> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Halal Food in Australia - URL: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/halal-food-australia/ - Published: 2026-09-30T21:36:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-01T23:47:16.000Z - Description: What the Qur'an forbids, how slaughter works, where the five schools differ on stunning, seafood, gelatine and alcohol, and what a halal logo on an Australian product does and does not tell you. - Author: Mohammad Siddiqui - Tags: Deen New to the Qur'an? Start with [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/), then read [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/). All articles: [Deen: Start Here](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/deen/). Deen · Food · Australia Australia runs a government-backed halal program for meat sold to some of the largest Muslim markets in the world, and a Muslim in western Sydney can still stand in a supermarket aisle unsure whether the chicken in front of them is halal. Both facts are true, and the gap between them is what this article is about: what the Qur'an actually forbids, how slaughter is supposed to be done, where the schools disagree, and what a halal logo on an Australian product does and does not tell you. Halal (*ḥalāl*) means permitted; its opposite, *ḥarām*, means forbidden. Between them sits a grey zone the scholars call *mushtabah*, doubtful, and in food most of the practical questions live there. The word comes from a hadith of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr in both Ṣaḥīḥs: "What is lawful is evident and what is unlawful is evident, and in between them are the things doubtful which many people do not know. So he who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless..."[72](#src-72) I have tried to set out the texts first, then the positions of the four Sunni schools (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī) and the Jaʿfarī or Twelver Shia school, and then the Australian system as it actually works, with dates on everything that can go out of date. The short version 1. The Qur'an names a short list of forbidden meats: carrion, flowing blood, pork, and what is dedicated to other than God, plus animals killed by strangling, beating, falls or goring unless slaughtered in time. Everything else starts from permission.[1](#src-1)[2](#src-2) 2. Slaughter means a swift cut that makes the blood flow, with God's name mentioned. The schools differ on how strictly the naming is required, and the Jaʿfarī school adds conditions such as a Muslim slaughterer and facing the qibla.[3](#src-3)[4](#src-4)[5](#src-5) 3. Most Sunni scholars accept stunning if the animal is still alive when cut; nobody accepts meat from an animal the stun has killed. Most Australian halal slaughter uses reversible stunning.[6](#src-6)[7](#src-7) 4. Export halal is supervised under a government program with approved Islamic bodies. Domestic halal certification has no government framework: a Senate committee called it a two-tiered system in 2015, and that is still broadly the case.[8](#src-8)[9](#src-9) 5. Seafood, gelatine, rennet and alcohol-based flavourings are where the schools genuinely part ways. The table in section 11 sets out each school's view and the reason for it. Contents 1. [What the Qur'an forbids](#the-texts) 2. [Slaughter (dhabīḥa)](#slaughter) 3. [The food of the People of the Book](#people-of-the-book) 4. [Stunning](#stunning) 5. [Machine slaughter of poultry](#machines) 6. [What certification means in Australia](#certification) 7. [Alcohol in food](#alcohol) 8. [Gelatine, rennet and transformation](#gelatine) 9. [Seafood](#seafood) 10. [Reading a label](#labels) 11. [The table: school by school](#table) 12. [Eating out](#eating-out) 13. [Glossary](#glossary) ## 1\. What the Qur'an forbids The starting point in Islamic law is that food is permitted unless there is a reason to forbid it. The Qur'an makes the point by keeping the forbidden list short. Qur'an 6:145 tells the Prophet ﷺ to say: "I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden to eat except carrion, running blood, swine, which is impure, or a sinful offering in the name of any other than Allah."[2](#src-2) Qur'an 2:173 repeats the same four and adds the mercy that governs all of them: "if someone is compelled by necessity, neither driven by desire nor exceeding immediate need, they will not be sinful."[10](#src-10) حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةُ وَٱلدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ بِهِۦ وَٱلْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَٱلْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَٱلْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَٱلنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَآ أَكَلَ ٱلسَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ "Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, and swine; what is slaughtered in the name of any other than Allah; what is killed by strangling, beating, a fall, or by being gored to death; what is partly eaten by a predator unless you slaughter it..." Qur'an 5:3[1](#src-1) Qur'an 5:3 is the fullest version. It spells out what "carrion" (*mayta*) includes: an animal strangled, beaten to death, killed by a fall, gored, or partly eaten by a predator. Then comes the phrase on which the whole law of slaughter hangs: *illā mā dhakkaytum*, "unless you slaughter it". An animal that is injured but still alive can be made lawful by proper slaughter. One that is already dead cannot. Keep that phrase in mind; it decides the stunning debate in section 4. The hadith add a small number of further prohibitions. In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ, Ibn ʿAbbās reports that the Prophet ﷺ "prohibited the eating of all fanged beasts of prey, and all the birds having talons."[11](#src-11) That rules out lions and dogs, eagles and hawks. It does not affect anything sold in an Australian supermarket, so I leave it there. Then there are 6:118 and 6:121\. The first puts the rule positively: "So eat only of what is slaughtered in Allah's Name if you truly believe in His revelations."[73](#src-73) The second puts it as a prohibition: "Do not eat of what is not slaughtered in Allah's Name."[12](#src-12) This verse, more than any other, is what makes a Muslim ask how the animal died, and not just what it was. ## 2\. Slaughter (dhabīḥa) *Dhabīḥa* is the animal slaughtered, and *dhabḥ* the act: a cut across the throat that severs the major vessels so that the blood flows out. The Prophet ﷺ described the requirement in al-Bukhārī: "If the killing tool causes blood to gush out and if Allah's Name is mentioned, eat (of the slaughtered animal). But do not slaughter with a tooth or a nail."[3](#src-3) The method is defined by result, blood flowing, and by the name. There is an ethical requirement too. Shaddād ibn Aws reports in Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ: "Allah has enjoined goodness to everything; so when you kill, kill in a good way and when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way," with the instruction to sharpen the blade and let the animal die comfortably.[13](#src-13) Scholars on both sides of the stunning debate quote this hadith. They disagree about which method best fulfils it. ### Saying God's name (tasmiya) The *tasmiya* is saying *bismillāh*, "in the name of God", at the moment of slaughter. How strictly it is required is a classic disagreement. The Ḥanafīs, Mālikīs and Ḥanbalīs make it obligatory, but excuse the person who forgets; al-Durar al-Saniyya's fiqh encyclopaedia summarises this as obligatory at slaughter and "falls away through forgetfulness".[14](#src-14) The Shāfiʿīs hold it to be a sunna, and in their school the slaughter is valid even if the naming is left out, provided no other name is invoked. The split goes back to how 6:121 is read. Ibn Kathīr says the verse "is used to prove" that an animal over which God's name was not mentioned is unlawful even when a Muslim slaughtered it, and he records two readings of its words "that would certainly be ˹an act of˺ disobedience": some say "it" means eating such meat, others that it means sacrifice to other than God.[71](#src-71) The second reading is the one the Shāfiʿī position needs, and it has a textual hook: 6:145 uses the same word, *fisq*, for "a sinful offering in the name of any other than Allah".[2](#src-2) The Ḥanbalīs are the most specific about wording: Ibn Qudāma insisted on "bismillāh" itself, while Ḥanafī and Mālikī authorities accept other forms of remembering God if meant as the naming.[4](#src-4) Al-Sīstānī's rulings make the naming a condition, excused if forgotten but not if deliberately omitted.[5](#src-5) There is one well-known hadith that eases the burden of the consumer rather than the butcher. ʿĀʾisha reports in al-Bukhārī that some people, recent converts, used to bring meat and nobody knew whether God's name had been mentioned over it. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Mention Allah's Name on it and eat."[15](#src-15) Scholars read this as meaning that a Muslim does not have to investigate meat supplied by Muslims; it is not permission to ignore what you know. That distinction matters later. ### The Jaʿfarī conditions The Twelver school sets out a longer list. In al-Sīstānī's *Islamic Laws*, ruling 2611, the slaughterer must be a Muslim; the tool must be of iron where possible (the English edition adds that, by obligatory precaution, "a steel knife is not sufficient"); the animal must face the qibla; God's name must be mentioned; where there is doubt about whether it was alive, it must show some movement after the cut; a normal amount of blood must flow; and the cut must be made with the intention of slaughter.[5](#src-5) The qibla requirement and the Muslim-only requirement are the two that make the practical difference in Australia, because they cannot be assumed from a general halal certificate. ## 3\. The food of the People of the Book Qur'an 5:5 says: "Today all good, pure foods have been made lawful for you. Similarly, the food of the People of the Book is permissible for you and yours is permissible for them."[16](#src-16) The "People of the Book" (*ahl al-kitāb*) are Jews and Christians. The question is what "their food" covers, and whether it includes animals they slaughter by modern methods. The Sunni schools read the verse as including animals slaughtered by Jews and Christians. That position is not in dispute. What is disputed is its conditions. Muhammad Taqi Usmani, in *The Islamic Laws of Animal Slaughter*, argues that the permission rests on the People of the Book slaughtering in the prescribed way and not invoking any other name, and quotes Ibn Kathīr to that effect; he treats an animal killed by a method that would be invalid for a Muslim as unlawful whoever killed it.[17](#src-17) The International Islamic Fiqh Academy's 1997 resolution likewise says the food of the People of the Book is lawful when slaughtered in accordance with the Sharīʿa's conditions.[6](#src-6) AMJA's Dr Salah al-Sawy (2009) accepts that Muslims need not inquire into what is hidden from them, but adds that the permission does not apply "when you know that the people don't slaughter" in the prescribed way.[18](#src-18) Islamweb, summarising the schools, puts the majority position bluntly: an animal killed by strangling, electric shock or anything other than cutting the throat is carrion and unlawful, whoever killed it.[68](#src-68) A minority of modern scholars read 5:5 more widely. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, in *The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam*, held imported meat from Christian countries lawful even if the animal was killed "by means of electric shock or the like", so long as they consider it lawful in their own religion. Many Muslims in the West have relied on that view. Deobandi and other critics answer that the condition in 5:3, "unless you slaughter it", governs 5:5 as well, or the same reasoning would make pork lawful.[67](#src-67) You will meet both positions in Australian families. The Jaʿfarī position is different in principle. Al-Sīstānī holds that slaughter by the People of the Book is not valid, as a matter of obligatory precaution.[5](#src-5) Their other food, bread, vegetables, dairy, is permitted "as long as we do not know or are not sure that it consists of what is forbidden to us".[19](#src-19) In Twelver reading, "their food" in 5:5 does not extend to their slaughtered meat. ### What this means in an Australian supermarket Uncertified supermarket meat in Australia is not, in the ordinary case, slaughtered by an observant Christian or Jew saying God's name. It is processed on a commercial line, often by stunning and mechanical cutting. So the People of the Book argument, which sounds as if it should settle the matter, usually does not apply to it, and the fatwa bodies above do not treat it as permission to buy uncertified meat. The International Islamic Fiqh Academy goes further about imports: meat from non-Muslim-majority countries is treated as forbidden where there is strong suspicion that the slaughter was not valid, unless certified by Islamic bodies.[6](#src-6) Al-Sīstānī's office says that meat from a non-Muslim producer in a place where Muslims are not the majority may not be eaten unless it is known that the producer is Muslim, and that the writing on the package "has no value if it does not lead to certainty".[20](#src-20) Darul Ifta Australia's approach to doubtful chicken, in a 2011 answer, is similar: without reliable information that it is halal, a certificate alone does not make it permissible.[21](#src-21) ## 4\. Stunning Stunning makes an animal unconscious before it is cut. The main methods are electrical (for cattle and sheep, current through the head; for poultry, often a live-bird waterbath), mechanical (a captive bolt, penetrating or non-penetrating), and gas. The question for Islamic law is the one in 5:3: is the animal still alive when the knife goes in? If it is, it has been slaughtered. If the stun killed it, it is *mayta*, carrion, whatever happens next. ### What the scholars have said The International Islamic Fiqh Academy (tenth session, Jeddah, 1997) says slaughter should "in principle" be without stunning, because the Islamic method is "more merciful towards the animal". But it permits the meat of a stunned animal "if it is technically certified that the animal did not die from this operation before its slaughter", sets limits on the current and duration of electrical stunning, and rules out methods such as axes and hammers.[6](#src-6) Saudi Arabia's Permanent Committee (al-Lajna al-Dāʾima) takes the same line: stunned animals are permissible "so long as they are slaughtered properly before they die".[22](#src-22) Jordan's General Iftaa' Department (2013) says that if the stun leaves the animal unconscious but alive, slaughtering it is Islamic slaughter; if the animal dies from the stun, the meat is unlawful.[23](#src-23) Darul Ifta Australia, from the Deobandi Ḥanafī tradition, reaches the same conclusion but adds a caution: if there is uncertainty about whether the stun will kill, it should not be used, and a stun that causes unnecessary pain is sinful even where the meat is lawful.[24](#src-24) So among the Sunni bodies cited here the divide is less about whether stunning is ever acceptable than about how confident you can be that no animal dies from it. ANIC's own halal guidelines reflect this: ANIC "does not recommend stunning of animals before slaughter", and where cattle are stunned it accepts only a non-penetrating head stun from which "the animal must be able to regain consciousness, if need be, before the halal cut is made."[25](#src-25) Al-Sīstānī's published conditions do not mention stunning directly; they require that the animal show some movement after the cut where there is doubt that it was alive, and that a normal amount of blood flow.[5](#src-5) ### The Australian position Stunning before slaughter is the Australian norm. The RSPCA's summary is that "all export and most domestic slaughtering establishments" use reversible stunning for halal slaughter, while "a small number of abattoirs and poultry processors" hold ongoing permission to slaughter without stunning for religious reasons; it counted nine as at 2020, two in New South Wales, three in South Australia and four in Victoria.[7](#src-7) In 2011 Beef Central reported twelve exempt abattoirs and ministers unable to agree on ending the exemptions.[26](#src-26) A peer-reviewed review of the law published in 2020, working from a freedom-of-information request, counted eight (two each in New South Wales and South Australia and four in Victoria), and explained the legal basis: the national meat standard, AS 4696:2007, requires animals to be stunned before sticking but allows slaughter without it under arrangements approved by each state.[66](#src-66)[69](#src-69) The standard was reissued as AS 4696:2023, but that revision changed only the post-mortem inspection schedules, not the stunning rules.[70](#src-70) The one-plant difference between the two counts is in South Australia, and I could not find a current official count from an Australian government source. The RSPCA itself is "strongly opposed to all forms of slaughter that do not involve prior stunning".[7](#src-7) The 2015 Senate inquiry into third-party food certification heard that stunning "has to be reversible or 'not permanent' to be accepted as halal", and noted that "Islamic organisations are divided on the question of whether any form of stunning is appropriate." The committee said it did not have the evidence to make a firm judgement, and that religious slaughter methods are compliant with Australian animal welfare legislation.[27](#src-27) ### The 2023 chicken dispute The question stopped being theoretical in May 2023\. ANIC's Australian Fatwa Council reported, on the basis of veterinary testing including vital signs and ECG readings, that controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) of poultry with gas was "not fit for Halal consumption", because "the animal is deemed to be dead before the slaughter".[28](#src-28) The ABC reported confusion in the community. The Islamic Co-ordinating Council of Victoria said the report was not specific about the methods it examined and that the abattoirs it knew of all used waterbath stunning; AFIC questioned an audit it said covered one facility on one day.[29](#src-29) In December 2023 AFIC announced that audits of the processors it certifies had confirmed the birds were alive after stunning, citing a veterinarian involved in the audit.[30](#src-30) I do not think a reader can resolve that dispute from outside, and I have not tried. What it shows is that "halal certified chicken" in Australia can mean different things depending on the certifier, and that the certifiers themselves disagree about which stunning methods are acceptable. That is exactly the situation the Senate committee described. ### The European comparison Europe has gone further. The Flemish and Walloon regions of Belgium banned slaughter without stunning, allowing only reversible stunning for religious slaughter. The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld that approach on 17 December 2020 (Case C-336/19), finding that it struck "a fair balance" between animal welfare and religious freedom.[31](#src-31) On 13 February 2024 the European Court of Human Rights found no violation of freedom of religion or of the prohibition of discrimination.[32](#src-32) Australia has not followed that path, but the argument is the same one. ## 5\. Machine slaughter of poultry Commercial chicken processing moves thousands of birds an hour past a rotating blade. The Islamic question is whether a machine cut counts as slaughter, and whose tasmiya counts. Opinion is split. The International Islamic Fiqh Academy says slaughter should "in principle" be by hand, but that mechanical slaughter of poultry "is not prohibited" if the conditions are met.[6](#src-6) ANIC Halal's guideline allows it: the trachea, oesophagus and jugular and carotid vessels must be severed, a Muslim slaughterman must recite the tasmiya when engaging the blade, and "any missing bird from the mechanical blade must be slaughtered manually".[25](#src-25) Al-Sīstānī's office says it is sufficient if the operator repeats God's name as long as the machine continues to slaughter.[33](#src-33) On the other side, Darul Ifta Australia holds that "if an animal is mechanically slaughtered, it will not be permissible to eat it", because a Muslim must personally say the name over each animal.[24](#src-24) Taqi Usmani, in his book on slaughter, declined to give a firm ruling on modern mechanical methods for lack of detailed knowledge of them.[17](#src-17) If you follow the stricter Ḥanafī view, you will be looking for hand-slaughtered poultry, which is sold in Australia but is not the norm. If you follow ANIC or al-Sīstānī on this point, a certified machine line with a Muslim operator may be acceptable, provided you trust the certifier on the rest. ## 6\. What certification means in Australia This is where most confusion lies, because Australia runs two quite different systems under the same word. ### Export: a government program Halal red meat for export is covered by the Australian Government Authorised Halal Program (AGAHP), which the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry describes as a three-way partnership of the government, Approved Islamic Organisations (AIOs) and export-registered establishments, running since 1997\. The department does not certify halal itself. The AIOs are responsible for "the religious aspects": they train and supervise Muslim slaughtermen, audit the establishments, and endorse and co-sign the halal certificates.[8](#src-8) The department publishes the list of recognised bodies, with the importing countries that recognise each. The version last updated 8 July 2026, which I checked again on 1 October 2026, names eighteen organisations, from the Australian National Imams Council and the Islamic Coordinating Council of Victoria to the Perth Mosque and the Western Australia Halal Authority. Recognition varies a good deal. The page lists nine named markets plus "all other markets": no body is recognised by all nine, three (the Victorian council, the Supreme Islamic Council of Halal Meat in Australia and Australian Halal Development and Accreditation) are recognised by eight, two are recognised by just one named market (Egypt in one case, Indonesia in the other), and one only for the unnamed "other markets".[34](#src-34) Importing countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and others) decide which Australian certifiers they accept, which is why the list shows markets against each name. ### Domestic: no government framework Halal food sold within Australia is a different matter. There is no government halal standard for domestic products and no licensing of domestic certifiers. A certifier is a private organisation, often a registered business or an association, that inspects a producer, charges a fee and licenses its logo. The Senate Economics References Committee, reporting in December 2015, described the result as a "two-tiered system": one framework for export and, for the domestic market, one "characterised by the absence of a framework". It heard that there were about 13 halal certifiers in 2011–12 and "some 22" by 2015, and it called domestic regulation "lacklustre".[9](#src-9) The inquiry is worth reading for other reasons too. It was prompted in part by campaigns claiming that halal certification funded terrorism and raised food prices. On terrorism, AUSTRAC told the committee it had "no information that indicates halal certification is linked to terrorism", and the committee found "no direct link". On prices, it found that the evidence "overwhelmingly suggests that halal certification does not result in increased food prices".[9](#src-9) The ABC's report on the day quoted the committee's view that halal certification "is purely a commercial exchange".[35](#src-35) The committee recommended that the government consider becoming the sole signatory on export halal certificates, promote a "whole-of-country", government-led system internationally, and consider requiring domestic certification to meet the export standard; it asked the industry to form a single certification authority with a registered trade mark. The government's response in August 2017 accepted the international promotion, "noted" the sole-signatory idea, and referred the domestic question to the Food Forum.[36](#src-36) As far as I can find, domestic halal certification is still unregulated by government in 2026. ### The law that does apply A halal logo is still a claim made in trade, and false claims can be expensive. In *Halal Certification Authority v Scadilone* (2014), the Federal Court ordered kebab businesses that had used a certifier's registered trade mark without being certified to pay $91,015 in additional damages, a figure Justice Perram set to make infringement "unattractive".[37](#src-37) ANIC told the ABC in 2023 that it was engaging with the ACCC over alleged false halal labelling.[29](#src-29) The practical upshot: a halal logo on a domestic product tells you which organisation vouched for it. It does not tell you which stunning method was used, whether the slaughterer faced the qibla, or whether the product would satisfy a Ḥanafī on machine-slaughtered chicken. To know those things you have to know the certifier's standards, and ideally ask them. ## 7\. Alcohol in food The Qur'an's final word on intoxicants is 5:90: "Intoxicants, gambling, idols, and drawing lots for decisions are all evil of Satan's handiwork. So shun them..."[38](#src-38) The word is *khamr*. In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ the Prophet ﷺ says: "Every intoxicant is Khamr and every intoxicant is forbidden."[39](#src-39) And in Abū Dāwūd: "If a large amount of anything causes intoxication, a small amount of it is prohibited," graded ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī.[40](#src-40) That settles wine, beer and spirits, and it settles cooking with them: a sauce made with wine is made with khamr, and on the usual view it does not matter whether the alcohol has cooked off. The harder cases are small amounts of alcohol that are not drinks at all: vanilla extract, flavourings dissolved in ethanol, soy sauce with a trace of alcohol from fermentation. ### The Ḥanafī distinction The classical Ḥanafī school drew a distinction the others did not. Another hadith in Muslim says: "Wine is prepared from the (fruit) of these two trees: date-palm and vine."[41](#src-41) Abū Ḥanīfa and Abū Yūsuf held that khamr in the strict sense is the drink of grapes and dates, and that intoxicants from other sources are forbidden only in the amount that intoxicates; Imam Muḥammad, the third founder of the school, disagreed and applied the rule of the small amount to all of them.[42](#src-42) Against the narrow reading, the majority cite ʿUmar's sermon in al-Bukhārī defining khamr as whatever "disturbs the mind", made from grapes, dates, honey, wheat or barley.[43](#src-43) Modern Deobandi scholars, notably Muhammad Taqi Usmani, have used Abū Ḥanīfa's view to allow synthetic or grain alcohol in medicines and non-food uses.[42](#src-42) ### Modern fatwa bodies on flavourings Several official bodies in Muslim-majority countries have ruled on industrial ethanol. Singapore's MUIS permits natural or synthetic ethanol not derived from khamr as a solvent in flavourings, within limits of 0.5% in the flavouring and 0.1% in the final product.[44](#src-44) Indonesia's MUI (Fatwa 10 of 2018) forbids ethanol from the khamr industry but permits other ethanol, tolerating under 0.5% in drinks and setting no fixed limit in food so long as it is harmless.[45](#src-45) Al-Sīstānī's office treats medicines in which alcohol is "so minute that it dissolves" as permissible.[33](#src-33) What these rulings share is a distinction between drinking alcohol and a trace of ethanol used as a processing aid that does not intoxicate. What they do not share is a single number. An Australian certifier may follow any of these approaches, or a stricter one, and the label will not tell you which. ## 8\. Gelatine, rennet and transformation Gelatine is made from the skin and bones of animals, pigs and cattle among them. Gelatine from a lawfully slaughtered animal is halal, and nobody disputes that. The argument is over gelatine from pigs, or from cattle not slaughtered in the Islamic way. The argument turns on *istiḥāla*, transformation: the principle that an impure substance which changes completely into a different substance takes the ruling of what it has become, as wine turning into vinegar does. The Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences concluded that gelatine produced by transforming the bones, skin and sinews of impure animals "is tahir (pure) and it is permissible to eat it". Islam Question & Answer, reporting that view, sides with the opposing one, that the change is only partial, and holds pork gelatine forbidden.[46](#src-46) A 2015 article from a Turkish halal certifier makes the scientific version of that objection: gelatine keeps the amino-acid sequence of the collagen it came from, so the source can still be identified.[47](#src-47) The Jaʿfarī position, in al-Sīstānī's code for Muslims in the West, is that gelatine may be eaten where it is unknown whether it came from an animal or a plant; where it is known to come from an animal, the answer turns on whether that animal was lawfully slaughtered or the substance has been transformed.[33](#src-33) Rennet, the enzyme used to set cheese, raises the same question in a milder form. Islam Question & Answer sets out the classical split: Abū Ḥanīfa, and one report from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, held that rennet from an animal not properly slaughtered remains pure; the Mālikīs, the Shāfiʿīs and another report from Aḥmad held it impure; and Ibn Taymiyya inclined to the first view.[48](#src-48) Al-Sīstānī's office says there is "no problem" in eating cheese where the source of the rennet is unknown.[33](#src-33) Cheese made with microbial or other non-animal rennet avoids the question altogether. ## 9\. Seafood Qur'an 5:96 says: "It is lawful for you to hunt and eat seafood."[49](#src-49) When a man asked the Prophet ﷺ about using seawater for wuḍūʾ, he answered: "Its water is pure and what dies in it is lawful food." Al-Albānī graded it ṣaḥīḥ.[50](#src-50) A hadith in Ibn Mājah adds that "two kinds of dead meat" are permitted, fish and locusts; Darussalam grades it ṣaḥīḥ.[51](#src-51) So fish need no slaughter. That much is common ground among the Sunni schools. What counts as permitted sea food is not. **Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī.** Most scholars permit nearly everything that lives only in the sea: prawns, crabs, lobsters, octopus, squid, mussels and oysters. An Islamweb fatwa (2005) puts it as "most scholars have permitted eating everything caught from the sea", attributing the widest form of the view to the Mālikīs; the Shāfiʿīs, as a Ḥanafī teacher summarises them, permit "nearly all sea creatures, with limited exceptions".[52](#src-52)[53](#src-53) **Ḥanafī.** Only fish (*samak*) is lawful from the sea. Crabs and other non-fish sea creatures are not. Prawns are the famous hard case: SeekersGuidance (Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, 2026) gives the soundest Ḥanafī view as permitting them, since "the Arabs customarily considered shrimp and prawns to be fish".[53](#src-53) Darul Ifta Australia (2011) records two views on prawns and on lobsters, some scholars permitting them and others classing them as *makrūh taḥrīmī*, a prohibitive dislike close to forbidden, and classes crabs in that category outright.[54](#src-54) **Jaʿfarī.** Fish must have scales and must come out of the water alive; prawns and shrimp are permitted if taken alive; lobsters, crayfish and frogs are forbidden.[19](#src-19) Shaykh Mansour Leghaei's list, which uses Australian fish names, is practical: barramundi, flathead, snapper, salmon, whiting and tuna (except scaleless kinds) are halal, as are prawns; catfish, eel, shark, squid, octopus, mussels, oysters, crabs and lobsters are not.[55](#src-55) For a mixed family, this is where the dinner-table disagreements happen. A Shāfiʿī eating calamari, a Ḥanafī eating the fish and chips beside it and a Shia friend passing on the flake (shark) are each following a sound position in their own school. ## 10\. Reading a label On Australian labels, additives must be declared by their class name followed by the name or code number, for example "Colour (Caramel I)" or "Colour (150a)".[56](#src-56) What the label does not say is where the additive came from. FSANZ does not require an animal or plant source to be declared. A handful of codes on the FSANZ list are worth knowing because their source may be animal:[57](#src-57) | Code | FSANZ name | Why it matters | | ---- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 120 | Cochineal or carmines or carminic acid | A red colour isolated from the insect *Dactylopius coccus*.[58](#src-58) Whether insects are lawful is itself disputed; many avoid it. | | 471 | Mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids | An emulsifier made "mainly from plant origin, but also fats of animal origin may be used"; only the manufacturer can tell you which.[59](#src-59) | | 542 | Bone phosphate | "Produced from animal bones".[60](#src-60) | | 904 | Shellac | A glaze from the secretion of lac insects. The Dutch reference Food-Info lists no religious restriction on it.[61](#src-61) | | 920 | L-cysteine monohydrochloride | A dough conditioner "derived from proteins, including animal protein and hair".[62](#src-62) | Gelatine is not an additive code on the FSANZ list; it appears by name as an ingredient. So do animal fats such as lard and tallow. If a product carries a halal logo, the certifier has in principle already asked these questions. If it carries none, the questions are yours, and the manufacturer's customer line is usually the only place to get an answer. Some certifiers provide online checks: the Islamic Co-ordinating Council of Victoria runs a form for checking whether a certificate it issued is genuine and current, and the Islamic Council of Victoria points consumers to it.[63](#src-63)[64](#src-64) ## 11\. The table: school by school The table below sets out common ingredients and situations with each school's view and the reason behind it. Filter by topic, search by word, or pick your school to highlight its column. Where a cell says "contested", scholars within that tradition disagree, and the reason column says how. The sources are those cited in the sections above. Search Highlight a schoolNoneḤanafīMālikīShāfiʿīḤanbalīJaʿfarī Halal · Not halal · Contested or conditional | Item or situation | Ḥanafī | Mālikī | Shāfiʿī | Ḥanbalī | Jaʿfarī | Why | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | MeatBeef or lamb slaughtered by a Muslim with God's name | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal if also facing the qibla, iron blade, and the other conditions | The standard case: blood made to flow, with the name (Bukhārī 5498). The Jaʿfarī school adds conditions (al-Sīstānī, ruling 2611). | | MeatGod's name deliberately left out | Not halal | Not halal | Halal (the naming is sunna) | Not halal | Not halal | Qur'an 6:121\. The Shāfiʿīs treat the naming as sunna; the other schools as a condition (Islamweb 35595). | | MeatGod's name forgotten | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Forgetting is excused in the schools that require the name (al-Durar al-Saniyya; al-Sīstānī). | | MeatSlaughtered by a Christian or Jew in the prescribed way | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Not halal (obligatory precaution) | Qur'an 5:5, "the food of the People of the Book". Sunni schools include their slaughter, subject to proper method; the Jaʿfarī school does not. | | MeatUncertified supermarket meat in Australia | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid | Not permitted | Not a classical split. Modern bodies (IIFA 1997, AMJA, Darul Ifta Australia, al-Sīstānī) treat known non-Islamic commercial slaughter as not covered by 5:5\. A minority (al-Qaradawi) allows it if the People of the Book regard it as lawful. | | StunningStunned, still alive when cut | Halal; many urge caution | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal if the conditions, including signs of life, are met | Qur'an 5:3, "unless you slaughter it": alive at the cut means slaughtered. IIFA 1997, the Permanent Committee, Jordan's Iftaa'. Darul Ifta Australia advises against stunning where death is possible. | | StunningAnimal killed by the stun before the cut | Not halal | Not halal | Not halal | Not halal | Not halal | It is mayta (carrion), Qur'an 5:3\. This is why the 2023 dispute over gas stunning of chickens mattered. | | StunningMachine-cut poultry, Muslim operator saying the name | Contested; Darul Ifta Australia: not permissible | Contested | Contested | Contested | Sufficient if the name is repeated while the machine runs | IIFA: not prohibited under conditions. ANIC Halal permits it with hand-cutting of missed birds. Taqi Usmani declined to rule. The objection: the name must be said over each animal. | | SeafoodFish with scales | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal if taken from the water alive | Qur'an 5:96; "what dies in it is lawful" (Abū Dāwūd 83, ṣaḥīḥ, al-Albānī). | | SeafoodScaleless fish: catfish, eel, shark (flake) | Halal (they are fish) | Halal | Halal | Halal | Not halal | The Jaʿfarī school requires scales (al-Sīstānī; Leghaei's list names catfish, eel and shark). | | SeafoodPrawns and shrimp | Contested: soundest view halal as a kind of fish; some say makrūh taḥrīmī | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal if taken alive | Whether a prawn is "fish" (SeekersGuidance; Darul Ifta Australia). The Jaʿfarī school permits shrimp by explicit ruling. | | SeafoodCrab and lobster | Not permitted (crab); lobster contested | Halal | Halal | Halal | Not halal | Ḥanafī: only fish is lawful. Majority: everything of the sea. Al-Sīstānī forbids lobster and crayfish; Leghaei lists crab as not halal. | | SeafoodSquid, octopus, mussels, oysters | Not permitted | Halal | Halal | Halal | Not halal | Not fish (Ḥanafī); no scales (Jaʿfarī); sea creatures (majority). | | AdditivesGelatine from a lawfully slaughtered animal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Halal | Agreed by all. | | AdditivesPork gelatine | Contested | Contested | Contested | Contested | Turns on transformation; permitted if source unknown | Istiḥāla: IOMS held transformed gelatine pure; many scholars and certifiers hold the change incomplete and forbid it (Islam Q&A 219137). | | AdditivesCheese set with rennet from an animal not properly slaughtered | Pure (Abū Ḥanīfa) | Impure | Impure | Two reports from Aḥmad | No problem where the source is unknown | Whether rennet shares the ruling of the dead animal (Islam Q&A 2841; al-Sīstānī). Microbial rennet avoids the question. | | AlcoholWine or beer in cooking | Not halal | Not halal | Not halal | Not halal | Not halal | Khamr is forbidden, and "a small amount of it is prohibited" (Abū Dāwūd 3681). | | AlcoholTrace ethanol (not from wine) in a flavouring | Many permit (Abū Ḥanīfa's distinction) | Contested | Contested | Contested | Minute dissolved amounts permitted in medicines | Non-intoxicating trace versus "every intoxicant is khamr". MUIS and MUI permit non-khamr ethanol within limits. | | Eating outSitting at a table where alcohol is being drunk | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid | Avoid | Forbidden | "He is not to sit at a spread in which Khamr is circulated" (Tirmidhī 2801, ḥasan, Darussalam); al-Sīstānī's code forbids eating at such a table. | Sources: see sections 2 to 9, especially notes on al-Sīstānī's rulings,[5](#src-5)[19](#src-19)[33](#src-33) the International Islamic Fiqh Academy,[6](#src-6) Darul Ifta Australia,[24](#src-24)[54](#src-54) Islamweb and al-Durar al-Saniyya on the naming,[4](#src-4)[14](#src-14) SeekersGuidance on seafood,[53](#src-53) Leghaei,[55](#src-55) and Islam Question & Answer on gelatine and rennet.[46](#src-46)[48](#src-48) Where a whole row reads "avoid", the schools did not address the modern case directly; the row reports how contemporary scholars within them have ruled. ## 12\. Eating out A restaurant can call itself halal without any certificate, and there is no Australian law that defines the word for a menu. What you are relying on, when you eat out, is either a certifier or the owner's word. Both can be good. Neither tells you everything. A few questions sort out most places. Is there a current certificate on the wall, and from whom? Is it for the whole kitchen or only the meat supplier? A butcher's certificate says nothing about the lard in the pastry or the wine in the sauce. Is alcohol served? Is pork cooked in the same kitchen, on the same grill? "Muslim-owned" and "halal-friendly" usually mean something honest, but they are not certificates, and a certificate for the chicken is not a certificate for the kitchen. On alcohol at the table, the hadith in al-Tirmidhī, graded ḥasan by Darussalam, says that whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day "is not to sit at a spread in which Khamr is circulated".[65](#src-65) Al-Sīstānī's code forbids eating at a table where alcohol or other intoxicants are being consumed.[19](#src-19) A restaurant that serves wine is not the same as your table; many Muslims draw the line at their own table, and some at the door. And then there is the other side of the balance, which the hadith of ʿĀʾisha in section 2 represents. The Prophet ﷺ told people who did not know whether God's name had been said over meat brought by Muslims to say it themselves and eat.[15](#src-15) Islamic law does not ask you to interrogate every Muslim host or cross-examine the owner of every kebab shop in Auburn. It asks you not to eat what you know to be forbidden, to take reasonable care where you have real doubt, and not to turn other people's food into a test of their faith. Where the line falls between care and suspicion is something each person has to judge, preferably with a scholar they trust. ## Glossary Ḥalāl, ḥarām Permitted and forbidden. Mushtabah Doubtful: neither clearly permitted nor clearly forbidden. Ṭayyib Good and wholesome; the Qur'an pairs it with ḥalāl. Mayta Carrion: an animal that died other than by lawful slaughter. Dhabīḥa, dhabḥ, tadhkiya The slaughtered animal, the act of slaughter, and the ritual making-lawful of an animal by slaughter (from *dhakkaytum* in 5:3). Tasmiya Saying *bismillāh*, "in the name of God", at slaughter. Ahl al-kitāb The People of the Book: Jews and Christians. Khamr Wine; by extension, intoxicating drink. Istiḥāla Transformation of a substance into another, changing its legal ruling. Makrūh taḥrīmī In Ḥanafī terminology, disliked to the point of near-prohibition. Qibla The direction of the Kaʿba in Mecca, faced in prayer and, in the Jaʿfarī school, in slaughter. AGAHP, AIO Australian Government Authorised Halal Program; Approved Islamic Organisation, a body recognised to certify export halal meat. CAS Controlled atmosphere stunning, using gas, mainly in poultry. FSANZ Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which sets food labelling rules. **This is a research article, not a fatwa.** It reports what the texts say and what scholars, certifiers and Australian authorities have said, with sources, and it cannot tell you whether a particular product or shop is halal. Rulings on stunning, machine slaughter and additives change as practice changes. For your own decisions, ask a qualified scholar you trust, and check certificates with the body that issued them. **Spotted a mistake, or know a better source?** I check and correct these pages when readers point things out. Please email [mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com](mailto:mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com?subject=Correction%3A%20Halal%20Food%20in%20Australia) with the passage, what you think is wrong, and your source (Qur'an reference, hadith with collection and number, or a book with page). ## Sources These are the sources behind the numbered notes, in the order they are first cited. Qur'an references link to quran.com, and the English is Mustafa Khattab's *The Clear Quran* as shown there. Hadith references link to sunnah.com: reports in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim are accepted as authentic in Sunni scholarship and sunnah.com shows no separate grade for them; for other collections I give the grade sunnah.com shows and who gave it. Government pages are dated as they were when I checked them in September 2026\. Sources 66 onwards were added at the end of the list, out of first-cited order, when the page was checked again on 1 and 2 October 2026. 1. Qur'an 5:3 (carrion, blood, swine, what is dedicated to other than Allah, the strangled, beaten, fallen, gored and mauled, "unless you slaughter it"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/5/3](https://quran.com/5/3?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 2. Qur'an 6:145 ("carrion, running blood, swine"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/6/145](https://quran.com/6/145?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 3. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5498 (whatever makes the blood flow, with Allah's name mentioned, except tooth and nail): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5498](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5498?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. 4. Islamweb (Arabic), Fatwa 35595, "al-Tasmiya ʿinda al-dhabḥ ḥasab mukhtalif al-madhāhib" (the naming at slaughter in the different schools), 30 July 2003: [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/35595/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 5. Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, *Islamic Laws* (English edition, sistani.org), ruling 2611, "Conditions of slaughtering an animal" (Muslim slaughterer; People of the Book not valid by obligatory precaution; iron; facing the qibla; the name of Allah; movement where in doubt; normal bleeding): [sistani.org/english/book/48/8220](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/8220/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 6. International Islamic Fiqh Academy, Resolution 95 (3/10), "Animal slaughters", tenth session, Jeddah, 28 June – 3 July 1997 (slaughter should in principle be without stunning; stunned animals lawful if certified not to have died before slaughter; limits on electrical stunning; mechanical slaughter of poultry not prohibited under conditions; food of the People of the Book; imported meat): [iifa-aifi.org](https://iifa-aifi.org/en/32542.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 7. RSPCA Australia Knowledgebase, "What is Kosher and Halal slaughter in Australia?" ("all export and most domestic slaughtering establishments" use reversible pre-slaughter stunning; a small number of abattoirs and poultry processors with ongoing permission for unstunned religious slaughter, nine as understood in 2020), updated 21 August 2024: [kb.rspca.org.au](https://kb.rspca.org.au/categories/farmed-animals/slaughter-killing/what-is-kosher-and-halal-slaughter-in-australia?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 8. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, "Exporting halal red meat and red meat products from Australia" (the Australian Government Authorised Halal Program: a three-way partnership of government, Approved Islamic Organisations and export-registered establishments, established 1997; AIOs train and supervise Muslim slaughtermen and co-sign certificates), last updated 11 February 2025: [agriculture.gov.au](https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/meat/exporting-halal-red-meat-and-products?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 9. Senate Economics References Committee, *Third party certification of food* (Canberra: Parliament of Australia, December 2015), chapter 3 ("Issues"), including paras 3.23–3.26 (prices), 3.42–3.46 (AUSTRAC and terrorism financing claims), 3.48–3.61 (the two-tiered system; about 13 certifiers in 2011–12 and "some 22" by 2015): [aph.gov.au](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary%5FBusiness/Committees/Senate/Economics/Food%5FCert%5FSchemes/Report?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 10. Qur'an 2:173 (the four prohibitions and the exception for necessity). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/2/173](https://quran.com/2/173?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 11. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1934a (fanged beasts of prey and birds with talons): [sunnah.com/muslim:1934a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1934a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. 12. Qur'an 6:121 ("do not eat of what is not slaughtered in Allah's Name"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/6/121](https://quran.com/6/121?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 13. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1955a (Shaddād ibn Aws: "when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way", sharpen the blade, spare the animal): [sunnah.com/muslim:1955a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1955a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. 14. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-fiqhiyya*, "Ḥukm al-tasmiya" (obligatory at slaughter for the Ḥanafīs, Mālikīs and Ḥanbalīs, and waived when forgotten): [dorar.net/feqhia/3692](https://dorar.net/feqhia/3692?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 15. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5507 ("Mention Allah's Name on it and eat"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5507](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5507?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. 16. Qur'an 5:5 ("the food of the People of the Book is permissible for you"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/5/5](https://quran.com/5/5?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 17. Muhammad Taqi Usmani, *The Islamic Laws of Animal Slaughter*, trans. Amir A. Toft White (White Thread Press, 2006), on the conditions for the slaughter of the People of the Book and on mechanical slaughter: [muslim-library.com (PDF)](https://www.muslim-library.com/dl/books/English%5FTHE%5FISLAMIC%5FLAWS%5FOF%5FANIMAL%5FSLAUGHTER.pdf?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 18. AMJA, Fatwa 80178, "Eating the meat of the People of the Book", Dr Salah al-Sawy, 9 October 2009: [amjaonline.org](https://www.amjaonline.org/fatwa/en/80178/eating-the-meat-of-the-people-of-the-book?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 19. al-Sīstānī, *A Code of Practice for Muslims in the West*, "Eating and drinking: general rules" (fish with scales taken alive; shrimps; lobsters, crayfish, frogs forbidden; meat from Muslim markets; the food of the People of the Book; the table where alcohol is drunk): [sistani.org/english/book/46/2044](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/46/2044/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 20. Office of al-Sīstānī, Question and Answer, "Islamic slaughtering" (meat in non-Muslim countries; "The writing \[on the package\] has no value if it does not lead to certainty"): [sistani.org/english/qa/01228](https://www.sistani.org/english/qa/01228/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 21. Darul Ifta Australia, "Eating doubtful chicken", Mufti Faizal Riza, 28 December 2011 (certificates alone do not settle doubtful chicken without reliable information): [fatwa.org.au](https://www.fatwa.org.au/eating-doubtful-chicken.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 22. Islam Question & Answer, no. 14308, "Stunning animals with electric shocks before slaughter" (Fatāwā al-Lajna al-Dāʾima: lawful "so long as they are slaughtered properly before they die"): [islamqa.info](https://islamqa.info/en/answers/14308/stunning-animals-with-electric-shocks-before-slaughter?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 23. General Iftaa' Department, Jordan, Fatwa 2799, "Sharia view on the impact of stunning animals before the slaughter", 28 April 2013: [aliftaa.jo](https://aliftaa.jo/research-fatwa-english/2799/Sharia-View-on-the-Impact-of-Stunning-Animals-before-the-Slaughter?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 24. Darul Ifta Australia, "Mechanical slaughter and stunning", Mufti Faizal Riza, 8 September 2011: [fatwa.org.au](http://www.fatwa.org.au/mechanical-slaughter--stunning.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 25. ANIC Halal, "Mechanical slaughtering" guideline (poultry by blade with a Muslim reciting the tasmiya; missed birds cut by hand; ANIC "does not recommend stunning" of cattle, and allows only reversible, non-penetrative head stunning), last modified 11 September 2019: [anichalal.org.au](https://anichalal.org.au/guidelines/mechanical-slaughtering/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 26. Beef Central, "Unstunned slaughter to continue in Australia", 31 October 2011: [beefcentral.com](https://www.beefcentral.com/news/unstunned-slaughter-to-continue-in-australia/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 27. Senate Economics References Committee, *Third party certification of food*, chapter 3, "Animal welfare" (evidence that stunning must be reversible to be accepted as halal; "Islamic organisations are divided on the question of whether any form of stunning is appropriate"; religious slaughter methods compliant with Australian animal welfare legislation): [aph.gov.au](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary%5FBusiness/Committees/Senate/Economics/Food%5FCert%5FSchemes/Report/c03?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 28. The Poultry Site, "Australian Fatwa Council says CAS stunning not suitable for halal", 12 May 2023: [thepoultrysite.com](https://www.thepoultrysite.com/news/2023/05/australian-fatwa-council-says-cas-stunning-not-suitable-for-halal?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 29. ABC News, "Muslim community seeks answers after ANIC report on halal-certified chicken abattoir", 10 May 2023: [abc.net.au](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-10/muslims-confused-halal-certified-chicken-abattoir-report/102322292?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 30. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, "AFIC affirms halal certification of chickens after audits", 20 December 2023: [afic.com.au](https://afic.com.au/2023/12/afic-affirms-halal-certification-of-chickens-after-audits/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 31. Court of Justice of the European Union, Case C-336/19, *Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België and Others*, judgment of 17 December 2020; discussed in Lena Hehemann, "Religious slaughtering, a stunning matter", *European Papers*, 22 April 2021: [europeanpapers.eu](https://www.europeanpapers.eu/europeanforum/religious-slaughtering-stunning-matter-centraal-israelitisch-consistorie-van-belgie?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 32. European Court of Human Rights, *Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium*, judgment of 13 February 2024 (no violation of Articles 9 or 14): [echr.coe.int](https://www.echr.coe.int/w/judgment-concerning-belgium-3?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 33. al-Sīstānī, *A Code of Practice for Muslims in the West*, "Eating and drinking: questions and answers" (gelatine, cheese of unknown rennet, alcohol dissolved in medicines, machine slaughter, halal labels): [sistani.org/english/book/46/2045](https://www.sistani.org/english/book/46/2045/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 34. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, "List of recognised Islamic bodies for halal certification of red meat", last updated 8 July 2026, checked again 1 October 2026 (eighteen organisations and the importing countries that recognise each): [agriculture.gov.au](https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/meat/elmer-3/list-islamic-halal-certification?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 35. ABC News, "Overhaul of halal certification industry needed: Senate committee", 2 December 2015: [abc.net.au](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/government-should-overhaul-halal-industry-says-senate-committee/6991898?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 36. Australian Government response to the Senate Economics References Committee report *Third party certification of food* (report 1 December 2015; response August 2017), recommendations 2, 3, 5 and 6: [agriculture.gov.au](https://www.agriculture.gov.au/about/reporting/obligations/government-responses/aus-gov-response-third-party-certification-food?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 37. *Halal Certification Authority Pty Limited v Scadilone Pty Limited* \[2014\] FCA 614 (Perram J; additional damages of $91,015 for unauthorised use of a halal certification trade mark), as summarised in "Sheesh! Kebab sellers' unauthorised trade mark certification could have been a costly mistake", Mondaq, 2014: [mondaq.com](https://www.mondaq.com/australia/trademark/326968/sheesh-kebab-sellers-unauthorised-trade-mark-certification-could-have-been-a-costly-mistake?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 38. Qur'an 5:90 (intoxicants). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/5/90](https://quran.com/5/90?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 39. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2003a ("Every intoxicant is Khamr and every intoxicant is forbidden"): [sunnah.com/muslim:2003a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2003a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. 40. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3681 ("If a large amount of anything causes intoxication, a small amount of it is prohibited"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3681](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3681?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com. 41. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1985a ("Wine is prepared from the (fruit) of these two trees: date-palm and vine"): [sunnah.com/muslim:1985a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1985a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. 42. Central-Mosque.com, "Alcohol: its kinds, usage and rulings" (the Ḥanafī distinction between khamr from grapes and dates and other intoxicants per Abū Ḥanīfa and Abū Yūsuf, against Imam Muḥammad; Muhammad Taqi Usmani in *Takmila Fatḥ al-Mulhim* on alcohol from other sources): [central-mosque.com](https://central-mosque.com/index.php/General-Fiqh/alcohol-its-kinds-usage-and-rulings.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 43. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5581 (ʿUmar: khamr is what clouds the mind, made from grapes, dates, honey, wheat or barley): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5581](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5581?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. 44. Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, Fatwa "Ethanol" (natural and synthetic ethanol not from khamr allowed as a solvent in flavourings, up to 0.5% in the flavouring and 0.1% in the final product), last updated 21 February 2025: [muis.gov.sg](https://www.muis.gov.sg/resources/khutbah-and-religious-advice/fatwa/ethanol--english/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 45. LPPOM MUI, "Understand the MUI fatwa about ethanol levels in food and beverage products" (MUI Fatwa No. 10 of 2018: ethanol not from the khamr industry; drinks under 0.5%): [halalmui.org](https://halalmui.org/understand-fatwa-mui-about-ethanol-levels-in-food-and-beverage-products/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 46. Islam Question & Answer, no. 219137, "Is gelatin halal?" (gelatine from lawfully slaughtered animals permitted; the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences view that transformed gelatine is pure; the opposing view that the change is partial): [islamqa.info/en/answers/219137](https://islamqa.info/en/answers/219137?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 47. Halal Certification Turkey, "Gelatin transformation (istihala) in science and fiqh", 28 January 2015 (the argument that gelatine keeps the primary structure of collagen and so is not a complete transformation): [halalcertificationturkey.com](https://www.halalcertificationturkey.com/2015/01/28/gelatin-transformation-istihala-in-science-and-fiqh/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 48. Islam Question & Answer, no. 2841, "Is animal rennet halal?" (Abū Ḥanīfa and one report from Aḥmad: pure; Mālikīs, Shāfiʿīs and one report from Aḥmad: impure; Ibn Taymiyya inclined to purity): [islamqa.info/en/answers/2841](https://islamqa.info/en/answers/2841?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 49. Qur'an 5:96 ("lawful for you to hunt and eat seafood"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/5/96](https://quran.com/5/96?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 50. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 83 (the sea: "its water is pure and what dies in it is lawful food"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:83](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:83?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com. 51. Sunan Ibn Mājah 3314 (two dead things lawful: fish and locusts): [sunnah.com/ibnmajah:3314](https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:3314?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com. 52. Islamweb (Arabic), Fatwa 64385, "Most scholars permit eating everything caught from the sea", 5 July 2005: [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/64385/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 53. SeekersGuidance, "How does the Hanafi school classify shrimp and other seafood?", Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, 22 May 2026 (only fish is lawful in the Ḥanafī school; the soundest view treats shrimp as fish; the Shāfiʿī school permits nearly all sea creatures): [seekersguidance.org](https://seekersguidance.org/answers/hanafi-fiqh/how-does-the-hanafi-school-classify-shrimp-and-other-seafood/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 54. Darul Ifta Australia, "Crabs, lobsters and prawns", Mufti Faizal Riza, 13 October 2011 (crabs makrūh taḥrīmī; two views on prawns and on lobsters): [fatwa.org.au](https://www.fatwa.org.au/crabs-lobsters-and-prawns.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 55. Mansour Leghaei, *Fasting and Ramadhan*, "Common halal and non-halal sea foods", Al-Islam.org (Jaʿfarī lists: scaled fish and prawns halal; catfish, eel, shark, squid, octopus, mussels, oysters, crabs, lobsters not): [al-islam.org](https://www.al-islam.org/fasting-and-ramadhan-sheikh-mansour-leghaei/common-halal-and-non-halal-sea-foods?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 56. Food Standards Australia New Zealand, "Food additive labelling" (class name followed by the additive's name or number), last updated 25 February 2025: [foodstandards.gov.au](https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/Labelling-of-food-additives?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 57. Food Standards Australia New Zealand, "Food additives: numerical list" (May 2019), including 120 cochineal or carmines, 471 mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, 542 bone phosphate, 904 shellac, 920 L-cysteine monohydrochloride: [foodstandards.gov.au (PDF)](https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/sites/default/files/consumer/additives/additiveoverview/Documents/Food%20additives%20-%20numberical%20May%202019.pdf?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 58. Food-Info, "E120: Carmine" ("isolated from the insects *Dactylopius coccus*"): [food-info.net](https://www.food-info.net/uk/e/e120.htm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 59. Food-Info (Stichting Food-Info, Netherlands), "E471: Mono- and diglycerides" ("mainly from plant origin, but also fats of animal origin may be used"): [food-info.net](https://www.food-info.net/uk/e/e471.htm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 60. Food-Info, "E542: Edible bone phosphate" ("Produced from animal bones"): [food-info.net](https://www.food-info.net/uk/e/e542.htm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 61. Food-Info, "E904: Shellac" (a natural polymer from lac insects; the site lists no religious restriction): [food-info.net](https://www.food-info.net/uk/e/e904.htm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 62. Food-Info, "E920: L-cysteine" ("Derived from proteins, including animal protein and hair"): [food-info.net](https://www.food-info.net/uk/e/e920.htm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 63. Islamic Co-ordinating Council of Victoria, "Halal certification check" (online verification of ICCV certificates): [iccv.com.au](https://iccv.com.au/halal-certification-check/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 64. Islamic Council of Victoria, AskICV, "Halal food verification": [icv.org.au](https://www.icv.org.au/askicv/religious-and-spiritual-life/halal-food-verification?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 65. Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2801 ("he is not to sit at a spread in which Khamr is circulated"): [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2801](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2801?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com. 66. Jessica Loyer, Alexandra L. Whittaker, Emily A. Buddle and Rachel A. Ankeny, "A Review of Legal Regulation of Religious Slaughter in Australia: Failure to Regulate or a Regulatory Fail?", *Animals* 10.9 (2020): 1530, doi:10.3390/ani10091530 (eight abattoirs with approved exemptions, from a freedom-of-information request; the stunning requirement and the religious-slaughter exemption in the Australian meat standard, clause 7.12; the paper prints the standard's number as "AS4996:2007", a typo for AS 4696:2007): [mdpi.com](https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1530?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 67. Central-Mosque.com, "Meat of Ahlul-Kitaab: fallacy for Western Muslims" (quotes Yusuf al-Qaradawi, *The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam*, on imported meat, with a Ḥanafī reply by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam): [central-mosque.com](https://www.central-mosque.com/index.php/General-Fiqh/meat-of-ahlul-kitaab-people-of-the-book.html?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 68. Islamweb, Fatwa 82899, "Rulings on eating meat of People of the Book according to Madhabs", 29 May 2001: [islamweb.net](https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/82899/rulings-on-eating-meat-of-people-of-the-book-according-madhabs?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 69. Australian Government, Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS), "Australian Standard AS 4696:2007 Hygienic Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption" (Victoria; administered by PrimeSafe): [ablis.business.gov.au](https://ablis.business.gov.au/service/vic/australian-standard-as-4696-2007-hygienic-production-and-transportation-of-meat-and-meat-products-for-human-consumption/24552?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 70. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Meat Notice 2023-02, "Implementation of the new Australian Standard for the Hygienic Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption (AS4696:2023)" (the 2007 standard revised in Schedules 2 and 3 only; published by Standards Australia on 31 March 2023): [agriculture.gov.au](https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/meat/elmer-3/notices/2023/mn23-02?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 71. Ibn Kathīr, *Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm*, on Qur'an 6:121 (abridged English translation as shown on quran.com: the verse used to prove that meat is unlawful when Allah's name is not mentioned over it; two readings of "it is disobedience"): [quran.com](https://quran.com/6:121/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) 72. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 52 and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1599a (al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr: the lawful is evident, the unlawful is evident, and between them are doubtful matters): [sunnah.com/bukhari:52](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:52?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); [sunnah.com/muslim:1599a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1599a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In both Ṣaḥīḥs; English quoted from Muslim 1599a as shown on sunnah.com. 73. Qur'an 6:118 ("so eat only of what is slaughtered in Allah's Name"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/6/118](https://quran.com/6/118?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) Related reading - [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/): revelation, compilation and preservation of the text - [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/): from Mecca to Medina, with a timeline and family tree - [The People Around Muhammad ﷺ: Companions, Wives and Family](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/companions/): short sourced profiles of those closest to him - [The Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/): the Jibrīl hadith, and the Twelver roots and branches - [The Sunna in Daily Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunna-in-daily-life/): manners of eating and drinking - [Ramadan and Fasting in Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/ramadan/): moon-sighting, start dates and each school's rulings - [Following a Madhhab: Taqlīd, Ijtihād and Mixing Schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/following-a-madhhab/): why jurists answer differently, and whether you may switch - [The House and the Schools](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-house-and-the-schools/): the Imams, and how each tradition derives law - [How Islam Came to Australia](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-islam-came-to-australia/): Makassan fishermen, cameleers and the waves that followed - [How a Hadith Is Judged](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/how-a-hadith-is-judged/): what the gradings in the sources mean