Is Duck Halal?

Generally speaking, according to Islamic law, nothing is haram unless it is specifically mentioned in the Quran or by the Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him.

Even though Muslims rarely eat duck, it is halal as long as it is slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.

Islamic Rulings

God has created a lot of various foods for mankind and it is described in the Holy Book as well. The rule is that all edible things are halal unless Quran stops you from something.

Quran states:

“He is the One Who created everything in the earth for you. Then He turned towards the heaven, forming it into seven heavens. And He has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things.”

[source]

This means that God has made all the food for mankind and He has the best knowledge of them all. If something is not good for Muslims God forbids it in His Book or else it is considered halal.

Nowhere in any Islamic rulings, I can find anything regarding duck being harmful or haram. Hence it’s halal.

Even after the Prophet the following Caliphs like Hazrat Umar R.A and Hazrat Uthman R.A also agreed that it is halal to consume ducks and pigeons.

Shafi Madhab’s book Sharh al-Muhadhdhab states:

“Our companions unanimously agreed that it is permissible to eat ostriches , chickens… ducks, sand grouse, sparrows, larks, francolin and pigeons”

[Sharh al-Muhadhdhab, 7/22]

An-Nawawi also states:

“Whatever lives in the water and on land, including waterfowl such as ducks, geese and so on, is halal as stated above, but if any of these dies of natural causes (i.e., is not slaughtered in the proper manner) it is not halal, and there is no difference of scholarly opinion on this point. Rather it is essential that it be slaughtered properly.”

[Sharh al-Muhadhdhab, 9/35]

Therefore, ducks are halal and must be slaughtered prior to consumption.

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Duck Is A Bird

The duck is considered an aquatic bird. Meaning it is an animal of water as well. However, ducks don’t follow the seafood halal rules according to Islam which states that all seafood is halal without slaughtering.

Duck is not a prey animal and if slaughtered properly it is halal.

Halal Cooking

You need to ensure that the duck is cooked halal after it has been slaughtered properly.

If you’re wondering, there is no ritual!

Cooking the duck with halal ingredients is all you need to do. There are times when a dish can only be prohibited based on the ingredients used.

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Halal Birds

Usually, Muslims don’t know all the halal birds they can consume. I have made a list so you can enjoy some if you want to. These are all halal birds just make sure you slaughter them first.

• Turkey
• Chicken
• Partridge
• Pheasant
• Pigeon
• Geese
• Quail
• Doves
• Nightingale
• Starling
• Parrot
• Peacock
• Ostriche
• Sparrow

Are duck eggs halal?

The rulings do not mention eggs. As a general rule, we consider the eggs of halal animals to be halal for Muslim consumption as well. The same applies to chicken eggs.

As ducks themselves are permitted, duck eggs are actually halal.

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Final Thoughts

I have found that the Islamic principle of halal birds applies to the duck. They are halal only if they are slaughtered properly and cooked with all the halal ingredients. Muslims don’t know this as ducks are not usually consumed by them.

Like all other non-preying birds ducks are halal as well.

And Allah Knows Best.