Animal extract as medicine
28-12-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
Some people use animal extract as medicine like they take out deer antler from live deer and use it as medicine similarly insulin from cow etc., is this allowed in Islam to use such medicine.
Answer:
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.
There are two cases regarding animal extracts that are used in medicine:
THE FIRST CASE: If they are extracted from animals the meat of which we are allowed to eat, and this is of two kinds:
1) If the animal is slaughtered according to Islamic rites then there is no harm to use its extracts in medicine and there is no harm in being treated with this medicine.
2) If the animal is not slaughtered according to Islamic rites (considered as a dead animal) like animals that have been electrocuted and the like; this has two probabilities:
A- If it is extracted from a tissue, then it is not permissible to use it in medicine or to be treated with it except in the case of a necessity because it is impure.
B- If it is extracted from a horn, a tooth or a bone: The scholars
differed about such organs of a dead animal whether or not they are impure. The majority of them, however, are of the view that they are impure. But the Hanafi School and one of the opinions of the Ash-Shaafi'ee School, and it is also the view of Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah
is that they are pure. Therefore, on one hand, if a person is acting according to this opinion, then there is no harm in using it in medicine or being treated with such a medicine. On the other hand, if one is acting according to the opinion that they are impure then they are not permissible except in case of necessity or an urgent need.
THE SECOND CASE: If they are extracted from animals the meat of which we are not allowed to eat: The ruling in this case is the same as that of the animal which is not slaughtered according to Islamic rites.
As regards the extracts from an animal that we are allowed to eat, if these extracts were taken from the animal while it is alive, then the ruling is the same as that of an animal which is not slaughtered according to Islamic rites. But if these extracts where taken from the animal while it is alive, and without cutting any part of his flesh or bone or the like then it is pure like its saliva.
Allaah knows best.