What is the ruling on eating sea game, and are there any marine animals that are not permissible to eat?
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The questioner : I read in a book that everything that lives in the sea is permissible to eat, but I have heard that there are some animals that live in the sea which are not permissible to eat. Is this correct? What is the Islamic ruling on eating sea game?
The Shaykh : All sea game is lawful, and it is permissible even for those in the state of ihram to hunt in the sea, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Ma'idah 5:96] Thus, sea game is what is eaten alive, and its food is what is found dead. The apparent meaning of the noble verse [Al-Ma'idah 5:96] is that nothing is excluded from this, because is a singular noun with a possessive, and a singular possessive noun indicates generality, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: [An-Nahl 16:18] Here, is singular, but the intended meaning is generality. This is the correct and stronger opinion: that all sea game is lawful, with nothing excluded from it. Some scholars have excluded the frog, the crocodile, and the snake from this, stating that it is not lawful to eat them. However, the correct opinion is the general one, that all marine animals are lawful, whether alive or dead.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : All sea game is lawful, and it is permissible even for those in the state of ihram to hunt in the sea, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Lawful to you is game from the sea and its food as provision for you and the travelers, but forbidden to you is game from the land as long as you are in the state of ihram
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ صَيْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَطَعَامُهُ مَتَاعًا لَكُمْ وَلِلسَّيَّارَةِ وَحُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ صَيْدُ الْبَرِّ مَا دُمْتُمْ حُرُمًاLawful to you is game from the sea
أحل لكم صيد البحرsea game
صيدAnd if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them
وَإِنْ تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لا تُحْصُوهَاblessing
نعمةThe questioner : May Allah reward you.