Question:
Assalamu alaikum I recently attended a Christian wedding where they invited a pastor to “bless the food” the literal words mentioned were “I bless the food in Jesus’ name”. Is such food haram to consume?
Is there a hadith that says it’s haram to consume food over which the name of another deity is called? I don’t know if I recall wrongly.
Jazakallah khair.
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
In principle, any animal slaughtered in the name of anyone other than Allah will be impermissible. However, in your mentioned case, the prayer or ‘blessing’ of the food does not affect the permissibility of eating food that is normally permissible to eat, although against one Islamic values.
There are various issues with attending a Christian wedding, and consuming such food. Firstly a Muslim should avoid attending such gatherings where the commands of Allah are broken e.g. intermingling of genders, music and more importantly where non-islamic rituals are taking place. A Muslim must be sensitive to one’s Tawheed at all times. While one should live in harmony with non-Muslims, we do not compromise in our Aqeedah and never entertain complacency to anything contrary to our Deen.
Secondly, Muslims are urged to exercise great caution when eating from non-Muslim foods as there is either very little or no awareness regarding Halaal. A vegetarian dish or fish can be contaminated by utensils, hands or even filtered oil! Allah Ta’ala has commanded us in the Holy Quraan to eat only that which is Halaal and to stay away from that which is Haraam, and eat from that which is pure. By eating pure Halaal foods, a person is able to easily do good actions and stay away from doing evil actions.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best.
Mufti Arshad Ali
Darul Iftaa, Jaamia Madinatul Uloom (Trinidad)