I went to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and asked: 'We live in the land of the People of the Book; can we eat in their plates?"
Authentic hadithعن أبي ثَعْلبة الخُشني رضي الله عنه قال: «أَتَيْتُ رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقلت: يا رسول الله، إنا بأرض قوم أهل كتاب، أَفَنَأْكُلُ في آنِيَتِهِم؟ وفي أرض صيد، أَصِيدُ بِقَوْسِي وبِكَلْبِي الذي ليس بِمُعَلَّمٍ، وبِكَلْبِي المُعَلَّمِ، فما يَصلح لي؟ قال: أمَّا مَا ذَكَرْتَ- يعني من آنية أهل الكتاب-: فإِنْ وجدْتُمْ غيرها فلا تأكلوا فيها، وإِنْ لم تَجِدُوا فاغسِلوهَا، وكلوا فِيهَا، وما صدتَ بِقَوْسِكَ، فذَكَرْتَ اسمَ الله عَلَيه فَكُلْ، وما صِدْتَ بِكَلْبِكَ المُعَلَّمِ، فَذَكَرْتَ اسْمَ الله عليه فَكُلْ، وما صِدْتَ بِكَلْبِكَ غيرِ المُعَلَّمِ فَأَدْرَكْتَ ذَكَاتَهُ فَكُلْ».
Abu Tha‘labah al-Khushani (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I went to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and asked: "We live in the land of the People of the Book; can we eat in their plates? It is also a land of game, and I hunt the game with my bow, with my untrained hound and with my trained hound. What is lawful for me to eat?" He said: "As for what you have mentioned about the plates of the People of the Book, if you can find other plates, do not use theirs, but if you cannot find (other than theirs), wash their plates and eat in them. If you hunt an animal with your bow after mentioning Allah's name, eat it. If you hunt something with your trained hound after mentioning Allah's name, eat it. If you hunt something with your untrained hound and manage to slaughter it (before it dies), eat it."
Explanation
Abu Tha‘labah (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) if they were allowed to eat in the plates of the People of the Book, although they may be impure? "The People of the Book" refers to the Jews and the Christians, who were Abu Tha‘labah’s neighbors. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) permitted him to use these plates for eating or otherwise on two conditions: 1. Failing to find other utensils. 2. Washing them. He then said that they were living in a land full of game and he would hunt with his bow, his trained hound, and his untrained hound. He asked what would be lawful to eat if caught by any of them. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) told him that the game shot by his bow would be permissible to eat on condition that he must mention the name of Allah, the Exalted, when he releases the arrow from the bow. Likewise, it would be permissible to eat the game caught by the trained hound if the name of Allah was mentioned when releasing it. However, it would not be permissible to eat the game caught by the untrained hound, unless the game was found alive and slaughtered in an approved manner.
Source · Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).