Is it true that some of the Companions ate cheese from the Zoroastrians?
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The questioner : The questioner asks: Is it true, as has been reported, that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) ate cheese from the Zoroastrians, given that the slaughter of a Zoroastrian is not permissible?
The Shaykh : Yes, it is not permissible. It is well known among the scholars that when the Companions conquered the cities, they ate cheese from the Zoroastrians. Cheese is mixed with rennet, and rennet comes from an animal slaughtered in a manner that is not permissible, such as the rennet from carrion. The scholars differ regarding the rennet from carrion: is it pure or impure? Whoever considers it pure finds no difficulty with this matter. And whoever considers it impure, it can be said that the cheese mixed with the rennet is far more than the rennet, and that the rennet has diminished in it until no trace of it remains. A forbidden thing, when it diminishes in a permissible thing and no trace of it remains, is permissible. Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, it is not permissible. It is well known among the scholars that when the Companions conquered the cities, they ate cheese from the Zoroastrians. Cheese is mixed with rennet, and rennet comes from an animal slaughtered in a manner that is not permissible, such as the rennet from carrion. The scholars differ regarding the rennet from carrion: is it pure or impure? Whoever considers it pure finds no difficulty with this matter. And whoever considers it impure, it can be said that the cheese mixed with the rennet is far more than the rennet, and that the rennet has diminished in it until no trace of it remains. A forbidden thing, when it diminishes in a permissible thing and no trace of it remains, is permissible. Yes.