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RESPONSE TO A FATWA ON VACCINES-MUFTI SIRAJ DESAI SAHEB HAFIZAHULLAH
QUESTION
A fatwa has been issued by the United Arab Emirates Fatwa Council that allows Muslims to take the Pfizer vaccine even though it contains pork gelatine. This has been reported in our local newspapers. According to the newspaper report, the chairman of this Fatwa Council stated that this vaccine (which contains pork) would not be subject to Islam’s restriction on pork if there are no alternatives, because of “the higher need to protect the human body”. It further adds that in this case the pork is considered a “medicine’, not a food, and that “vaccines have proven to be effective against a highly contagious virus”. Please comment on this fatwa
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ANSWER:
In the Name of Allah, with whom lies all Correctness and Truth
If the newspaper report has accurately conveyed the gist of the fatwa, then I can emphatically state that the UAE fatwa council has erred gravely in its ruling. The conclusion that they have arrived at is baatil (false) and contrary to the principles of Shariah. The very premises on which the fatwa council has based its ruling are flawed and erroneous, as I shall further explain.
The Holy Quran has allowed the consumption of pork under one special circumstance, and that is when the individual is dying of hunger and has no alternate food that can be consumed at that point in time. At the same time the Holy Quran declares the pig as najisul-‘ayn, meaning that every single part of it is haraam and impure, and this includes its skin, hair, bones, teeth, organs, hooves, horns, etc. It is for this reason that the Jurists of Islam have prohibited the use of all parts of the pig even for medicinal purposes. It is, therefore, unbecoming and unprofessional of supposedly learned men in Deen to make a difference between the use of pork as a food and as a medicine.
It is stated in the famous Hanafi Fatwa Anthology, Al-Fataawal-Hindiyya: “Imam Abu Hanifa (rahmatullahi alaih) said that no benefit shall be derived from the skin or other parts of the pig......”
In the days of the former Fuqaha (Muslim Jurists), shoemakers used pig-hair to manufacture shoe-straps. There was no alternate fabric available for this purpose in those times. However, Imam Abu Yusuf (rahmatullahi alaih), a renowned Hanafi Jurist and Chief Justice of his time prohibited the use of pig hair even for this purpose.
And remind (others), for the reminder most certainly benefits the Believers
Surah Zhaariyaat, verse 55
Al-Fataawal-Hindiyyah further states: If a man has a wound, it is haraam for him to use the bones of a pig for treatment, since deriving any benefit from the pig is haraam. From this it is clear that using parts of the pig for even medicinal purposes is haraam. The Shariah has not made any difference between the use of pork for consumption as a food and its application for medical treatment. Both types of usage are equally haraam.
It is stated in the famous Hambali work Al-Mughni of Allama Ibn Qudaamah that deriving benefit from the fat of a pig is not permissible, whether it is for use in oil lamps or for application to leather or to the hull of ships. This is because Bukhari and Muslim narrated that Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: ‘Allah has made haraam the fat of carrion and pig.’ Upon this the Sahaaba (radhiyallahu anhum) asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah! The fat of carrion (maytah) is applied onto ships and onto the skin, and people use it for lighting purposes?’ The Messenger of Allah replied: ‘No. It is haraam (so may not be used even for these purposes.)’
In another hadeeth narrated by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim, Tariq bin Suwaid (radhiyallahu anhu) asked Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) for permission to use wine as a medicine. To this the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) replied: “That is not a medicine; instead, it is a (cause of) sickness!” If this is the ruling for wine, the same will apply to pork since both these items are prohibited in the same verse of the Holy Quran.
From the above it is clear that there is no distinction between the use of wine or pork as a food and as a treatment for medical ailments.
In yet another hadeeth of Saheehul Bukhari Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) very emphatically stated: “Allah has not placed your cure in that which He has made haraam upon you”
In the light of the above, it becomes necessary to clarify the issue of using haraam under dire and extreme circumstances, since this appears to be the major premise on which rests the fatwa of the UAE fatwa council. While the Holy Quran has permitted the consumption of pork or khamr when an individual is in danger of losing his or her life due to extreme hunger or thirst and has no alternate halaal food to consume, this concession does not apply to the intake of haraam medicines that contain pork or khamr. The difference between food and medicine when it comes to halaal and haraam has been very clearly defined by the Fuqaha. This difference lies in the fundamental nature of the two, as created by Allah Ta’ala. The first comes with certainty and assurance, while the second is uncertain and vague. Food is certain to save a person dying of hunger, as water or liquid is certain to save a person dying of thirst; hence Shariah has allowed the use of a haraam food or drink in order to save lives. But in medicine, there is no guarantee of a cure. There is no certainty or assurance that any medicine or medical procedure will provide the desired benefit to the patient. Medicinal treatment is termed by the Fuqaha as mazhnoon (assumed, or subject to assumption and conjecture). Once this difference is understood, it becomes clear that while pork may be permissible to eat when one is dying of hunger, the use of pork for medicinal purposes will not be permitted since the first case is guaranteed to bring relief, while in the second the relief or cure is based on a medical assumption and is not certain. Such medical assumptions do not sanction the permissibility of that which is absolutely haraam and impure, such as pig or khamr or carrion.
The fatwa of the UAE council reasons that the use of pork gelatine is permissible because “of the higher need to protect the human body”, and that “vaccines have proven to be effective against a highly contagious virus”.
Firstly, the Covid 19 vaccines have not yet been tested or proven to protect the recipient from the Covid disease. The fatwa of the UAE council bases the permissibility of pig gelatine-vaccine on the premise that vaccines provided protection to the human body. This is as far from truth that one can possibly get. On the contrary, Covid vaccines that have already been administered to people have had major side effects. In our local news it was recently reported that a male nurse tested positive for Covid 19 6 days after receiving the vaccine!
Far from protecting health, vaccines actually destroy health. Sadly, the Ulema on this council failed to do proper research of vaccines; instead, they just went along with mainstream media and mainstream scientific research.
I enlist hereunder authenticated data that totally refute the concept that vaccines protect human life:
➢ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agency acknowledged the reactions (to the Covid vaccine) may have been caused by PEG, a compound in the Pfizer vaccine that CHD (Children’s Health Defence) previously told the FDA could put millions of people at risk.
➢ The FDA told reporters late Friday the agency is investigating “about five” allergic reactions to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in “multiple states”.
➢ The announcement followed Friday's news that an Illinois hospital temporarily shut down its COVID vaccination program after four healthcare workers there experienced allergic reactions -- one of which was severe -- to the vaccine.
➢ Also on Friday, CNN reported that a third healthcare worker in Alaska was hospitalized for six hours for an anaphylactic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine. The report came on the heels of last week's news that two Alaskan healthcare workers had severe allergic reactions -- including one woman who was hospitalized for at least two nights after going into anaphylactic shock. Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to something a person is allergic to. If not treated immediately, it can be fatal, the Mayo Clinic explains.
➢ The Pfizer and newly approved Moderna vaccines contain PEG. Both vaccines were approved by the FDA for emergency use, but are not yet licensed.
➢ Experts such as Alessandra Soriano of the Department of Clinical Medicine and Rheumatology at the Campus Bio-Medico University in Rome, Gideon Nesher, of the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem and Yehuda Shoenfeld, founder and head of the Zabludowicz Center of Autoimmune Diseases in the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, and editor of three medical journals and author of more than 1,500 research papers across the spectrum of medical journalism and founder of the International Congress on Autoimmunology, believe that vaccines in general can cause autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune disease results when the body's system meant to attack foreign invaders turns instead to attack part of the body it belongs to.
➢ On 8 December 2020 an online report stated that 6 volunteers in the Pfizer vaccine trials died.
➢ One volunteer in the AstraZeneca trials says she was asked not to have children since they could not guarantee that birth would be normal (after taking the vaccine)
➢ Dr Carrie Madej and Dr Wolfgang Wodarg warn that the COVID vaccine will permanently alter one’s DNA and fertility.
➢ There is growing evidence from medical experts that vaccines are deadly and dangerous. The serious side effects cannot be ignored. Even at the time of this writing more cases of adverse side-effects from the Covid 19 vaccine are emerging.
➢ The Covid vaccine, according to experts, can impair growth and cognitive function.
➢ When the so-called swine flu broke out in America in 2009, hundreds of thousands were inoculated with a vaccine that was designed to protect their health. However, the result was that USA government faced lawsuits from about 4,000 people, some of whom had even lost family members in the vaccination program.
These are just some of the facts to dispel the notion that vaccines can provide protection to human health. In the light of mounting supportive evidence, no one must still labour under the misconception that vaccines actually “protect the human body”. The harsh reality is that the sale of vaccines is a huge money spinner for the manufacturers; hence the urgency to promote and sell these vaccines. Major pharmaceutical companies place peoples lives at risk in exchange for big profits. For example, South Africa has already invested more than R280 million for the first consignment of Covid 19 vaccines. One vaccine costs R54. The country plans to vaccinate more than 40 million people. The profits raked in are, therefore, astronomical.
The UAE Fatwa claims that “vaccines have proven to be effective against a highly contagious virus”. Such a claim is, as the first, devoid of authenticity and highly misleading, particularly in relation to the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Consider the following facts:
• The Covid 19 vaccines have not yet been fully tested or proven to protect the recipient from the virus. They have not been tested for the ability to prevent infection or the spread of SARS-Cov2.
• The Covid 19 vaccines are the most rushed vaccines ever developed. It usually takes years for scientists to develop a vaccine.
• Manufacturers are given total immunity from any liability resulting from the vaccines.
• Clinical trials are not yet complete; meaning that every person taking the vaccine is a human guinea pig.
• The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have never before been given to the public. These are part of an experimental process.
• There is no long-term data available to determine what the effect of these vaccines will be on fertility and other side effects.
• Covid 19 is a disease with a 99% percent survival rate, meaning that 1 % of those infected are likely to die. These vaccines are not designed to stop this. That is why administers of the vaccine recommend that people should get another shot one month after the first injection. More shots result in more profits.
Notwithstanding the above, vaccines do not constitute curative medication; instead, they are merely preventative. Shariah has differentiated between the two methods of treatment by granting more scope to the former than the latter (preventative curing). So, when Shariah has circumscribed the use of certain haraam ingredients in curative medication, as explained above, this restriction will apply with greater effect to preventative methods.
In summary:
Vaccinations do not cure people, and their ability to prevent diseases is highly questionable.
Vaccinations contain haraam ingredients and are also harmful to human health. Independent researchers have documented large-scale, severe side-effects, even death from vaccines.
Based on the above, according to Shariah it will not be permissible to take these vaccines. It is waajib on Muslims to resist and refuse vaccination programs.
And Allah Ta’ala knows best
Siraj Desai – Port Elizabeth, South Africa
