Short answer
Hanafi scholars differ. The Hanafi school allows only fish from the sea, and the question is whether shrimp counts as fish. Many Hanafi muftis allow shrimp and prawns because they were counted as a kind of fish in Arabic usage, while others hold them makruh because zoologists do not class them as fish. The other three schools allow shrimp.
Only fish is halal among sea animals. Hanafi scholars disagree on whether shrimp is a fish: one group holds it halal, the other holds it makruh. Many muftis advise avoiding it as the safer course, without condemning those who follow the permissive view.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Shrimp is halal, like most sea animals.
- Maliki
- Shrimp is halal; all sea animals are lawful.
- Hanbali
- Shrimp is halal, like most sea animals.
Explanation
The Hanafi school reads the Quran's ban on khaba'ith (repulsive things) together with the hadith naming fish and locusts as the lawful dead animals. It concludes that from the sea only fish is eaten. Crab, lobster, squid and mussels are therefore not eaten in the school (see crab and lobster).
Shrimp sits on the line. Classical Arabic dictionaries and books on animals described the shrimp (irbiyan) as a small fish, and ordinary people in many places call it a fish. Hanafi scholars who rely on this usage say shrimp is a fish for the purposes of the ruling and is halal. Others point out that shrimp has no backbone, no fins and no gills like a fish, and is a crustacean like crab, so it falls outside the ruling; they call it makruh.
Both views are held by respected Hanafi muftis in the Deobandi tradition, and neither side calls the other sinful. If you are a Hanafi and want the safest course, leave shrimp. If you follow a mufti who allows it, you are not doing wrong. Do not criticise Shafi'i, Maliki or Hanbali friends who eat it: for them it is clearly halal.
Restaurant dishes often mix shrimp with other shellfish, cook it in wine or add oyster sauce, so check the dish, not only the shrimp. See also is sushi halal and the Hanafi and Shafi'i differences.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-A'raaf 7:157
ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ ٱلرَّسُولَ ٱلنَّبِىَّ ٱلْأُمِّىَّ ٱلَّذِى يَجِدُونَهُۥ مَكْتُوبًا عِندَهُمْ فِى ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَٱلْإِنجِيلِ يَأْمُرُهُم بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَىٰهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْخَبَٰٓئِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَٱلْأَغْلَٰلَ ٱلَّتِى كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ فَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِهِۦ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَٱتَّبَعُوا۟ ٱلنُّورَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ مَعَهُۥٓ ۙ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٥٧﴾
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins upon them what is right and forbids them what is wrong and makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be the successful.
The Hanafi basis for leaving sea animals other than fish.
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 the other schools read as allowing all sea animals.
Sunan Ibn Majah 3314
Graded sahih... أحلت لنا ميتتان ودمان فأما الميتتان فالحوت والجراد ...
"Two dead things and two bloods have been made lawful for us: the two dead things are fish and locusts."
Names fish as the lawful dead of the sea; hadith critics differ on whether it is the Prophet's words or a Companion's, and the Hanafis read it with 7:157.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Dhaba'ih, on sea animals. Only fish is eaten from the sea.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Dhaba'ih. Which water animals count as fish.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. 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.