Answered By Dr.
Nazih Hammad
(Member of the Fiqh Councils in N. A.) Translated into
English By Dr. Arafat K. El-Ashi
CONCLUSION
After the exhaustive Fiqh study of jurists’ statements, and approaches
concerning totalities and particulars, incidents and events related to the
theme "Prohibited and Impure Materials in Food and Medicine" and after the
contemplation of new issues in the light of the above, and in view of the Fiqh
of necessity and the framework of the purposes of Islamic law to remove
awkwardness from devotees, and under the shadow of making things light and
easy and the expanded scope resulting from the difference of scholars in the
secondary Fiqh issues: we have so far arrived at the following conclusions:
1 )
Purity is the foundation of all selves until the opposite is proved, and they
are permissible to use and benefit from until a considerable proof is
established for forbidding and prohibition.
2 )
Impure or prohibited material becomes pure and permitted to use if its truth
is changed and its self is altered into another material different from it in
name, characteristics and qualities; and this is known as the theory of
transformation.
3 )
The prohibited or impure material if it is mixed with a prevailing good and
pure thing so that the qualities of that overcome mixture (i.e. taste, colour
and smell) are gone then that consumption removes from the prevailing (mass)
the description of impurity and prohibition from the Islamic legal standpoint
as nothing of the characteristics and qualities of the prohibited material
remains which can have that description and this is called the theory of
consumption.
4 )
Necessities (which can be defined as cases of emergency that force one to
commit the prohibited act as he (being a responsible adult) thinks that he
will perish or a grave harm will affect him if he doesn't commit it) make
prohibited things Islamically lawful provided that they are inevitable and
they are evaluated according to their real degree.
5 )
Need for medication with prohibited or impure things take the status of
necessity and thus allow a Muslim to take the medical drugs containing an
Islamically prohibited material if he knew that there is a cure in them for
him and he does not find another medicine.
6 )
Wine is pure in itself according to the outweighing view of scholars due to
the absence of a considerable proof of its impurity, and because the
prohibition of eating anything, drinking or wearing it is not legally
considered a judgement of its impurity, and in the Fiqh view this is not
essential due to the separation of the direction.
7 )
Narcotics derived from plant origins like hashish, opium, morphine, cocaine
and the like as well as other plant narcotics like nutmeg, saffron, ambergris,
Qat and others are pure in themselves, they are, however, not allowed to be
consumed for the sake of games and false entertainment in analogy of wine.
8 )
There is no awkwardness from the Islamic legal standpoint to produce and use
perfumes (eau de colognes) in which alcohol is used as a solvent for flying
perfumes, or to use alcohol in small percentage to make some medicines for the
sake of solving prepared plant, organic or chemical extracts which cannot be
solved in water, and also to use it (alcohol) as a purifier and a killer of
germs and microbes for skin or for injections before usage, for the sites of
injection or for medical equipments and instruments and the like. This is
because it is a pure material and there is need or outweighing interest to use
it in those areas.
9 )
Medical drugs in which a small percentage of alcohol forms part of their
compound for the purpose of preservation or to solve some medical stuffs that
cannot be solved in water and not for the sake of pacification or as appetite
openers, and which are produced just for the purpose of medical treatment and
are used in small doses according to the prescriptions of physicians so that
they don't lead to intoxicating patients who take them, there is no Islamic
legal awkwardness in drinking them unless a certain harm is caused by them to
the patients who take them or to others. If such harm is caused like in the
case of small children and pregnant women, for it has been proved in modern
medicine that alcohol is harmful to babies in whatever small quantities it is
taken as part of medicine and also to the foetus should a pregnant mother
drink it. In that case it is unlawful to take it due to its harm because
there should be no harm to oneself nor to others.
10)
Different types of fruit juices, yoghurt and the like that usually contain a
small percentage of alcohol not exceeding .,05% or close to that, there is no
legal awkwardness in taking them because that small percentage is consumed in
the lawful prevailing liquid mixture since no trace of taste, colour or smell
of alcohol remains in it.
11)
Food stuffs whose ingredients contain an extremely small percentage of alcohol
which is used to solve some materials that cannot be solved in water like
colouring materials, preserves, flavours and the like as Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola
and Mirinda, all these beverages are lawful and pure due to the consumption of
the small amount of alcohol in the pure prevailing liquid mixture.
12)
Food stuffs to which intoxicating alcoholic drink is added like rum, cherry
brandy, cognac, and the like, in order to give them a certain flavour and a
distinguished taste, such are absolutely prohibited to eat whether they are in
the form of ice cream, sweets, chocolates, sugared fruits, carbonated waters
or others. This is because they contain wine with its taste and intended
flavour, and based on the Islamic legal foundation that says that if too much
of any drink intoxicates then the little amount of it is prohibited; on the
other hand there is no legal exceptional requirement to make it permitted.
13)
Carrion rennet, from animals whose meat is edible, is pure according to the
view of abu Hanifa, Dawood al-Zahiry, and Ahmad in one report from him. It is
also outweighed by some Hanbaly scholars. Accordingly it is allowed to eat
cheese formed by it.
14)
Swine are impure in themselves, and it is not lawful to eat their meat, fat,
bones, milk or any of their parts. All food stuffs that contain lard in their
ingredients without its transformation in its nature, like some types of
cheese, some kinds of oil, grease, butter, and ghee and some types of
biscuits, chocolates and ice creams are absolutely prohibited and should not
be eaten at all.
15)
Gelatin derived from skin and bones of swine or cows, carrion and the like is
pure and lawful to eat and allowed to use from the Islamic Fiqh standpoint.
This is based on the Islamic legal theory of transformation; for the
disappearance of the reality of descriptions of swine skins, bones or carrion
is not unclear; and the name which was judged as impure and prohibited is no
more there, neither the quality for which the judgement was passed any more
exists. The transformed stuff became something else different from its origin
in chemical formation and physical characteristics.
16)
Cheese formed by pepsin (swine rennet) from the milk of an animal whose meat
is edible is lawful and acceptable to eat in Islamic law due to the fulfilment
of transformation and consumption of that impure pepsin in the pure prevalent
liquid.
17)
Insulin taken from swine pancreas is considered pure and good in Islamic law
because of its transformation. Diabetics can take it for medication.
18)
Using swine skin in patching the human skin suffering from third degree burns
is detested if it is resorted to without any inevitable necessity, but if that
is the case then there is no awkwardness in Islamic law to use it.
19)
If impure swine skin is tanned it turns pure through tanning according to the
view of Abu Yousuf, Dawood al Zahiry, ibn Hazm, and Sahnoon and ibn abdel
Hakam of the Maleki school. Accordingly there is no awkwardness in Islamic
law to use it and benefit from it and to use things that are made of it.
20)
According to the view of Malek and Ahmad in one report from him, outweighed by
some Hanbaly scholars concerning the absolute purity of swine hair, there is
nothing Islamically wrong in using the things and the products in which it is
either used or it forms part of their components, and also to benefit from
them.
21)
When lard and carrion fats are transformed into soap their truth is changed
and their chemical structure is altered and their nature is transformed into
another material totally different from the former one in name,
characteristics and qualities so that soap made of them is considered lawful,
pure and Islamically acceptable for use in accordance with the theory of
transformation.
22)
There is nothing Islamically awkward in using tooth pastes that contain some
of the materials changed from lard after it is chemically treated and is
transformed into another material that has a different structure. This is
based on the theory of transformation.
23)
Ointments, creams and cosmetics that contain lard or carrion fat in their
structure after their nature is transformed and changed into another material
are Islamically pure and lawful to benefit from and use. If, however,
transformation in the Islamic sense, of the impure materials is not
fulfilled, then they are considered impure and are prohibited to use except
for an inevitable specified necessity that should be evaluated according to
its degree.
24)
Pure distilled water obtained after the complete purification of impure sewage
water through modern technological methods is considered pure, purifying and
acceptable to drink and good for all other ways of benefit.
25)
It is lawful to feed animals whose meat is not edible with feeds that contain
prohibited or impure materials according to views of al Malekiya and al
Hanabila who allow feeding animals, whose meat is not edible with carrion.
26)
And based on the views of al Hasan al Basry, Malek and those who agree with
them concerning the lawfulness of feeding edible meat animals with impure
feed, and the permissibility of eating the meat of those of them which are fed
with it according to the theory of transformation, it is not Islamically
awkward to feed edible meat animals with feeds containing impure or prohibited
material and this dose not spoil their meat. milk or eggs.
27)
It is permissible to use narcotics for the purpose of inevitable medical
treatment, like surgical operations and most of the good efforts of treatment
and surgery according to the necessary quantities, due to the Islamically
acceptable necessity of medication.
28)
There is no Islamic objection to using saffron in improving the flavour and
colour of food as well as nutmeg which is usually mixed with spices to improve
the flavour and smell of food. This also applies to ambergris that is added
to some drinks for the sake of its perfume but in small quantities that do
not lead to abatement or narcotisation. This is because of ascribing them to
parallel things due to the origin of their purity and lawfulness and because
of the absence of anything that Islamically forbids using them.
29)
There is no Islamic awkwardness in using gold in the right compensational
things (like capping molar and other teeth, tightening teeth with one another
and the like) for the purpose of medical treatment for men and women; and also
in using gold in the form of injections to treat chronic arthritis whenever
there is inevitable need for that.
And the last of our prayers is praise be to Allah.
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