What is the ruling on eating turtles and crocodiles?

Answered by our Shaykh, the ‘Allāmah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu ‘Abdirrahmān Yahya bin ‘Ali Al-Hajūri – may Allāh preserve him – on the 13th, Dhūl-Hijjah, 1441H

Question:

What is the ruling on eating turtles and crocodiles?

Answer:

Turtles, are allowed to eat according to the correct opinion due to the statement of Allāh:

(أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ صَيْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَطَعَامُهُ)

“Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food,” [Al-Mā’idah, 96]

And the authentic hadith:

هُوَ الطَّهُورُ مَاؤُهُ الْحِلُّ مَيْتَتُه

“It’s water is a purifier and it’s dead is halāl.” [Reported by the Four Sunan]

And crocodiles if it is a sea one, it is halāl due to the previous evidences and if it is a land one then it is harām, as the majority say it is harām, using as a reason that it has sharp teeth with which it hunts prey with, so it enters into the prohibition of the hadith:

نهى النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم عن أَكْلِ كُلِّ ذِي نَابٍ مِنَ السِّبَاعِ

“The Prophet ﷺ prohibited from eating every fanged predator animal.” [Agreed Upon]

So it is known that the land one from it is not allowed and the sea one is allowed to eat as in the aformentioned evidences.

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Translated by: Abū ‘Abdillāh ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi

Click on the link to view the Arabic: https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7516