Ask an Alim

Waalaykum Salaam,

According to Ayatollah Sistani: A Muslim is allowed to buy all kinds of halaal meat from a Muslim shopkeeper who sells it to Muslims. Such meat would be considered halaal even if the vendor belongs to a school of thought which have different conditions for slaughtering from ours as long as there is a possibility that the animal was slaughtered in accordance with our conditions. This latter statement applies to all conditions except the one that says
that the animals belly should be facing the qiblah at the time of slaughter. Not observing the condition of qiblah because the slaughterer’s school of thought does not consider it a necessity will not detract from [the permissibility of the meat].
If a Muslim knows and is sure that this meat is from an animal which is permissible for Muslims to eat (like cow, sheep or chicken) but that it is not slaughtered in accordance with Islamic laws, that meat is to be considered mayta. Mayta is not permissible for a Muslim to eat even if its seller is a Muslim.
Similarly, such meat is impure (najis) and would make other things impure, if it comes into wet contact with it. If a Muslim buys or receives meat from a non-Muslim, or from a Muslim who got it from a non-Muslim and did not inquire about its slaughtering according to Islamic laws, such meat is harãm for him. But if the Muslim does not know that the animal was not slaughtered according to Islamic laws, it would not be considered najis, although it is still harãm. This has been mentioned in his book of laws for muslims in the west and can be viewed here: https://www.sistani.org/english/book/46/2044/

A.R.