“O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, Lawful and good; and do not follow the footsteps of the evil one, for he is to you an avowed enemy.”
Halal means lawful: what Allah (﷾) allows. Haram means forbidden. Islam starts from generosity: almost everything is halal, and the forbidden things are few, set out by the Qur'an and the Prophet (ﷺ). Each of them guards something: the body, the mind, the family, or people's wealth. If you are new to Islam, you do not have to learn all of this at once. Faith comes first, and the rest follows step by step.
At a glance
Halal: everything good and pure. All fruit, vegetables, grains, milk, eggs and fish; meat from lawful animals slaughtered the Islamic way; water and every drink that does not intoxicate; marriage and intimacy between husband and wife; honest trade and honest work.
Haram: pork, blood, the meat of an animal that died by itself, and meat offered to anyone other than Allah (﷾); alcohol and anything that intoxicates; gambling; interest (riba); and sex outside marriage.
How Islam decides
The Qur'an warns against making unlawful what Allah (﷾) has made lawful, and against calling anything lawful or forbidden on one's own say-so.
“O ye who believe! make not unlawful the good things which Allah hath made lawful for you, but commit no excess: for Allah loveth not those given to excess.”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that the halal is clear and the haram is clear, and between them are doubtful things that many people do not know. Whoever keeps away from the doubtful things protects his religion and his honour.
Where something is unclear, or the scholars differ, a Muslim asks a qualified scholar.
Food
“He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah.”
So pork, blood and the meat of an animal that died by itself are haram, and so is meat offered to anyone other than Allah (﷾). The Prophet (ﷺ) also forbade eating beasts of prey with fangs and birds with talons. A believer eats what is good and pure, and remembers who gave it.
Fruit, vegetables, grains, milk and eggs are halal. So is fish, which needs no slaughter, for the Qur'an makes the food of the sea lawful. On other sea creatures, and on ingredients such as gelatine, the schools differ.
If a person is forced by need, with nothing else to eat, the Qur'an says there is no sin on them in eating what would otherwise be forbidden.
Before eating, say Bismillah: in the name of Allah (﷾). The Prophet (ﷺ) told a boy at his table to mention the name of Allah (﷾), eat with his right hand, and eat from what was in front of him.
Meat
Meat is halal when it comes from a lawful animal, slaughtered with a sharp blade across the throat, with the name of Allah (﷾) said over it. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah (﷾) has commanded excellence in everything: when you slaughter, slaughter well, sharpen your blade and spare the animal suffering.
The Qur'an also allows the food of the People of the Book, Jews and Christians. Scholars differ on how this applies to meat sold today, and on stunning and machine slaughter, so many Muslims buy from a halal butcher or under a trusted halal label.
Drink
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that every intoxicant is khamr (the Qur'an's word for wine and strong drink), and every intoxicant is forbidden. So beer, wine, spirits and drugs that intoxicate are haram. They cloud the mind God (﷾) gave, and with it the prayer, the family and the road. Water, milk, juice, tea and coffee are halal.
Intimacy in marriage
Islam does not treat intimacy as shameful. Within marriage it is halal, and even rewarded. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that there is charity in a man's intimacy with his wife. The Companions asked how there could be a reward for satisfying a desire. He said: if he did it in a forbidden way, would he not carry a sin? So when he does it in a lawful way, he has a reward.
“They are your garments and ye are their garments.”
“Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).”
Within marriage, a few things are forbidden. A couple does not have intercourse during the wife's period: the Qur'an says to keep away from women in their courses until they are clean, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said: do everything except intercourse. The schools differ on how far that goes.
The Qur'an calls a wife a tilth, the place where seed is sown, and lets a husband come to it when or how he wishes. Ibn Kathir explains that this makes anal intercourse forbidden, and that the great majority of scholars condemned it.
Swallowing a spouse's sexual fluids is at least disliked, because they are foul, and the Qur'an says the Prophet (ﷺ) "prohibits them from what is bad (and impure)". Many scholars forbid it: al-Nawawi called that the correct view. Others, such as Egypt's Dar al-Ifta, call it disliked, and forbidden if it causes harm.
Qur’an 7:157Islamweb fatwa 89730Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya, fatwa 6804
There is no intercourse in the daylight hours of a fast in Ramadan, or in ihram, the pilgrim's state on Hajj or Umrah. Afterwards, both wash the whole body (ghusl) before they pray.
What happens between a husband and wife stays between them. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that among the worst people before Allah (﷾) on the Day of Judgement is a man who is intimate with his wife and then spreads her secret.
The Companions practised withdrawal ('azl) while the Qur'an was being revealed. On contraception and other questions of married life, scholars give guidance.
Money
“Allah hath permitted trade and forbidden usury.”
So interest (riba) is haram, and so is gambling. Both let some grow rich from others' loss or need, while trade shares the risk. Honest trade is blessed: the Prophet (ﷺ) said that if buyer and seller tell the truth and hide no fault, their deal is blessed, and if they lie or hide something, its blessing is lost.
How a Muslim earns matters too. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah (﷾) is good and accepts only what is good.