Title: Regarding the Allowance in Edibles Question: I am a student at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA. We the students at Georgia Tech had concerns regarding halaal meat. Every time I asked a question as to whether or not we are allowed to eat meat that is sold publicly, we have been provided with the answer that you can eat it if you are facing difficulties but those difficulties have never been defined. Some of the students here eat publicly sold meat saying that it is difficult for them to get halaal meat as they live on campus, etc. and others say halaal meat is expensive as compared to regular meat and so on. Could you clarify, with reference to the hadith if possible, what a difficult situation is? Thank You Answer: The prohibition of eating meat of dead animals, flowing blood, pork and animals slaughtered in names other than that of the one God has been mentioned in the Qur'an at four instances. It has been mentioned at Al-Baqarah 2: 173, Al-Maaidah 5: 3, Al-An`aam 6: 145 and Al-Nahl 16: 115. At all these instances, the prohibition is followed by an allowance with respect to these prohibitions, under pressing circumstances. In Al-Baqarah 2: 173, the prohibition is followed by the words: ... but whoever is driven by necessity, intending neither to sin nor to transgress, shall not be guilty. Indeed God is forgiving, merciful. In Al-Maaidah 5: 3, the prohibition is followed by: ... but whoever is driven by hunger, not intending to commit sin, shall find God forgiving and merciful. In Al-An`aam 6: 145, the prohibition is followed by: ... but whoever is driven by necessity, intending neither to sin nor to transgress, shall find your Lord forgiving and merciful. And in Al-Nahl 16: 115, the prohibition is followed by the words: ... but whoever is driven by necessity, intending neither to sin nor to transgress, shall find that God is forgiving and merciful. As we can see that in these verses, the Qur'an has only given the allowance when a person is "driven by necessity" or when he is "driven by hunger". Under these circumstances, it seems that the allowance can be benefited from only in a situation where a person has to save his life and he has nothing else to eat. And even in that situation, he should neither be attracted toward something prohibited by his Lord nor transgress any reasonable limits, in benefiting from this allowance. This implies that the person taking advantage of this allowance should do so with a strong aversion of his heart and should only eat the prohibited food in the quantity, which is necessary to save his/her life. Keeping the foregoing explanation in perspective, I feel that a person should only take advantage of the stated allowance when he has no other substitute for sustaining his life and is thus driven by necessity to take advantage of the allowance. I do not think that excuses such as the one you have referred to qualify as "driven by necessity" or "driven by hunger". 9 th May 1999