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From: zama@midway.uchicago.edu (iftikhar uz zaman)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Questions.
Message-ID: <1990Sep28.225332.19768@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 90 22:53:32 GMT
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Mohd. Fadhil writes:

>First question:
>     I have found that there are some of the brothers eat meat from Kroger and
>some groccery store.  I told them that Kroger's meat is Haram.  We cannot eat
>any meat that is not slughter by Muslim.
>     But they said that Kroger is owned by Jewish so we can eat meat that've
>been slaugther (may be) by Jewish since Jewish is Ahlil Kitab.

>  But from what I've learned, there are no more ahlil kitab in this age
> because the Taurat and Injil are a corrupted text.

     If the Taurat and Injil are corrupted today, they were corrupted the
day the ayat regarding "ahl al-kitab" were revealed--so nothing has changed
in that respect.

     The issue of meat is not entirely straightforward.  I understand that
very traditional ulama like Shaikh Bin Baz of Saudia have given fatwa 
regarding the permissability of "grocery store" meat in America...(I am
reporting this second hand, so I could be wrong).  I KNOW that there is
a difference of opinion between Hanafis and Shafi'is regarding the rules
for meat slaughtered in various ways (e.g. slaughtered by Muslim who
intentionally skips saying the name of Allah, by non-Muslim who does the
same + some other situations).  I really think this is an issue that one
should take up with a mufti and not with fiqh hackers you find on the net
(prime example: myself).  

     One aya which is relevant, and which one does not hear very often
in discussions of this issue is: la ta'kulu min ma lam yudhkar ism Allah
`alayh ("don't eat that upon which the name of Allah has not been said...").
If there is a *general* allowance to eat things the "ahl al-kitab" eat,
things that are specifically forbidden, surely, cannot be included
in this permission (eg "ahl al-kitab" eat pork...).  Like I said,
however, I think you should continue this research with someone more
qualified, like a mufti you trust...

>Second question:
>     I've seen some of the brothers wore shoes when they were praying and when
>they were taking wudhuk.
>     From what I've learned, we must wear a clean cloth when we're praying.
>Since shoes are dirty, we cannot wear it.

     I wouldn't be too harsh on this one.  There are hadiths regarding 
the permissibility of praying in one's shoes.  "Dirty" is something fairly
well defined when it comes to fiqh.  How often do you get urine, blood,
feces etc. on your shoes today?  Also, again there is a difference of
opinion between Shafi`i's and Hanafis regarding leather shoes that 
become dirty--do they simply become clean by their being rubbed through
the dirt as you walk further in them, or do they need additional cleaning?
If you really want to research this in detail, again, I would suggest
asking a mufti regarding the variouos positions and the arguments for them.

[OK so sue me: I don't believe a Bachelor's in Engineering and some
reading in fiqh books is sufficient background for ijtihad...]

                                                  Iftikhar.
--
La yajrimannakum shan'anu qawmin `ala an-ta`dilu; i`dilu huwa aqrubu li
al-taqwa...
zama@ellis.uchicago.edu        xpszama@uchimvs1.uchicago.edu