What if Someone Touched My Clothes That Had Non-Halal Food Traces on Their Hands?

Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan

Question

Are we not allowed to pray in the same garments that someone touched after eating haram chicken? Also, if the person who consumed the haram chicken touches the surfaces or spices used in other foods, is all other food now filthy and haram to consume?

Also, should we believe halal restaurants and frozen items like samosas that label themselves as such?

Answer

Thank you for your question.

Contamination

Touching impure substances renders one’s hands impure. If that impurity thereafter is transferred elsewhere, such as clothing in your example, that clothing will also be deemed impure. Consequently, one would not be allowed to pray in such clothing. [Nawawi, Minhaj al-Talibin]

That being said, there are two additional considerations.

1. If the impure substance may have dried on his hands, the impurity can only be transferred elsewhere through the medium of liquid.

2. The default is that clothing and the like are pure. We will only consider it impure once we have certainty that it was soiled with filth. In other words, if one doubts whether impurity transferred over from one’s hands to one’s clothing, the clothing remains pure.

Halal Label

Lastly, if you have no reason to question or doubt the truthfulness of the restaurant, there is no problem in accepting the savories to be halal, especially if the restaurant is Muslim-owned or has Muslim employees.

And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan received ’ijaza ‘amma from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib’ Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib’ Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib’ Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi’i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.