People are considered to be followers of earlier divine religions when they are Christians or Jews and affiliate themselves to such communities. This is not affected by the distortion that has crept into their faiths, unless such distortion is tantamount to total atheism. In this particular case they are no longer classified as belonging to earlier divine religions, but as idolaters and atheists, and any meat they have prepared for meals is unlawful to eat, This is the view of the late Shaikh Muhammad ibn Uthaymeen and of the General Secretary of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America. It is also stated in Fatawa al-Aqaliyyat al-Muslimah and endorsed by the Permanent Committee for Research and Fatwa.
