Most of the Arab brothers eat Ahle Kitab meat. What are the basis of Shaafi Madhab and any other Madhab in this respect. For Pakistani Hanifis it is a question of Islam or Kufir. I try to explain and pacify them but I do not know Shafis or Hanblis arguments. Will you please explain?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

Animals slaughtered by the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) are lawful to Muslims. This is evident from the Quran, the Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslim scholars. Allaah Says (what means): {The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals) of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them.}[Quran:5:5].

The Prophet ate from a sheep meat offered to him by a Jewish woman. All the Muslim scholars regardless of their school of Fiqh (Hambali, Hanafi, Shaafi'ee, and Maaliki) agreed on this lawfulness. But there is a disagreement amongst the scholars over the two following issues:

First, if the person from the People of the Book slaughters without mentioning the name of Allaah on the animal he slaughters, is the meat of that animal lawful to Muslims or not? The prevailing opinion is that it is lawful.

Second, if the person from the People of the Book mentions any name other than Allaah while slaughtering like mentioning the name of Jesus or others is the meat of this animal lawful to us or not? The Hanafi school believes that this meat is unlawful to Muslims. This opinion is also reported from the Hanbali and Shaafi'ee schools. This opinion is the most predominant in this issue.

On the other hand all animals killed by strangling, electrical shock or any means other than cutting the throat are considered dead meat  and so are unlawful to Muslims.

Again if the Muslim is certain that the animal was slaughtered by the People of the Book (by cutting the throat) he can eat its meat regardless of whether the name of Allaah was mentioned on it or not.

Allah knows best.