[Karensmith]

Assalam O Alaikum Br. Khan

How could you justify when Mufti Ibrahim Desi provided Halal status to "Whey" without investigating the Halal status of Starter Culture Bacteria, the media upon these bacteria grows and source of rennet. These are the requirements for assigning Halal status to ingredient "Whey". Unfortuntely the food experts which provided the scientific information may not be food scientists or they are not aware of the knowledge about how whey is made. You can not provide wrong information to the Muslims. This is like the same thing that a Mufti can not make a sick Muslim to healthy. The Muslim has to see a medical doctor for the treatment.

I have great respect for all mufti and their knowledge regarding sharia. But there certain area where they need the help of real food experts. it is nothing to do Devbandi or Hanafi. It is all about food science and food industry experience. The experts has to be qualified to give the advice to a mufti for fatwa. If they are not educated in food science nor they have food industry experience then they are not qualify to give advise on food ingredients and food products to a mufti. There are very few ingredients which require the fatwa from muftis after explaining how the ingredient is made. For example Shellack which is a secretion of insects, whether it is Halal or not. I have contact the muftis and they said it is Halal. But most of shellac is dissolved in alcohol then it became Haram.

Not all alcohols are Harm except ethyl alcohol which has intoxication quality. From scientific point of view any alcohol which do not intoxicate is Halal.

My opinion is that a qualified Muslim food scientist who has degree in food science and several years of food industry experience can provide the Halal/Haram status of a food ingredient or food product. He does not have to go to a mufti for Halal status unless case like Shellac ingredient. He can say an Enriched wheat flour is a Halal ingredient if all ingredients of enrichment are Halal.

We are not talking about dean so that we can approach the Muftis, we are talking about complex food ingredients and food products which are made on the principles of science. You have to take advise of a chemist for the Halal status of a food ingredient because Muftis are not chemists.

Yes it means both ethyl alcohol are Haram if they obtained from two different sources because there is no scientific difference of intoxication quality in them and both has the same chemical formula. Any intoxicant is Haram either in small quanitity or large according to a Hadith.

Science played an important role in Islam specially chemistry , many Muslim scientists developed many things which are still used by many people of the world. They were not muftis but scientist.

Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
Muslim Consumer Group
www.muslimconsumergroup.com