Yasir Qadhi – Ask Shaykh YQ – Episode 32 – Is Gelatin in Medicinal Tablets Permissible
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Our sister Fatima says that she has to take a medicine and that medicine has gelatin in it and so she is confused is gelatin in medicinal tablets permissible standard question we always get asked it so today inshallah we will answer this question in an academic on
pavini gala Raja ilaria II
Firstly, what is gelatin? gelatin is a type of protein it is derived from animal tissue. It is a form of collagen and it has properties that makes it useful for various foods and medicines of them is that it can be very easily made relatively tasteless and odorless and it has a protective layer so it can be made to basically
put medicine inside it and you have the gelatin capsule outside of it right so it's odorless and tasteless and you're preserving the stuff inside of it or you can add sweet and make the gelatin itself into a sweet think of jello. jello is exactly gelatin that's what gelatin is right jello is nothing but gelatin so that that material which is you know just enough permeable and whatnot to enjoy to eat gummy stuff and you put some sweetener to sugar. So gelatin can put give texture to a food, it can protect the food inside of it is something that can be very useful in many different
types of food and that is why we find it in so many different food products. Now, where does gelatin come from? There are four primary sources of gelatin, number one, animals, number two fish number three plants and number four synthetically produced Okay, these are the four primary sources of gelatin. Now, we are talking about the first one if if gelatin comes from fish, it is held out for us if gelatin comes from plants, it is held if gelatin is synthetically manufactured in a laboratory. It is halal, however, don't quote me, but like 80 to 90% of the gelatin in the world comes from the first category which is animals. You do not find gelatin from plants, except with
great, great, great difficulty, those that are strict vegans. And they will not take gelatin from animals, they will somehow when they manufacture their pills, they will go to the gelatin from plants and therefore the price is going to be jacked up because it's more difficult etc. So that's very rare to find gelatin from fish is also very rare because I mean come on fish bone seriously, it's not easy to do, right. So some types of gelatin comes from fish. And typically when it does, it will also have the label on there. But these are very rare asked for synthetically produced gelatin as far as I know, as far as I know, you will not find it in any food product because to produce
synthetic gelatin is like 50 times more expensive than to just extract it from animals. So why would anybody produce it in a lab, nobody produced it in a lab and then put it into a food product. It costs too much. So the default when you pick up a product and it says gelatin, where is it from was the default. Animals ignore the other three categories unless it sets so if it says and I've seen this with my own eyes gelatin in brackets plant derived if you find this on the product 100% Halla and generally when the corporation is using plant gelatin, it will want to tell you why because it's advertising to the
to the vegans. Okay, so we are now talking about gelatin that is animal derived and that is the default Now, obviously, obviously, now gelatin is derived typically from the meat and the joints and sometimes even the skin of the animals, obviously, if you're going to use animals that have been slaughtered according to the laws of Islam, so the animal itself is thought hid and it is there behind what what not. Obviously if you make gelatin from those bones, gelatin is held on Okay, now Heidi is one step away from gelatin.
This dog nihari nihari is one step away from jellison and it is 100% halal. Okay, so when you invite your next make your next new hottie I have to come and make sure it is handled for you as well make sure you invite me for that. So obviously when the bones are halal, what you produce from the bones is Helen. But when you go to the marketplace, are they using the Baccarat from either of Ha. No. They're using where which animal do they use most?
conceal? Pig? Why do they use pig the most? It's the cheapest for them. And also by the way, the most gelatin comes from those bones as well. By the way, two reasons. First, pigs are cheap for them easy there. And then number two, the amount of gelatin they extract from that quantity is more from pigs than from other animals. So the deef
fault when you see gelatin in the Western world is that it is not just coming from a animal, it is coming from the one animal that you don't want it to come from, which is Kinsey. Now, I know that some Muslim countries produce gelatin.
And if it's a Muslim country producing gelatin, the assumption should be the gelatin is hella because we do not expect any Muslim country to produce from concede they're going to be producing it from cows and whatnot. And we assume it is hella, but we are worried about now the non Muslim knows that we live in. So we say the most of the gelatin that comes from the substances that we purchase on our shops here in this part of the world, it is actually coming straight from the most nervous animal, and that is the pig. So with that, that was all introduction. Now we get to the big issue. And this is an issue that I want all of us to know. It's a simple rule of fish.
Does something that is nudges become pie here, when it changes?
This is the question
or does it always remain nudges? If the source of something is nudges? Will it always be nudges? Or when it changes it will cease to be nudges and we can now say that it is fall hit it is now pure. The Arabic term for this the key term for this is is the Halla is the healer. And all of you without exception know the root of this word, because you say it all the time. La hawla wala quwata illa Billah howl means higher layer hula means what state change state is the handler to change from one house to another to change from one state to another. This is what is the Halla means it is the technical term that the books have filled us about changing substances and products. And this is a
classical topic of Islam, you will find discussed in all the med hubs. And the question is, does st Helier make the nudges taught here? That's the question. Okay.
And you will find and this is an interesting point because actually in our minds, we'll think about this in early Islam, what I call classical Islam, the majority of the med hubs and scholars said no, it does not. And it is the standard position of the Shafi school. And it is the more attempt to the accepted of the humbly school. And it is the well known also in the Maliki school as well, that something which is nudges will always remain nudges. However, the Hanafi school martial arts about a cola, they were the forward thinkers here and they said
it's the Halla renders nudges into
something that was nudges, wanted undergoes a transformation completely, it ceases to be nudges and it becomes thought here. Okay, and
I'm going to be very explicit here, it's panela I hope this doesn't also the 10 second clips and then the refugees have to be conscious of them all the time. So Pinilla
our classical scholars with utmost respect to them were also human beings. And their fight was and the rulings and understandings are based upon the knowledge that they knew the fact of the matter. Anybody who knows the most basic knowledge of modern chemistry, cannot possibly hold the majority position anymore.
Why? Because everything keeps on changing the atoms in us would have been nudges. At one point in time, they're going to be nudges to another point in time. Change is a part of nature. And we all are recycling our atoms. And what was not just becomes died, what was died becomes not just what we eat, goes out comes in fire goes out and adjusts, right. And what goes out nudges decomposes and fertilizes and comes out by it again, with utmost respect. And this is not meant for the biller to make fun of the classical scholars of Islam, please don't read and we would not be here without the classical and yes, even the medieval scholars of Islam is not a dishonorable it's just the fact the
scholars were human beings. And they just thought that something that is natural is going to remain that just forever. We love them, we respect them, but we now have knowledge of chemistry, knowledge of basic physics knowledge that they did not have something that is nudges, when it changes and decomposes and completely comes something else it is no longer the original and it is no longer and adjusted becomes thought here we eat that which comes from the edges it becomes by even physically we understand this we can take urine and in the similar simple distillation in the most basic laboratory extract pure water from urine. Can we not do this now? Right pure, the purest in fact
many cities of the world their drink
Water is recycled water.
You did not know this, okay? This is well known. Now he's gonna Google which city and never go there, right? Some of the largest cities in the world, their tap water, which they drink, is the nudges that has been recycled and everybody understands is completely legit, right? And again, this shows us My dear brothers and sisters is not making fun of any mentors. It's knowledge you build on what the past is, is that more luck? Here, we, we thank you for all that you've done. Now we take your contribution, we now benefit with what we know we move forward. That's what knowledge is, when we do so we're not trying to criticize the past. We're simply saying, we thank you for your
services, we now need to move on, nobody can ever claim that is to hire doesn't change. And that just and to die, this is now the default position of every monitors color of our times and every council across the globe, even the shaft and councils of milk have changed their method, and they say is to have a render slide into sorry, not just into the head. Is that clear right now. And this is the position of all the scholars of modern times, regardless of what the classical said, because it's common sense. And chemistry proves this. Now, we firmly believe now what's the evidence By the way, the evidence has many, many evidences of them is vinegar. Vinegar is an evidence because what
is vinegar? Many of us Muslims have no clue what vinegar is. When you find out you're shocked. You're like this vinegar out on this next question. No, our profitsystem came home it is in Bahati and he said to Arusha that is there anything to dip the bread in? You know condiment is anything? And she said we only have vinegar. And he said give me the vinegar, and he did the bread and vinegar and he said what a great condiment Nirmal Damo alcohol. What a great condiment is vinegar. Vinegar is a great thing to dip your button you know subzi type of stuff same thing you dip your butt into eaten he ate Vinegar Vinegar is completely highlighted by unanimous unanimous consensus. What is
vinegar all Muslims do you have any idea what vinegar is? You would know what is vinegar?
It is Hummer that has gone through the entire fermentation process. You cannot get vinegar without an intermediary of actual Hummer. Why are Muslims who Mashallah hum dilemma keep us this blissfully innocent, we should keep this blissful innocence. Why do they cork alcohol?
Why is alcohol always blocked? We don't want any air when it they don't want them, we rephrase that. They don't want any error in it. Why? Because if you uncork the alcohol, and you leave it to be what happens, it becomes vinegar. That's what vinegar is. Vinegar is fermented alcohol. Right now, the majority of men have said that alcohol is nitrous. Whether it is or not is a separate issue. We'll talk about that one day, but that's the position they have. And the majority of men have all the methods say all the men have say that that vinegar is thought
you understand what's just happened here is to Hannah, is to handle the majority of metal all formats have say that alcohol is nudges. Hammer is nudges. And all the metal say vinegar is pothead. What just happened is to highlight this shows us another example that is given as this is the issue of skin leather are processed and passed by a shaved head. It isn't Budo and the sheep was dead. It wasn't that bad died. So of course, nobody's going to eat the sheep. The President said why don't you? Why don't you take the skin and use use leather get the leather from the dead animal. And they said You're a fool. It's Mater. It's a dead animal. It's nudges. And our Profit System said tanning
the animal purifies the skin. tanning sorry, tanning the skin. Sorry, purifies it, tanning the skin, purifies it. Now the skin. If you take it filthy, wet whatnot. This is not just correct. Yeah. Now you're going to turn it which means you go through a chemical process, you put it in the sun, you do this and you completely change it. It's a complete transformation. It was not just now it is by him. So this is the evidence in the media. That clearly indicates is the handler does make the nudges into law. We are all understanding this point. Right. Okay, final big section then we are done. Now that our proven is the handler is indeed legitimate in transforming the adjuster into taharah. The
question we need to ask ourselves is the following.
Is the extraction process for gelatin a valid is the healer or not? This is the question.
We agree that is the harlot changes, not just in total here. Agreed.
Has gelatin undergone a sufficient? Is the Halla
Is this a filter a question or a chemical question Who can tell me
Chemical question. So believe it or not, based on what answer a chemist will give, the faqih will have a different answer. You understand this point here, once again, we are seeing different specializations coming into play place. And if you google his gelatin halaal without understanding this, assume that I've tried to do all this also, without understanding the soul, and you quote me 10 rule Emma, seven of them, or six of them will say gelatin is nudges. Three or four will say gelatin is Helen. And you go look up those three or four who say gelatin is halal. And they will say so, based upon the understanding that is the halal has occurred
in gelatin.
In fact, there is no disagreement amongst all the 10 about the soul. The disagreement is in chemistry not in fact, believe it or not. So who should we ask a factory or a chemist?
For this issue, we need the fuckery chemist. I'm a chemical engineer, by the way. Okay. I have a minor in Chemistry as true I do actually. It's all gone. By the way, it's all completely gone.
But who should we ask the 14 who are the chemist in this case, we need to ask the chemist,
we need to ask the chemist has a genuine transformation occurred in the extraction process of gelatin.
With my utmost respect to our fuqaha, once we have proven that is the handler is good. And it is we now need to find out whether it has occurred. And this is not the job of our fuqaha they will not tell us if this data has occurred in gelatin. And in the extraction process. This is the chemists job to tell us we go to the chemists, I have been to over a dozen specialists, even though shala I am not a giant in chemistry, and I've done my own research and our own position, which is the same. I have personally asked over a dozen specialists, including PhDs in chemistry and biochemistry, including people that have specialized in collagen and in proteins. And I have found them
unanimously to tell me the exact same thing, as I concluded with my very basic knowledge of chemistry. And that is, what do you think?
Mashallah, you want the easy position?
Before I answer you, let me tell you this.
And when I tell you this, you will know my answer, you can produce gelatin in your kitchen
is very, very, very simple. You can literally, Google how to produce gelatin in your kitchen. And you can take the bones, put them in water, boil them scrape a little bit, right, take the bones out, you know, make the water evaporate, do this and that. And that is basically your gelatin.
What do you think I'm heading with this.
It is not a process that radically changes the structure.
It is simply transferring that collagen from the bones of the animal into a substance that you can use for your food. So very, very, very basic surface level. It's not even fractional distillation level, if you know your chemistry and whatnots very basic level. And that is why and one of my friends that I spoke with us about this and he was very passionate. And he was writing a paper for a 50 journal. He has a PhD in biochemistry, but he's writing a paper about his data of gelatin, actually. And he said, Just show me
any gelatinous structure. And I will tell you what basic microscopes that I have whether it comes from a pig or a horse or a cow just by looking at the structure from the microscope. That's how little change has occurred, that I can just look at and I'll tell you where it's from.
And in my own research in this issue, I think it is very clear. That
is the header of course changes and adjusted to tahara. Yes, we agree. But gelatin does not undergo a process of istikhara
gelatin does not undergo that process. You simply take the protein material from the bones of the pig, and you transfer it into that candy or into that jello or into that pill that you are using for your medicine. And therefore it retains its Natasa the verdict will be that it retains that adjustment. Okay. Therefore, and by the way, this is the position of the metaphysical Islami and I will always try to quote your merchant of calculus dammit because I have said many, many times out of the modern councils of the world. It is the largest and earliest and most
Respected modern counsel admits in Mecca, Robert Adam and his family founded it. And it's one that represents almost all of the dominant schools of modern Islam and geographic geographies and over 100 per month, multi touch arithmetic all of these great orlimar are part of this much mouthfeel conditioned me, Oh, I see ziani counselor, and they have
their pot out there their decree which is in front of me here issued
October 31 1998, about the issue of gelatin and it's an Arabic And I simply say that it is allowed to use gelatin if it is extracted from halal sources that are slaughtered according to the sources of Islam. And it is not allowed to use gelatin that comes from from sources like pig and the bones and the skin of pigs and of the fatwa This is the fatwa of measurement of physical Islamic and rabbit and maca were pretty much all the scholars that are there they basically said gelatin does not go as to holla it doesn't count as to Allah that having been said our sisters question was about medicine. So we say if the medicine is needed to sustain a reasonable level of life, it's not some
beauty product and there's no alternative to conditions then this is
if either of these two conditions is not met, if you're taking something for beauty, it's not something that's needed for quality of life. Without it you're going to suffer or not suffer that's really it's not a matter of life and death by the way gelatin is not that now it's a matter of look you cannot breathe normally your blood pressure is going to go I something of this nature where the quality of your life will be markedly different and you have a product here that has gelatin in it right and inside of it is your your medicine. If you can find the * out alternative for a price that you can afford, then you should go to that * alternative and I humbly say most medicines
will have a healthy alternative as far as I know. Most medicines will have had alternatives do the research okay. I even know of a case where the doctor said to him for this particular medicine you don't really need the capsule you can open the capsule put it into water than drink the water and make sure you go to the doctor don't come to me go to your doctors right again. Yeah people of Islam don't ask scholars questions that they're not qualified to answer a scholar as a human being a scholar is also bias the scholar has his own view I cannot give you stock options I cannot give you you know if FIFA and you know you go to me for what I know and you go to the specialist for what
they know. So if you have an alternative excellent if not ask your doctor what not okay, this medicine can i is it allowed for me to put in another substance without taking the capsule and insha Allah this would be the ideal thing. If you're not able to there's no substitute and the doctor says no, this has to go in tapped into your stomach whatever. In this case, locally full of enough's and illa wisata and you're allowed to take this medication, if there is no alternative and with that inshallah to Allah we come to the conclusion of today's show. Tomorrow we will have our lecture.
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