Home » Hanafi Fiqh » DarulUloomTT.net » Consuming fish according to Imam Abu Hanifa

Consuming fish according to Imam Abu Hanifa

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by DarulUloomTT.net

Q. My question is concerning which fishes are allowed for us to consume? I have understood that Imam Abu Hanifa did not permit the consumption of fishes without scales. However in trinidad how can this type of knowledge be determined? If so can a list be provided as to what is safe from what is not? Can you also give me the ruling on why is shrimp makruh and not halaal since it is from the sea?


A. According to Imam Abu Hanifa, from among the marine animals that are fully aquatic, only the fish is allowed to eat. Here, fish refers to everything that falls within the definition of fish. As defined by marine scientists, fish is ‘an aquatic, cold blooded, gill breathing vertebrate with a two-chambered heart’. Based upon this definition, whale, shrimp, lobster, sea crab, crayfish, squids, octopus, oyster, sea snail etc. are not ‘fish’, and will not be permissible according to Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Hanifa does not allow the consumption of everything from the sea. Only the fish is allowed (all types). The reason for this is that all animals of the sea die on its own. Due to this, they are known to be carrion (maitah), and from among the carrion which are allowed to consume, the fish and locust have been made permissible. About this, the Prophet (SAS) stated, ‘Two types of dead (carrion-maitah) are lawful for us …. They are fish and locust’. (Ahmad, Ibn Majah). The hadith clearly establishes that from among the dead (carrion) of the sea only the fish is allowed, and this is the verdict of Imam Abu Hanifa (AR).

And Allah knows best.

Mufti Waseem Khan

This answer was collected from DarulUloomTT.net, which is operated under the supervision of Mufti Waseem Khan from Darul Uloom Trinidad and Tobago.

Read answers with similar topics: