Short answer
In the Hanafi school, only fish is halal from the sea: every kind of true fish, including tuna, salmon, cod, shark and eel. Crab, lobster, mussels, oysters, squid and octopus are not eaten, and Hanafi scholars differ on shrimp. The Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools allow almost all sea animals.
Fish of every kind is halal without slaughter. All other water animals are makruh tahrimi (treated as forbidden), and Hanafi scholars differ on shrimp. A fish that died in the water by itself, with no outside cause, and floats on the surface is also makruh tahrimi.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Animals that live only in the sea are halal whatever their shape; those that also live on land, such as frogs and crocodiles, are not.
- Maliki
- All sea animals are halal, including crab, lobster, squid and octopus, and fish found floating dead.
- Hanbali
- All sea animals are halal except the frog, the crocodile and the snake.
Explanation
This is the clearest food difference between the schools, and the Hanafi school is the strictest. The Quran makes the game of the sea lawful. The majority read that as every animal of the sea. The Hanafis read it together with the ban on khaba'ith (repulsive things) and the hadith naming fish as the lawful dead of the sea, and conclude that only fish is meant.
For a Hanafi, the sea divides into three groups:
- Halal: all fish, however unusual they look, such as tuna, salmon, cod, tilapia, catfish, swordfish, shark, eel and whale, which is counted as a fish. Roe and caviar from halal fish, fish sauce and seaweed (a plant) are also fine.
- Disputed: shrimp and prawns. Some Hanafi muftis count them as fish, others as makruh.
- Not eaten: crab, lobster, crawfish, mussels, oysters, clams, scallops, squid (calamari), octopus and sea urchin, and stocks and sauces made from them.
Fish needs no slaughter and no bismillah, so fish from a non-Muslim shop is halal as long as nothing haram is added. The one Hanafi exception is fish that died by itself and floats; fish caught, netted or killed by cold, heat or being stranded is fine.
Followers of the other schools eat shellfish with good evidence, so Hanafis should not criticise them. Details are in separate answers: crab and lobster, shrimp, tuna and salmon, shark and whale.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:96
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ صَيْدُ ٱلْبَحْرِ وَطَعَامُهُۥ مَتَٰعًۭا لَّكُمْ وَلِلسَّيَّارَةِ ۖ وَحُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ صَيْدُ ٱلْبَرِّ مَا دُمْتُمْ حُرُمًۭا ۗ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِىٓ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ ﴿٩٦﴾
Lawful to you is game from the sea and its food as provision for you and the travelers, but forbidden to you is game from the land as long as you are in the state of ihram. And fear Allah to whom you will be gathered.
The verse on sea game, read by the majority as all sea animals and by the Hanafis as fish.
Quran, Surah An-Nahl 16:14
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى سَخَّرَ ٱلْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ مِنْهُ لَحْمًۭا طَرِيًّۭا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا۟ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةًۭ تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿١٤﴾
And it is He who subjected the sea for you to eat from it tender meat and to extract from it ornaments which you wear. And you see the ships plowing through it, and [He subjected it] that you may seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful.
Food from the sea is a blessing from Allah.
Sunan Abi Dawud 83
Graded sahih... هو الطهور ماؤه الحل ميتته ...
"Its water is pure and its dead are lawful."
Sea animals that die are lawful without slaughter; the Hanafis apply it to fish.
Sunan Ibn Majah 3314
Graded sahih... أحلت لنا ميتتان ودمان ...
"Two dead things and two bloods have been made lawful for us."
Names fish and locusts as the lawful dead, the Hanafi basis for allowing only fish.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Dhaba'ih, on sea animals. Only fish is eaten from the water; floating dead fish is disliked.
- Minhaj al-Talibin, Kitab al-At'ima. The Shafi'i view that animals living only in the sea are lawful.
- Mukhtasar Khalil with al-Sharh al-Kabir, Bab al-Mubah, on permitted foods. All sea animals are lawful in the Maliki school.
- al-Mughni (Ibn Qudama), Kitab al-At'ima. Sea animals are lawful except the frog, the crocodile and the snake.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.