1) Recently I watched a lecture of yours where you stated that Beef is actually makruh. First I want to thank you for your phenomenal lectures they only keep getting better. I tried explaining this to my family but they have insisted that I show them empirical evidence. I could not find any Holy verse or ahadith that points to this. Can you help guide me as you where I should look to do more research on this in the Islamic sector?

2) My family was debating me on the verses of the Holy Quran (Surah Anam I believe) stating that cow meat has been permitted by Allah swt otherwise he would have mentioned it being makrooh. How would I, as a lay person, respond to those remarks, when the Holy Quran says one thing and the ahadith say another. At one point someone even told me not everything the Holy Prophet does applies to us given that he stayed away from garlic and onions too.

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1) So we have this h1adith in the book of Kafi, from Imam al-Sadeq (a), that says:

أبي عبدالله ( عليه السلام ) ، قال : ألبان البقر دواء ، وسمونها شفاء ، ولحومها داء .

“The milk of cows is medicine, their fat is healing, and their meat is a disease.”

This means that the milk and fat are beneficial whereas their meat is harmful.

Now it’s ok to eat beef occasionally. One should avoid eating it everyday or on a regular basis. Based on our hadeeths, lamb is better than beef.

2) Regarding the argument that the Qur’an says it’s halal, yes of course we agree it’s halal. The hadith does not reject this. The hadith just indicates it’s not recommended to regularly eat it. So it’s not contradicting the Qur’an for us to reject it. Cows also have other benefits like milk and fat too, so we keep that in mind.

Here’s an analogy: the Qur’an says that sea hunting (like fishing) is permissible. Does this mean it’s recommended to eat every sea animal? Of course not. This is a general verse which does not go into specifics.

In any case, it’s ok to eat beef. I don’t recommend you let this become an issue with your family. In the end it’s perfectly halal and permissible. Yes, personally try to eat it less (try not to eat it every day) and instead if you want to eat meat eat more lamb as it’s recommended.