Is Kangaroo meat halal?

Question

Assalamu Alaikum brothers. I am confused about Halal and Haram animals. I know some common halal animals like cow, goat, chicken etc. But I don't know the general rule of which animals are Halal or Haram.

Kindly explain me the type of animals that are halal. Specially, is Kangaroo meat halal?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Land-animals are all considered Halal, who fulfill the following requirements:

1. have flowing blood in them
2. survive on grass and leaves
3. do not prey on other animals (i.e. non-predatory terrestrial animals)
4. is not poisonous or impure
5. does not consume mostly impure things to the extent that it creates bad odor in its meat and milk

Such as a camel, cow, goat, buffalo, sheep, deer, etc. Donkey and pigs are exceptions from this general ruling, these are considered Haram for consumption.

Allah Most High says:

"And the grazing livestock He has created for you; in them is warmth and [numerous] benefits, and from them you eat." [Surah An-Nahl 16:5]

Allah Most High uses the term 'cattle' which refers to non-predatory animals, according to the unanimous agreement of all the linguistics.

Therefore kangaroo meat is Halal

See The Fiqh of Halal and Haram Animals for more details

Answer 2

Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani addresses this at albalagh.net:

Kangaroo is a halal animal because there is no basis for its prohibition. The only condition is that it should be slaughtered with all necessary conditions of Islamic slaughtering.

(Other fatawa are by IslamWeb and Islam.ru.)

However, I'd like to note the practical limitations:

• Most kangaroo meat will come from Australia. Kangaroos slaughtered for meat are ordinarily shot by commercial hunters (see BBC and the Australian government Code of Practice). Australia doesn't really have kangaroo farms; it doesn't need them:

  Currently most kangaroo meat is sourced from wild animals as a byproduct of population control programmes. -- Wikipedia

• Ordinarily kangaroos will not be slaughtered Islamically. They will almost certainly be killed by non-Muslims and possibly by irreligious people, without saying Bismillah. This wouldn't meet the strict rules regarding hunting for food in Islam (see Islam Q&A).

In this context, the vast bulk of kangaroo meat will be haram to eat.

It's possible that some boutique shops stock halal kangaroo meat, but I couldn't find any searching online. So if a Muslim wants to eat halal kangaroo meat, they may have to slaughter the kangaroo themselves.