Benefits of the Hadith: (You call upon it yourselves and leave it to them)

The Shaykh : This is evidence that the slaughter of a Muslim is lawful and one does not need to ask about it. One should not say, "How was it slaughtered?" or "In whose name was it slaughtered?" Because when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was told, "We do not know whether they mentioned the name of Allah over it or not," he said: And in his saying: there is an indication of the dislike of this question, because it falls under the category of excessive strictness. The aspect of this indication is as if he said, "It is not upon you to ask about what others have done; it is upon you to ask about your own actions. You are the ones who will eat, so mention the name of Allah when you eat. Others have slaughtered, so leave their slaughter to them. That is good." If someone were to say, "What if it is most likely in my opinion that they did not mention the name, because I think they are ignorant?" The answer is: Even if it is most likely in your opinion, because Aisha said, "They were recent converts from disbelief." Being recent converts from disbelief usually entails ignorance of the rulings of the Shari'ah, especially in this issue, which is generally not known except by the butchers who practice slaughter. So the result is that we have an important rule: any action performed by its competent person, do not ask about it—neither about its manner, nor its conditions, nor anything related to it—as long as the action was performed by its competent person, do not ask. If the Lawgiver had obligated us to ask, we would have fallen into much hardship. We would say to every person who brings us a slaughter, "Come, did you mention the name of Allah over it?" If he says yes, we say, "Did you cut the windpipe and the esophagus?" If he says yes, we say, "Does the one who slaughtered pray?" If he says yes, we say, "Is he a holder of a major religious innovation?" If he says no, we say to him, "Where did the slaughtered animal come from?" Because some scholars say that the slaughter is not lawful unless it is owned, and that if one slaughters the property of another, it is not lawful. We would say, "Is he the owner of the slaughtered animal?" If he says no, we say, "Is he a hired worker?" He says yes. "Who hired him?" So-and-so. "Where is so-and-so?" "Is the slaughtered animal your property or not?" Until the Day of Judgment. But from the mercy of Allah the Exalted is that everything that occurs from its competent person, every transaction that occurs from its competent person, the original state is safety, lawfulness, and the absence of a corrupting factor. This rule benefits you in this and in other matters as well. If you gave your garment to a washer to wash and he gave it back to you, there is a possibility that it was washed with sewage water, is there not? There is a possibility. Do you ask him? You do not ask him, because it occurred from its competent person and he is trustworthy with you. You would not say, "Ask him if it is from sewage water or not." And if he says it is not from sewage water, we say, "Okay, with what water did you wash it?" He says, "I washed it with water in a vessel I have." We say, "Okay, perhaps a mouse fell in it and died, did it or not?" And so on, and we proceed. But from the mercy of Allah is that Allah made things easy for us and established these matters based on the apparent and the original state. Yes.