Prohibited & Impure Materials

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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