What Do I Do If My Family Eats Impermissible Foods on Plates and Impurity Is Spread throughout the Home?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Some of my family members are lax about doubtful food and buy it, while others are almost certainly haram (like cereals with vanilla – though I’m not sure if the alcohol used to extract it is definitely from grapes, dates, or raisins). They eat from the dishes and wash them usually without purifying them. I may not see apparent signs of cereal or suspect food on the clean dishes, but am I not allowed to use them if there is reasonable certainty that they are contaminated?

What should I do?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

The only impermissible foods that are themselves impure are the following:

1. Un-slaughtered Meat or Swine

If meat is un-slaughtered, it is impermissible to consume. It is also impure. Its impurity will only transfer if it is wet and comes in contact with something or if it is moist and its traces are clearly manifest in the object with which it came in contact. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

2. Wine (Alcohol Sourced from Dates, Grapes, and Raisins)

Non-wine alcohol is considered pure according to the relied-upon position in the Hanafi school. [Ibid.]

If one is unsure whether an ingredient contains non-wine alcohol or actually wine, the basis is that it is pure until one is certain otherwise. [Ibid.]

Cleaning Away Impurities

If any of the above come in contact with one’s cookware or dishes, with the above conditions, one must purify them before using them. [Ibid.]

Dishes and cookware can be purified by washing with water until any traces are removed; even one washing that removes the traces is sufficient. [Ibid.]

Dishes that are smooth and not porous can be purified merely by dry wiping them such that the traces are removed. This applies to anything that is smooth and without pores. [Ibid.]

Advice

Whenever dealing with impurities, one must only act of reasonable surety or certainty. Such surety and certainty can only be the result of knowledge. The basis is that everything is pure until proven otherwise.

It is very helpful to take a foundational course in Islamic jurisprudence. This will give you a basis on which to assess situations of purity/impurity. Consider the courses offered here at SekeersGuidance.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.