Halal Sea food as per Five Major Islamic Jurisprudences

Islam is a law oriented religion. Its instructions cover all aspects of the individual and social life of Muslims. Halal in terms of the dietary standard means permitted and lawful eating, drinking, and using. Halal and haram (prohibited) as divine orders are important code of conduct for Muslim lifestyle. It is also important for non-Muslims, because they have close ties with Muslims. Since Muslim countries are one of the largest and most attractive markets in the world, having a deep knowledge of their culture, values and food standards is an important issue. This study attempts to examine the halal and haram seafood from the main five Islamic legal point of view. It is a qualitative, comparative, and jurisprudential study. Therefore, by referring to the primary sources of the five legal schools (Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanbali, and Shia), relevant materials were collected, classified, and discussed, and the conclusions were drawn accordingly. This paper classifies the jurisprudential differences resulting from the application of different research methods on halal seafood, such as evaluation of the authenticity of the prophetic traditions, classification of the primary sources, interpretation of words, applying the scientific researches, and using modern technology. About the halal seafood standards, it concludes that without any controversy, all scaly fishes and shrimps are halal, but the jurists disagree on other seafood. Even there is no consensus among the jurists from the same school on certain seafood.