• Carrion: Forbidden to eat — but ...
The ingredients shown on some European types of cheese show rennet as one of them. This is taken from a calf's stomach and used in the making of cheese for thickening and compacting. I wonder whether such cheese is permissible to eat for Muslims because, mostly, the cows are not slaughtered in the Islamic way.
Once the Prophet passed by a house and found near it a dead sheep. He suggested to its inhabitants that they should take the hide of that sheep and use it. They told him that the sheep died by a natural cause, and as such it was carrion. As you realize, carrion is forbidden to eat. The Prophet said to them that he did not mean that they could eat it, but the fact that the sheep died natural death does not preclude using its hide to some benefit. This applies to other parts of any dead animal. As long as we are not using it for food, then we can make use of it. This rennet is used as a chemical in the making of cheese. When it is used up, it becomes part of a chemical process and it changes its substance. The outcome is totally different from the stuff that entered into the process. Nor is it possible to separate the cheese in order to get back the milk and the other ingredients that go into the making of that cheese. It is a rule in such situations that if a forbidden substance is used in a chemical process and changes its nature altogether then it becomes permissible to consume. This means that it is perfectly appropriate to eat the European cheese which uses rennet, as long as the rennet is not taken from pigs, but from cows or other animals which are lawful for a Muslim to eat.
Moreover, although the Europeans do not slaughter their animals in the Muslim fashion, their meat is permissible to eat because God says that the food of people who believe in earlier divine religions is permissible for Muslims to eat. He did not make any conditions on the method of slaughter of such meat. What they accept as lawful in their religion is permissible for us to eat, unless it is specifically forbidden in our religion, such as pork.
• Celebrations — anniversaries and the like
Some people celebrate certain anniversaries, such as the birthday of a child or death of a relative. What I would like to know is whether such celebrations are acceptable or not from Islamic point of view. I may add that when death anniversaries are marked they often include certain activities such as a gathering to read the Qur'an and providing food to those who are present. Some religious people suggest that such food may only be given to poor or needy people or to orphan children. Please comment.
It is important to know a basic rule in Islam that everything begins as permissible unless something is introduced so as to make it forbidden. This may be a clear verdict of prohibition stated in the Qur'an or in a Hadith or it may be a particular aspect of that thing which takes it out of the realm of what is permissible in order to make it forbidden. Moreover, the authority to prohibit anything belongs to God alone. No one may slam a verdict of prohibition on any matter without supporting his view with clear evidence from the Qur'an or the Prophet's statements or practices. If we take the two practices that you have mentioned and say that either or both of them are forbidden we need to support our verdict. If we cannot produce such evidence whatever we say is without foundation.
Let us begin with birthdays. We have nothing in the Qur'an or the Sunnah to say that the marking of the birthday of children is forbidden. Therefore, we have to look at the action itself in order to find out whether it includes anything contrary to Islamic teaching or principles.
If it does, then it will be forbidden on the basis of what it includes, not on the basis of what it is. Bearing this in mind, we can say that if parents celebrate the birthday of their children to imitate non-Muslims, feeling that the practices of such non-Muslims are better than those Islam encourages, then such a celebration is forbidden. Similarly, if adults mark their own birthday by organizing a function in which un-Islamic practices are condoned, then that is also forbidden. However, if parents organize a birthday party for their young child in which children gather to have some games, sing and have some food and enjoy themselves generally, then there is nothing wrong with that.
Commemorating the death anniversary of any person is not acceptable because it is borrowed from the practices of other religions. While it is permissible, and indeed encouraged to pray God to have mercy on those of our relatives who are dead and that He may forgive them all their sins, and also to read the Qur'an and pray God to credit the reward of our recitation to the deceased, what is done in some communities where death anniversaries are common practice does not win Islamic approval. To start with, the practices themselves are worship practices, but they were not practiced or approved by the Prophet. Hence, they are innovations. That is sufficient to make them unacceptable.
The Prophet says: "Whosoever introduces into this matter of ours (meaning Islam) something that does not belong to it shall have it rejected." Secondly, the provision of food into these functions is done in a way that Islam rejects. While giving food to poor people or orphans is highly commendable, the way it is done in these functions makes it totally different. To start with, the food is placed at a certain place and the rituals are then made in a way so as to suggest that this food is special. Besides, the notion that this food may only be eaten by the poor is alien to Islamic thinking.
We may recall here that when a pilgrim slaughters a sheep in pilgrimage or when the Eid sacrifice is slaughtered, we are expressly advised to "eat of it and feed the needy poor." It is only when the sacrifice is offered in compensation for a missed duty that we are not allowed to eat of it.
In this case it is a penalty for an omission. If the person offering it were to eat of it, the purpose of the sacrifice will be missed and the offender will be rewarded rather than penalized. All innovations in matters of religion are unacceptable, which means they are forbidden.
• Ceremonial impurity [or janabah] — the state of
Could you please advise whether it is obligatory to remove the state of ceremonial impurity immediately after one gets into it. This becomes extremely difficult in the case of newly weds or for any person who has involuntary urine discharge.
The state of ceremonial impurity, or janabah, occurs as a result of ejaculation, whether involuntary, as in the case of a wet dream, or deliberate, or as a result of sexual intercourse. To remove it, one has to have a full bath, washing his head and every part of his body with water. So, a shower, without soap is sufficient. It is not possible to offer prayers while a person is in a state of ceremonial impurity. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to remove that state by taking a shower or a bath immediately. If that is delayed, then one simply does not do well, but there is nothing sinful in it, unless it causes him to miss an obligatory prayer.
If one happens to get into this state two or three times a day, it may not be easy for him to have so many showers. Therefore, he should make sure that removing that state is easy before one gets into it.
If it happens two or three times, without taking a shower in between then one shower would remove it all. Suppose a person goes to sleep after he had prayed Fajr, and on waking up he discovers that he has had a wet dream. He realizes that he must leave home immediately because he is late for work. That is appropriate, if he knows that he will come back before Asr time and he will be able to have his shower and pray Dhuhr on arrival. Similarly, if one has more than one intercourse with his wife during the night, he can have one shower for all. He is recommended, however, to have an ablution, or wudhu', in between.
Involuntary discharge of urine is an illness which can be treated. For the purposes of prayer, however, one should make sure that the urine does not fall on his clothes or his body. [A urinal discharge does not cause ceremonial impurity and needs washing of the affected areas of the body only.] What he should do is to tie a polyethylene bag with a piece of cotton or tissue paper in it. When he wants to have ablution and pray, he replaces it with a clean one and has his ablution. He needs to have a fresh ablution only for every prayer, repeating the same method for cleanliness.
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