Title: Being Careful about Halaal Food, while Eating Out Question: I as a businessman have to travel a lot and have to entertain and be entertained often. Recently, on such a visit a business associate insisted on both of us having dinner. After ignoring a lot of his suggestions for dinner he insisted on having mutton kebabs. I could no longer say 'no' and took the same, although I was not sure if the meat was halal . Have I done anything wrong? Should I have refused him outright at the risk of antagonizing him? If indeed I had committed a sin what do I do now? Please help me out. Khasruzzaman Choudhury Answer: While residing in a society in which people are generally not very careful about the prohibitions of the Shari`ah , one should be extra careful in avoiding to cross any of the limits prescribed by the Shari`ah in this respect, even by mistake and ignorance. However, while residing in a society of people, who are known to generally adhere to the directives of the Shari `ah , we need not make any investigations and, relying on the norms of the society, presume the food to be in conjunction with the directives of the Shari`ah . If the referred incident took place in a society, which is generally not careful about the directives of the Shari`ah regarding edibles, then I would suggest that more care should be taken before eating any meat. You ask: Should I have refused him outright at the risk of antagonizing him? I really do not think that your adherence to your religious norms would antagonize people, if we you wisely inform them of your commitment to what you believe to be God's directives. However, if anyone is still antagonized by our adherence to the Shari`ah , then I would be more than willing to antagonize these people, if it is to secure the love of my Creator. You ask: If indeed I had committed a sin what do I do now? A person can, indeed, be enticed into committing a grave sin. At such instances, our commitment with the directives of the Almighty require us to sincerely repent and renew our commitment of not allowing ourselves to deviate from the path prescribed by the Shari`ah . It should be remembered that the chances of repentance, correction and, subsequent, forgiveness remains wide open till the time that we breathe our last. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad October 14, 2001