Some materials, such as biscuits or soap or the like, contain animal fats in their ingredients, such as from cows or pigs; what is the ruling?
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The questioner : Regarding the biscuits in Kuwait, biscuits, biscuits.
The Shaykh : Biscuits.
The questioner : Yes, with some cocoa as well, and also the soap. It is written on the contents that it contains animal fat. They say that this animal fat is from a dead cow from outside Kuwait, meaning not slaughtered according to Islamic law, or from a pig. The proportion of this in the contents is small, a small proportion. Some people forbid taking them... if you please, clarify this for us.
The Shaykh : In reality, the answer to this must be based on the opinion of a jurist and another man who is a chemist. Because the fact that the fat present in the biscuits or cocoa or soap is a small amount does not change the ruling that it is not permissible to use it as long as it contains this impure substance. However, the matter that must be investigated is seeking the opinion of a Muslim chemist. He is asked: does this fat, which is composed of fat from a slaughtered cow or from pork fat, when it mixes with this mixture—and let us take soap as an example—does this fat remain fat, or does it undergo a chemical development due to this mixing, such that it exits its previous reality, which is being pig fat or fat from a slaughtered animal, and exits to another reality, thereby taking on another ruling? Without a doubt, I, like others, cannot answer this; because it is not within my expertise, as I am not a chemist. But based on the answer that will be obtained or emerge from that chemist, we will say: either he says the fat remains the same, in which case it is said that it is not permissible to use it because it is impure, because it is forbidden. And if he says that due to the chemical development, its reality changed and became another reality, then we look at this other reality: is it forbidden in the Shari'ah?
Another questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : -And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings- or is it impure? Or is it neither forbidden nor impure? In that case, the use becomes permissible. And this development has a ruling in Islam, because it is known with certainty that when wine ferments, it becomes lawful. I do not say it becomes pure, because wine in its original state is not impure -upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah-; rather, it is forbidden. So when a chemical reaction occurred in it, when a chemical reaction occurred, the reality of the wine changed and it took on something else, where the intoxication went away and the prohibition went away; so it became something else and became lawful. So transformation and development are among the purifiers, to the extent that many of the Hanafi scholars said, indeed according to the opinion of all the Hanafis...
The Shaykh : Biscuits.
The questioner : Yes, with some cocoa as well, and also the soap. It is written on the contents that it contains animal fat. They say that this animal fat is from a dead cow from outside Kuwait, meaning not slaughtered according to Islamic law, or from a pig. The proportion of this in the contents is small, a small proportion. Some people forbid taking them... if you please, clarify this for us.
The Shaykh : In reality, the answer to this must be based on the opinion of a jurist and another man who is a chemist. Because the fact that the fat present in the biscuits or cocoa or soap is a small amount does not change the ruling that it is not permissible to use it as long as it contains this impure substance. However, the matter that must be investigated is seeking the opinion of a Muslim chemist. He is asked: does this fat, which is composed of fat from a slaughtered cow or from pork fat, when it mixes with this mixture—and let us take soap as an example—does this fat remain fat, or does it undergo a chemical development due to this mixing, such that it exits its previous reality, which is being pig fat or fat from a slaughtered animal, and exits to another reality, thereby taking on another ruling? Without a doubt, I, like others, cannot answer this; because it is not within my expertise, as I am not a chemist. But based on the answer that will be obtained or emerge from that chemist, we will say: either he says the fat remains the same, in which case it is said that it is not permissible to use it because it is impure, because it is forbidden. And if he says that due to the chemical development, its reality changed and became another reality, then we look at this other reality: is it forbidden in the Shari'ah?
Another questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : -And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings- or is it impure? Or is it neither forbidden nor impure? In that case, the use becomes permissible. And this development has a ruling in Islam, because it is known with certainty that when wine ferments, it becomes lawful. I do not say it becomes pure, because wine in its original state is not impure -upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah-; rather, it is forbidden. So when a chemical reaction occurred in it, when a chemical reaction occurred, the reality of the wine changed and it took on something else, where the intoxication went away and the prohibition went away; so it became something else and became lawful. So transformation and development are among the purifiers, to the extent that many of the Hanafi scholars said, indeed according to the opinion of all the Hanafis...
Source
www.al-albany.com
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