There is no absolute warning against eating beef

28-4-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

I recently read this hadith somewhere:'The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said about the cow: "Its milk is a cure, its ghee is a treatment and its meat is a disease." ' Should we not eat beef then?I want to know what is the right meaning of hadith

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Answer:

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, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

We have previously highlighted in Fatwa 85490 that this Hadeeth was classified as authentic by Al-Albaani and that it pertains only to a certain kind of cattle raised in a specific climate of a certain country and not to cattle in general. Al-Munaawi said: “Al-Haleemi said, "He said so because it is prevalently cold and dry, and the climate of the Hijaaz is dry, so if that atmosphere is combined with eating beef, they (the inhabitants) could experience even more dryness and be harmed by it (i.e. camels, sheep and goats, all of which are native to this type of climate, produce healthier meat, while cattle are "dry", or too low in fat)."” [Faydh Al-Qadeer]

Knowing the Hadeeth's meaning, it is clear that it does include a warning against eating beef in an absolute sense. In fact, cattle are among the livestock animals which are lawful for us to sacrifice and eat.

Allaah Knows best.