Halal means permitted and haram means forbidden. In Islam, everything is lawful unless there is a text that forbids it. The forbidden things include pork, blood, alcohol, interest, theft, lying, fornication and anything harmful.
The fuller answer
Halal food is wholesome food that is free of what is forbidden and, in the case of meat, from an animal slaughtered with the name of God and with mercy, by a swift cut. Haram covers more than food: earning money by cheating or from interest, gambling and harming others are haram. In between, some things are disliked or doubtful.
The Quran says that God has made lawful for you the good things. The principle is that the forbidden things are few and clear, and that they are forbidden because they harm the body, mind, wealth or society. A fuller list with the evidence is in the Halal & Haram section of this website.
Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
This answer follows the mainstream Sunni understanding and is general learning, not a fatwa. Where Muslims differ, the answer says so. Have a question of your own? Write to us.
