Muslims, is it permissible to eat lobster?

Answer 1

Among the blessings that Allaah has bestowed upon us is the fact that He has made our religion easy for us, and has not made it too difficult or unbearable. He has allowed us many things that were forbidden according to previously-revealed laws. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “… Allaah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you…” [al-Baqarah 2:185].

Hence all kinds of food from the sea are permissible, whether they are plants or animals, alive or dead. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water-game and its use for food – for the benefit of yourselves and those who travel…” [al-Maa’idah 5:96]. Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “ Sayduhu (lit. hunting, pursuit) refers to whatever is taken from it alive, and ta’aamuhu (lit. its food) means whatever is taken dead.”

There are a few things – certain types of water animals – which some scholars exclude from the permission outlined above. These are:

Crocodiles. The correct view is that eating these is not allowed, because they have fangs and live on land – even though they may spend a lot of time in the water – so precedence should be given to the reason for forbidding it (it is a land animal that has fangs).

Frogs. It is not permitted to eat them because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade killing them, as is reported in the hadeeth of ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Uthmaan, who said that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade the killing of frogs. (Narrated by Imaam Ahmad and Ibn Maajah; see also Saheeh al-Jaami, 6970). The rule is that everything which we are forbidden to kill, we are not allowed to eat; if we are allowed to eat it we are allowed to kill it.

Some scholars exclude sea snakes, but the correct view is that as they live nowhere except in the water, we are permitted to eat them, because of the general nature of the aayah (interpretation of the meaning): “Lawful to you is (the pursuit of) water-game and its use for food – for the benefit of yourselves …” [al-Maa’idah 5:96].

Otters and turtles. The correct view is that to be on the safe side, it is permissible to eat them after slaughtering them properly, because they live both on land and in the sea. Here the rule is that in the case of animals that live both on land and in the sea, the rules concerning land animals should be given precedence, to be on the safe side, so they must be slaughtered properly, except for crabs which do not need to be slaughtered, even though they live both on land and in the sea, because they do not have blood.

Everything that can cause harm is forbidden as food, even if it comes from the sea, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “… And do not kill yourselves (nor kill one another). Surely, Allaah is Most Merciful to you.” [al-Nisa’ 4:29] and: “… and do not throw yourselves into destruction…” [al-Baqarah 2:195].

(See al-Mughni, 11/83; Haashiyah al-Rawd, 7/430; Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 3/197; and Ahkaam al-At’imah by al-Fawzaan).

You can eat anything from the sea except for which there is a prohibition for.Therefore the answer is: Yes you can.

And Allaah knows best.

Answer 2

"Allah, the Almighty is pure and accepts only that which is pure. The Almighty has said, Eat of the pure things, and do righteous actions. Oh, you who believe! Eat of the pure things that Allah has given you." [Hadith quoted by Abu Huraira.]
Forbidden Foods According to the Qur'an:

Alcohol or liquor Alcoholic drinks "confuse the mind and lead one astray".
Pork - In the Qur'an (and in the Old Testament of the Bible) there is a story that God cast (threw) the devil into a pig. Therefore, pork and any pork products (some types of gelatin, and lard) and even leather goods from the pig are forbidden to Muslims. This is also true of Jewish traditions. [NOTE: The disease of trichinosis is caused by worms that live in pigs and can be passed on to humans who eat unclean pork. This restriction was very important to people's health.]
Carnivorous (meat eating) animals and birds, e.g. lions, tigers, vultures, eagles, etc. are forbidden.
Other animals are also excluded: donkeys, monkeys, elephants.
Any animal that has died due to natural causes, killed by some wild animal, by a fall or blow are also forbidden. Of course there are good health reason for not eating animals that may be sick or diseased. Flesh that had been sacrificed for some God or Goddess by pagans was also forbidden.
Blood is forbidden.
Drugs are also forbidden (except as medical drugs).
Certain foods and products are forbidden (haram) to Muslim

Answer 3

As per the Qur'an 16:14, Muslim jurists have deemed it permissible to eat any "meat" that comes from the sea. All seafood is therefore deemed halal, permissible.

Answer 4

Definitely. the beginning of Sura five is lists all of the food you can't eat. It only mentions pig products, blood (they drink it in some parts of Africa( do lobsters have blood?)), stuff that's already dead (could apply to lobster), and things that have been blessed in the name of other gods.

So just don't dedicate it to the wrong god, drain the blood and make sure it was alive when it was caught and your good.

Answer 5

Yes however. I just watched a programme on cleanliness in kitchens. They said that the creatures with the most intestinal parasites and worms are pigs and fish. Then they showed some of them. I am surprised that fish is allowed,as much as I absolutely love it.

But the ban is only on pork and anything with it in it. And of course alcohol. It means one reads labels closely and avoids anything with pork in it. I do not drink alcohol of course but I use vanilla that has a base... as do my flower remedies.

Answer 6

"Yes" and "no" are not good answers for your question.

If they only take from Qur'an, then it permissible to eat dog's meat for example. While dog has been proclaimed haram in sunnah.

There are two main "groups" of ahadeeth, both in the same range of authenticity regarding the issue of seafood:
- the first, to summarise, says that everything from sea is permissible
- the second says that only FISH can be eaten.

Hanafi school of fiqh considers only fish to be halal, some seafood products to be makrooh and some to be haram. This is also the opinion of some hanbali and even shafee'ee scholars. Shafee'ee school of fiqh generally maintains that all seafood is permissible.

The key argument of those who claim everything to be halal can be overruled by applying the range of seafood only to those known by the sahabah. There is no evidence that sahabah would eat shells, lobsters etc, but the probability they didn't is much greater. Most probably they didn't even know of their existence.

Scholarly opinions vary from a wide range: the most lenient say that everything from sea is halal and the most strict say that only fish with scales are halal.

Applying the rule that what is harmful for health is haram, one should abstain from crabs, shrimps, squids and especially shells and snails. Shells are a common cause of food poisoning. Both, shells and snails are cleaners of the sea, thus they consume all toxics present in the water and their flesh contains them. In Malaysia, where eating seafood is common, many people suffer from gout because they eat squid. My dentist adviced me to stay away from shrimps and crabs as they weaken gums and teeth. So from the scientific / health side, lobsters, shrimps, shells, squids etc, are definitely a 'no'. On the other hand, fish has been proven very good for health.

In Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and some other places seafood is considered the food of Christians. Although prohibition of the seafood is found in the Old Testament, the scriptures of the Christians and the Jews cannot be taken as a proof for Muslims, although general restrictions on food are same for Muslims and Jews (except for Jewish separation of meat and dairy products, which is unknown in Islam).

When you apply some useful knowledge from the hadeeth of lizzard, you find out that not everything that is not haram is halal and it is sunnah to abstain from food which is not clearly halal and known in your area. Where I come from people don't eat sefood, but we eat fish. I myself abstain from seafood as it is better to leave doubtful things. I have never seen any scholar eating seafood, neither any taleb ul-'ilm. What I recommend you is to ask some Pakistani scholar, generally Pakistanis are the most knowledgable on seafood, I'm not a Hanafi or a Pakistani myself, so I can't elaborate that much, but their opinion seems stronger and knowledge on this particular matter firm.

Whether seafood is haram or makrooh or neither is a matter of further debate, but from what is stated in sunnah, I couldn't call it halal. Definitely, shrimps, crabs, squids, shells etc aren't considered fish and hadeeth that specifies things applies over a hadeeth that states things in general.
Like Rasulullah s.a.w.s. said, some things are halal, some things are haram, but there are things between them and abstaing from them is the best.

I gave you links to two Pakistani fataawa (couldn't find any other in English).

And Allah s.w.t. knows the best...

Answer 7

depends

Some say: Yes everything from the sea is halal

Some say: No because you are not to eat fish without scales including crustaceans

Answer 8

its so strange i was just thinking about this because the way they are boiled alive is so mean and cruel but then someone mentioned how else are u supposed to kill em they have a shell and no head

Answer 9

skittles: no, they contain gelatin, from pork crab,lobster,shrimp: No, no shellfish is allowed chili, yes, as long as its halal beef (or turkey or chicken), and it has no cheese soda: yes

Answer 10

I think not. Muslims follow the Old Testament kosher dietary laws which forbid shellfish.