According to the Shi’a Faith the eating and drinking of all foul things such as carrion, blood etc. and every food and beverage polluted by such things is forbidden. Similarly, all dirty and obnoxious things such as clay, mud, polluted water and putrid and rotten food are also forbidden.

As has already been mentioned the aquatic animals are usually unlawful with the exception of fish having scales. The eggs of these animals are also governed by the same rule i.e. if their meat is lawful their eggs are also lawful and if their meat is unlawful their eggs are also unlawful.

In regards to land animals, the meat of the following few is lawful, namely, sheep, goat, cow, camel, deer, mountain ram, wild cow and wild ass. The meat of horse, mule and donkey is, however, abominable.

If a lawful animal eats human excrement, it becomes unlawful and is called Jallal animal. In order to make it clean and lawful it is necessary that it should be given exclusively pure food for some time (the period differs from animal to animal) as explained in the book Articles of Islamic Acts, ISP 1982.

The meat of all predatory animals like lion, wolf, bear, jackal etc. is unlawful. Similar is the case with hare, fox, lizard, field-mouse and other wild animals as well as invertebrate animals like snakes, scorpion, wasp, worms and the like. Some other animals such as elephant, rat, monkey, frog and tortoise are also forbidden.

The meat of the birds which possess hooked beaks and talons and are treated to be predatory birds like eagle, hawk, falcon etc. is unlawful. In regards to others if anyone of the following three signs (each of which is related to one condition of the bird) is available in it, it is lawful and otherwise unlawful:

(i) If at the time of flying, it flaps the wings more than keeping them straight, it is lawful, otherwise unlawful.

(ii) If, while the bird is sitting on the ground, we see that it possesses Sisa (spur which grows on the hind part of the feet of some birds) it is lawful, otherwise unlawful.

(iii) When a bird has been slaughtered apd any of the above-mentioned two signs cannot be traced in it, it is lawful if it possesses a crop.

For these reasons bat, peacock, different kinds of bees and the like are usually unlawful. The meat of crows too is unlawful if they are carrion-eaters and lawful if they are grass-eaters.

Urine is the worst liquid but alcoholic beverages are even worse than that. As a general rule everything intoxicant or narcotic which is definitely injurious for human health comes under this category.

Shi’a are very strict in the matter of alcoholic beverages so much so that by this they are distinguished from other Muslims.

Such unusually shocking and extremely alarming narrations have been quoted from the Ahl al-Bayt about alcoholic beverages that they make even the most reckless sinners tremble. They have repeatedly cursed all those people who, in any way, assist in drinking of wine, collect and brew grapes and sell or drink wine. It should suffice to point out that in our religion it is called the mother of evils so much so that from some of the traditions of the Ahl al-Bayt it can be learnt that sitting by a dinner table on which wine is also served is unlawful. And possibly the point involved in this severity is to ensure protection from fumes which occasionally rise from wine and have an impact on various foods laid on the dinner table or from some of its contaminated articles which might enter the throats and noses of the people sitting round the table.

Experience and medical research have proved that alcoholic beverages and narcotic drugs are injurious to health and undermine physical and mental fitness. From amoral and a social point of view, they are also the source of many evils. A drunken man loses the control of his senses and is liable to foolish action and undignified behaviour. Such a person may even commit crimes. These poisonous liquids have ruined many families. People get addicted to them just to seek momentary exhilaration and false satisfaction. These things not only do not resolve the worries of their life, but also make them further complicated. Instead of making life happy they cause infatuation and frustration.

How sublime, exact and complete is the Law of Islam and how much misfortune and destitute are the Muslims who have abandoned it and have consequently lost themselves. I hope this state of affairs will not continue and Allah will bring about in future a change in our thoughts and behaviours.

This was a short account of the lawful and unlawful foods and beverages.

However, there are a large number of problems related to this topic but it is not possible to deal with in this brief treatise.