Is Turkey haram to eat?

Question

Recently in our country production of turkey hen's is growing rapidly. But it doesn't seem to be chicken rather it seems like haram birds like vultures. So I am worried about eating eat while my family members are emphasizing me to eat it

Answer 1

Allah the almighty said in the Qur'an:

Say, "I do not find within that which was revealed to me [anything] forbidden to one who would eat it unless it be a dead animal or blood spilled out or the flesh of swine - for indeed, it is impure - or it be [that slaughtered in] disobedience, dedicated to other than Allah . But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], then indeed, your Lord is Forgiving and Merciful." (6:145)

Do you see turkey mentioned here? No and in the hadith explaining this revelation you read:

The people of pre-Islamic times used to eat some things and leave others alone, considering them unclean. Then Allah sent His Prophet (ﷺ) and sent down His Book, marking some things lawful and others unlawful; so what He made lawful is lawful, what he made unlawful is unlawful, and what he said nothing about is allowable. And he recited: "Say: I find not in the message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it...." up to the end of the verse. (Sunan abi Daowd)

There's basically no difference between turkey and chicken in fact in Arabic turkey is literally called the Abesinian or Roman or Indian chicken/cock الديك الرومي/حبشى/هندى. And the prophet () is known to have eaten chicken (see here for example) so why would it be haram to eat an animal that basically is similar to chicken in almost all attributes.

The hadith was commented in Towhfat al-Ahwadhi تحفة الأحوذي of al-Mubarakpuri where he commented the statement -see here in Arabic-:

'Sit and eat, for indeed I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) eating it.' As follows:
_{In the following I will translate from Arabic as these translations are of my own take them carefully}
فيه جواز أكل الدجاج إنسية ووحشية ، وهو بالاتفاق إلا عن بعض المتعمقين على سبيل الورع ، إلا أن بعضهم استثنى الجلالة ، وهي ما تأكل الأقذار ، وظاهر صنيع أبي موسى أنه لم يبال بذلك .
This includes the permissibility of eating chicken be it cultured or wild and this is the agreement (among scholars) except of a few deeper looking (exaggerating) people who forbade it for themselve based on their deep devoutness. but some excluded the dung or filith eaters, and the apparent action of abu Musa() shows that he didn't care.

وقد أخرج ابن أبي شيبة بسند صحيح عن ابن عمر أنه كان يحبس الدجاجة الجلالة ثلاثا . وقال مالك والليث : لا بأس بأكل الجلالة من الدجاج وغيره ، وإنما جاء النهي عنها للتقذر
Ibn abi Shaybah compiled with a sound sanad from ibn 'Omar that he used to keep a chicken who ate filth there days (before eating it), And Malik and al-Laith said:There's no harm in eating the filth eater among the chicken and others, as the prohibition was meant to consider them filthy

The scholars say it is prohibited to eat a filth eater if their meat changes due to the filth they ate.

The hadith with the soundest chain prohibiting or at least expressing a dislike of consummation of a product of a filth eater (Jallalah) is:

"The Prophet (ﷺ) prohibited the Mujath-thamah, the milk of the Jallalah, and drinking from the sprout of the water-skin." (Jami' at-Tirmidhi)

this hadith actually meets the conditions of al-Bukhari and does not quote eating it!
Most scholars even say that eating filth does not actually mark an animal as a filth eater unless it consummates more filth than clean "food".

Answer 2

Turkey is halal. Birds that are haram are those which hunt with their talons, and Turkeys do not do that:

نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عن كل ذي ناب من السباع وعن كل ذي مخلب من الطير

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) prohibited the eating of all fanged beasts of prey, and all the birds having talons.

^{— Sahih Muslim , كتاب الصيد والذبائح وما يؤكل من الحيوان}

Vulture is haram because it eats nothing but carrion which is Najas. Turkeys do not normally eat carrion.