I happen to buy the meat from a shop owned by a Persian, known in the area to sell Halal meat. I came to know that the meat not Halal and some people also say that he buys it from some other place and just puts a sticker on it saying 'Halal' for his business to prosper. This is the first part of the question. The second part is that there is this Hindu (kaafir from India) who claims that he gets his meat from a Muslim and on enquiry he also gave the telephone number and address of the Muslim and on further enquiry we found out that the Hindu was telling the truth. These are some common instances that occur in the west. So my question is about trust. Who should we trust? Should we trust all the people? or should we only trust Muslims even if he was lying? Can we trust people of the book and if yes then in what cases and what does Qur'an say about these people in regards of trust? Can we trust Hindus (kaafirs)? and the last question is that I never saw the Persian in the mosque, I think he is a shi'it but some people say that he is not even a shi'it, because some time ago these Persians migrated from Iran and left their religion and now they don't practice any religion.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The seller who is the first person responsible for the meat, he either slaughtered it himself or that he purchased it from another place. In both cases, the meat is lawful since the seller is Muslim and the actions and arrangements of a Muslim are considered legal till proven otherwise with clear evidence and not based on doubts or suspicions.

The evidence for this is the narration of ‘Aa’ishah who said: “A group of people said to the Prophet : ‘Some people bring us meat and we do not know whether or not they have mentioned Allah's Name upon slaughtering the animal.’” He said, “Mention Allah's Name on it and eat.” Those people had embraced Islam recently.

If you have confirmed or you know definitely that the seller brings meat which is not slaughtered according to the Islamic Sharee’ah, such as meat of animals which have been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow etc. then you should not purchase from him. If you can determine that the person selling the meat believes that the companions of the Prophet are disbelievers (Kufaar), or accuses ‘Aa’ishah (the Mother of the Believers) of Zina (adultery), or believes that the Quran is incomplete, then his slaughtered meat should not be eaten. The meat, which is slaughtered by a Hindu, is not lawful and should not be eaten as well. There are many pieces of evidence from the Quran, Hadeeth and the consensus of Muslim Ummah that the meat slaughtered by polytheists should not be eaten.

However, if a Hindu or any polytheist does not slaughter the animal himself, but purchases the meat from a place where the animal is slaughtered according to the Sharee’ah, and the Muslims or the people of the Book slaughtered the animal, then you may eat that meat.

Allah knows best.