Are the Jews and Christians in this age considered among the People of the Book whose slaughtered animals are permissible?

The questioner : Well, the second scenario: in your answer, you stated that the slaughter of Jews and Christians is permissible. So, is it possible that if Jews and Christians are People of the Book now, they are truly People of the Book?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that the Jews and Christians are People of the Book as a nation or as one of the peoples. However, this does not mean that every individual in these Jewish or Christian peoples is a Jew or a Christian. Regrettably, there may be some in certain Muslim peoples who are not Muslim in terms of the Shari'ah ruling, because they have cast Islam behind their backs. But this also does not exclude the people or the nation among whom they live from being considered Muslims. As you are well aware, the criterion is always, in most cases, the majority. For example, the majority in France, or if we assume Belgium or Germany, is Christian. It is not without exception that there are atheists among them; this is undoubtedly a reality. But the people are still considered Christian in ruling. Even Russia, whose religion has become a symbol of its atheism, we cannot say that the Soviet people are atheists, because they are originally Christian. The generation that grew up due to communist upbringing might be said to be mostly atheist, but they do not represent the entire Soviet people. Especially, and I say this with great regret, there are regions in the Soviet people that are entirely Muslim. Therefore, our knowledge that there are atheists and people without religion in these Jewish or Christian peoples does not mean that there are no Jews or Christians left on earth. Accordingly, the previous ruling remains as we mentioned.