[Karensmith]

Assalam O Alaikum

Quote: "Each ingredient will play its role.. Once you agree that the Muftiyaan knowing that ethanol derived from other sources has the quality of intoxicant.. yet have ruled that it does not fall under Hurmat of Nusus Qat'ii.. THEN you have to agree to disagree. Now thereafter if the shellac is halal and is mixed with synthetic alcohol, it will not change the mufties decision. "


According to Hadith all intoxicant are Haram this includes ethyl alcohol obtained through fermentation of sugar from any source including synthetic alcohol because of its intoxication quality. The saying of Imam Abu Yousuf is not accepted by all Muslims but every Muslim accept the above Hadith. It is possible at time of Abu Yousuf the knowledge was not avaialble that the alcohol from any source has the same intoxicant quality, same physical and chemical characteristics.

Quote: As you have mentioned before...that according to you alcohol whether khamr or non khamr is all najis .. So now here are a couple of twisters for you..

a. Rasulullah has been reported to have used nabeez. Which is a date juice.. rather soaked water of dates over night and drunk early in morning.. If it is kept unattended for merely more than a few hours it starts to bubble because of the fermentation and thus becomes proper khamar. Please tell us how soon does fermentation starts.. because according to your usool as soon as even one molecule of khamr got formed there, the nabeez would become completely najis and haraam. So did Rasulullah drinking this nabeez

b. The above nabeez is also najis because of that particular molecule.. and Rasulullah at one point also made wudhu with it.

c. You eat bread, which uses yeast for ferementation. We know that the ethanol made from this fermentation gets evaporated thus there is no intoxication...but while the fermentation is being done.. from the time of dough till baking.. the bread comes in contact with the ethanol.. so by your usool that bread should be najis too.

d. If two molecules being same was a good enough argument to make something halal and haram.. then pork should have been halal to consume .. unless the protein strands that make the pork meat are completely different from normal meat.. please enumerate the scientific difference between pork meat and cow meat.

e. What is the scientific difference between a flowing blood and non flowing blood. "

It is depend upon the amount of yeast and other microorganism how fast the fermentation occur. This is the reason all fruit juices are pasteurized to kill yeast and bacteria which causes the fermentation of sugar in fruits. This pasterization was not discver at the time of Prophet Mohammed Sallallahu alaihi wasallum. The minute amount of alcohol in ripe fruits and in bread is due to natural fermentation and ripe fruits and bread is not consider Haram. But it is different from man added alcohol to natural or artificial flavor. This natural alcohol in fruits and bread do not intoxicate but it has to be natural. I did not discuss about one molecule of alcohol in my posting. But according to a Hadith small quantity or large quantity of intoxicant is Haram. Prophet Mohammed Sallallahu alaihi wasallum was drinking the nabeez before it get fermented.

Pork meat has the different amount and sequences of Amino Acids than cow meat. The amino acids are the building block of protein. It also has different poly peptide bounds attaching to peptides. Pork fat has different fatty acid chains than beef fat. Amount of amino acids and its sequence of pork meat will not change even during the processing of gelatin. Meat basic unit is amino acid not the molecule because it is not liquid, molecule is for liquids. The flowing blood do not exposed to air so ther is no oxidation of blood in human body. Air expose blood is subjected to oxidation because of air. But the basic unit of flowing and non flowing blood is same. Blood obtained from same person do show same homoglobin, protein and lipid in flowing and non flowing blood.

Why you have to go a mufti who does not have the knowledge of food ingredients and food products and who borough the knowledge from others to give fatwa. If a food scientist assign a Halal status to a food ingredient based on Quran, Hadith and science, it will be good enough. Two major food websites in USA are run by food scientists and they also have Ulema for advices on certain ingredients. They have lot traffic from Muslims to learn the Halal status of food ingredients and food products. There is no literature in Islam for Halal status of food, you have to go to Mufti when mufti do not have the knowledge of food technology.

Yes a food scientist with knowledge of Quran, Hadith and science can give the Halal status to a food ingredient or a food product. But he will not give the wrong information about the Halal status of whey to Muslim as given by Mufti Ibrahim Desi with the help of his food experts. Please answer my question why he gave the wrong information to Muslims.

In 12th and 13th century, Professor Maher Ali's wrote article about medical schools. But he is not a Mufti, Al-Khwarizmi discovered algebra in 830. I do not know whether he is a Mufti or not.

Finally a food scientist with knowledge of Quran, Hadith and science can assign the Halal status to food products.

Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
Muslim Consumer Group
www.muslimconsumergroup.com