The ruling on killing a live fish by striking its head
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: I have shops for selling fish, and there are live fish in tanks. When a customer asks for some, I put the fish on the scale if it is still alive, or while it is still alive, and then we proceed to clean it. The worker strikes the head of the fish and pokes into it until it dies, and then it is cleaned. This is because these fish usually remain outside the water for about an hour or two, and the customer is in a hurry and does not wait. Is this method permissible or not?
Answer:
It is not permissible. For example, if it comes out of the water, it dies naturally and does not need to be killed. So you leave it until it dies and do not strike it. This is because some scholars hold that if it dies due to a cause, it is not lawful; the Hanafis hold this view. It is only lawful if it dies until they call out that it is dead. This is the one that is lawful by consensus. As for what dies due to this cause, there is a difference of opinion among scholars. There is also a definition regarding the strike, and this is not permissible. You leave it until it passes away. Abu al-Shaykh also says to throw it away.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: I have shops for selling fish, and there are live fish in tanks. When a customer asks for some, I put the fish on the scale if it is still alive, or while it is still alive, and then we proceed to clean it. The worker strikes the head of the fish and pokes into it until it dies, and then it is cleaned. This is because these fish usually remain outside the water for about an hour or two, and the customer is in a hurry and does not wait. Is this method permissible or not?
Answer:
It is not permissible. For example, if it comes out of the water, it dies naturally and does not need to be killed. So you leave it until it dies and do not strike it. This is because some scholars hold that if it dies due to a cause, it is not lawful; the Hanafis hold this view. It is only lawful if it dies until they call out that it is dead. This is the one that is lawful by consensus. As for what dies due to this cause, there is a difference of opinion among scholars. There is also a definition regarding the strike, and this is not permissible. You leave it until it passes away. Abu al-Shaykh also says to throw it away.
Source
قتل السمك قبل موته — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.