I'm a Muslim and I live in Canada with my family. We don't eat any food that contains gelatine or pepsin as they are mainly extracted from the pigs. Last week at Al-Jazeera channel there was a program (Al-Sharee'ah Wa Al-Haya) and the speaker said they are Halaal according to a certain theory Al-Estehala). Is that right? Is the pepsin and Gelatin are Halaal? Even though they are extracted from pigs?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

Gelatine extracted from animals that are not slaughtered according to Islamic rites as well as from pork is impure. Allaah Says (which means): {… or the flesh of swine (pork) — for indeed, it is impure.}[Quran 6:145]. So, if these impure extracts are used in food stuff [either food or drinks] then they become impure, and thus it is forbidden to eat them as it is forbidden to eat impurity. However, if these extracts are treated before being added to food or drinks, in a manner that they totally became another pure item, then the scholars differed in opinion in relation to the ruling of impurity when it is transformed; whether it is ruled that they are pure or they stay as they were in principle, i.e. impure. The Shaafi'ee and Hanbali schools, according to their well-known opinion, rule these extracts as impure, and their transformation does not change the ruling of their impurity. Meanwhile the Hanafi and Maaliki schools, according to their well-known opinion, are of the view that impurity becomes pure when it is transformed. Any specific impurity that is transformed and totally changed into a different reality [substance] than its original state, becomes lawful and permissible to use, according to the majority of the scholars and this view is the opinion of Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. Therefore, according to this opinion, gelatine and other impure extracts, if they are treated and transformed into another substance, they become pure, and it becomes permissible to eat the food or drinks to which these extracts are added. Nonetheless, according to the first opinion, it is not permissible to eat the food or drink to which these extracts are added even if they were transformed.

This is a summary of the different opinions on this issue, and we illustrated them so that you will become aware of the issue of transformation and its implications. It might be that the Mufti referred to in the question in the programme Ash-Sharee'ah wal-Hayaat is of the view that it is permissible to use an impurity if it had been transformed, and so he issued a Fatwa that it is permissible to eat the food to which this item is added.

Allaah Knows best.