Title: Regarding the Micro-Ingredients in Edibles... Question: My question regarding Halal and Haram does not pertain to the macro components of food but to the micro ingredients. We all know that eating flesh from all the sources prohibited in Quran is haram under most circumstances. What is your opinion regarding micro ingredients of food e.g. a fatty acid, an amino acid or a vitamin etc? These are developed after chemical or enzymatic modification of other naturally existing larger sized chemicals (macromolecules). I ask this question because in US, all food products are required to list the ingredients of the food but not the source. For example, a baker adds glycerin to bread. This chemical i.e., a certain combination of naturally existing atoms (Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen), will be exactly the "same" whether you obtain it from pig meat, a slaughtered cow, dead fish, plant source or mineral source etc. How would you judge one to be halal and another "exactly the same" chemical to be haram ? An apple tree grows in a manure field. The tree converts the chemicals from animal and human excreta into a conglomerate of chemicals that we call "apple". No one will ever say that the apple from this tree is Haram . This is just one gross example, some food for thought. Nature conserves and recycles atoms, molecules and macromolecules (e.g. vitamins, essential amino acids and essential fatty acids which human cells can not synthesize). What is a chicken today was garbage yesterday, which was a vegetable before that which was cow dung even earlier and so on and so forth! A juicy shrimp on our dinner plate is in all probability swine flesh, fed to the shrimp in the shrimp farm last week! If by changing the form through "chemical processes in the laboratory of nature", a certainly Haram chemical becomes Halal , why can not the same principle be applied to the chemicals modified in a man made laboratory using the same or similar chemical reactions, albeit in a different environment and at a different pace. If this point of view is considered correct, it would mean that "lard" is haram . But glycerine or fatty acids obtained (after chemical modification) from lard are permissible. Some Jewish scholars to my knowledge, use similar logic to declare chemicals derivatives from animals as Kosher. Should we really look so hard at the list of micro ingredients and try to determine their source? Does the Shari`ah really require us to go into this detail? I hope I was able to make my question clear. I will be willing to elaborate further if you so desire. Thank you. Salam , Answer: It should be understood at the outset that your question pertains not to the express directives of the Shari`ah , but to an extended application of the directives of the Shari`ah . This, precisely, is what the field of Ijtehaad is. I am personally inclined toward agreeing with the opinion that you have ascribed to the modern Jewish scholars. A change in the form of a product to the extent that its chemical composition changes, renders it a 'new' product. Therefore, in my opinion, there is no need to investigate the source of the amino acids (or the molecules and atoms used) in glycerin or the likes. I would nevertheless like to add that in Muslim states and in Muslim organizations, any products clearly declared by the Shari`ah to be haraam should not be used in the production and fabrication of any other products, which have the potential of being used as ingredients for edibles. This refrain, although not a directive of the Shari`ah , seems to be in keeping with the spirit of Islam. My dear brother, I would take this opportunity to mention that opinions and decisions regarding such issues should be taken by technocrats, who are technically qualified in the related fields. Scholars and students of Islam, like myself, should restrict themselves to the explanation of the directives of the Shari`ah . It is obviously beyond their field of expertise to decide about the degree of change (chemical or otherwise) in a given product, after a particular processing. Students and scholars of the Shari`ah should, therefore, leave the decision in this matter to people who possess the required technical know-how. I would, therefore, think that you, being a doctor, are in a better position to form an opinion in this case. I can, however, help you by providing you with the necessary clarification of the related directives of the Shari`ah , which you must keep in perspective, while forming your opinion in this regard. I hope this helps. November 12, 2000