as they don't make hard & fast rules with one side waging battles and firebrand fatwas against another for eating "haram" sea food.   

From what we hear, Shiia Muslims usually don't consider fishes without scales as  Halal, such as lobster.   Among Sunni Muslims (viz Hanafi school), as we've learned, all fishes except those with tentacles (like squid fish and of course shark etc.) are Halal.   These are their personal views and choices, so it doesn't bother us just as we make our own picks in seafood.