snails dish requires cooking them alive! Were snails used as food
during the era of prophet Muhammad peace be upon him?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Snails are of two types, land snails and sea snails. Land snails come
under the same heading as "insects and vermin" which have no blood
that flows. Sea snails come under the headingof shellfish, which are
sea animals.
In al-Mawsoo'ah al-'Arabiyyah al-'Aalamiyyah it says:
The snail is a invertebrate sea animal, and it is a kind of shellfish.
Most snails have an external shell; some snails have a small flat
shell above or under the skin, but most do nothave a shell at all.
Land snails have a pair of antennae, with an eyeat the end of the
longer antenna. The large sand snail is regarded as a harmful pest,
because it has a voracious appetite for plants. Its length reaches 10
cm. End quote.
Secondly:
With regard to the ruling on eating snails:
1. Land snails come under the ruling on eating "insects". The
majority of scholars are of the view that it is haraam. Al-Nawawi
(mayAllaah have mercy on him) said in al-Majmoo' (9/16): The view of
the scholars concerning landinsects ... our view is thatit is haraam.
This was the view of Abu Haneefah, Ahmad and Dawood. Maalik said: it
is halaal. End quote.
Ibn Hazm (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
It is not permissible to eat land snails or any other "insects and
vermin", such as geckos, cockroaches, ants, bees, flies, wasps, worms,
lice, fleas, bedbugs, mosquitoes or anything else of that type,
because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "Forbidden toyou
(for food) are: Al-Maitah (the dead animals)" and "unless you are able
to slaughterit (before its death)" [al-Maa'idah 5:3]. And there is
sound proof thatslaughter can only be done in the neck or upper chest,
so if it is notpossible to slaughter it, then there is no way onecan
eat it unless it is dead i.e., not slaughtered properly, so it is
haraam. End quote.
Al-Muhalla (6/76, 77).
The Maalikis did not stipulate that a creature which has no flowing
blood should be slaughtered, rather they included it under the same
ruling as locusts, and its slaughter is by boiling, roasting, or
piercing it with a stick orneedle until it is dead, whilst saying the
name of Allaah over it.
In al-Mudawwanah (1/542) it says:
Maalik was asked about something in the Maghreb (North Africa) which
is called a snail, that is found in the desert on the trees - can it
be eaten? He said: I think it is like the locust. If it is taken alive
and boiled or roasted, I do not think there is anything wrong with
eating it, but if it is found dead, it should not be eaten. End quote.
In al-Muntaqa Sharh al-Muwatta' (3/110) by Abu'l-Waleed al-Baaji (may
Allaah have mercy on him) it says:
If that is proven, then the ruling on snails is thesame as the ruling
on locusts. Maalik said its slaughtering is by boiling or being
pierced with a stick or needle until it dies, and the name of Allaah
should be mentioned whilst doing so, as it is mentioned when
cuttingoff the heads of locusts. End quote.
2. Sea snails are halaal,because of the general permission with
regard to eating seafood. Allaahsays (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]
al-Bukhaari narrated that 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased
with him) said: "Water game means what is hunted, and its food is what
the sea throws out (onto theshore)."
al-Bukhaari narrated from Shurayh, the companion of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), that he said: "Everything in the
sea is madhbooh (slaughtered)."
But we have not seen any hadeeth which suggests that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ate snails.
To sum up:
The permissibly of eating snails applies to both types, both land and
sea snails. If they arecooked alive there is nothing wrong with that,
because land snails have no blood so that it might be said that they
must be slaughtered properly and the blood extracted, and sea snails
come under the general permissibility of sea game and food.
And Allaah knows best
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