Crabs Halal?

[Pupa]

Is it true that Hanafis cannot eat Crabs? Is so, why?

Since all madhabs stem from the same source, how can it be that eating one thing is Halal in one madhab and haraam in another?

JazakAllah Khair for responses in advance.

[Abu-Rayhan]

IIRC Imam Abu Hanifa understood differently one ayah from the Quran; there is an ayah that says 'sea food is made lawfull for you' or something similar, and Imam Abu Hanifa understood that to mean 'fish is made lawfull for you', thus hanafi's are only allowed to eat of sea food what can be defined as fish

The Qur'an permits "the game of the sea" (5:96), but this does not necessarily mean that all sea-creatures are permissible. In fact, the same verse also mentions "game of the land," yet no-one would claim that all land animals are permissible. To seek to elucidate which sea-creatures are halal, the Hanafis turned to the hadith, where we find the following:
"Two carrions (i.e. meat from animals that have not been slaughtered) have been made permissible for us....locusts and fish." [Narrated by Ahmad and Ibn Majah]
This hadith suggests strongly (even if not totally conclusively) that locusts (jarad) and fish (samak) are the only two types of creatures that can be eaten without slaughter. Crabs and the like are not customarily referred to as "samak" (fish), and furthermore many crabs are not purely aquatic creatures. Such is the reasoning of the Hanafi school in concluding that these creatures are prohibitively disliked (makruh tahrimi).

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.a...D=14677&CATE=1

[Z M S]

According to Hanafi Madhab, all water borne creatures besides fish are impermissible to consume. This includes creatures like crab, tortoise and frog.[1]

Regarding your second question why is there differences of opinion among Scholars; kindly refer to the answer written by Mufti Ishaq. E Moosa below:

http://www.askimam.org/public/question_detail/18094


And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti Zaid M Shelia,
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

[1] (قال: ولا يؤكل من حيوان الماء إلا السمك) ش: أي قال القدوري رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ في " مختصره ": وقال الكرخي رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ: كره أصحابنا كل ما في البحر إلا السمك خاصة فإنه حلال أكله إلا ما طفى منه فإنهم كرهوه. وقال شيخ الإسلام خواهر زاده: ويكره أكل ما سوى السمك من دواب البحر عندنا كالسرطان، والسلحفاة، والضفدع وخنزير الماء ( البناية شرح الهداية 11/604 دار الكتب العلمية)

(ويكره) أي لا يحل (أكل الضبع) لأن له ناباً (والضب) دابة تشبه الجرذون لورود النهي عنه، ولأنه من الحشرات (والحشرات) وهي صغار دواب الأرض (كلها) : أي المائي والبري كالضفدع والسلحفاة والسرطان والفأر والوزغ والحيات لأنها من الخبائث (اللباب في شرح الكتاب 3/230 المكتبة العلمية)