Homeopathy and Animal Products

Shaykh Jamir Meah clarifies the rulings on the permissibility of using homeopathic medicines that contain animal products.

Question:

Assalam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone can answer the question in regards to homeopathy and the animal products that can be found in them, i.e. Lac Caninum (dog’s milk) or Tarantula (spider). As Muslims can we take these homeopathic remedies even though it’s made from dog’s milk diluted many times and the form has changed. I would especially appreciate it if a practicing Muslim homeopath can answer it.

Answer:

Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

I pray you’re well insha Allah.

Medicines which contain impermissible ingredients, such as impure substances, are permissible to take on the following three conditions:

1. 1. That there is no permissible alternative.

1. 2. That one has been informed that the remedy will or will likely treat the malady effectively by a qualified physician, or that one knows this through their own previous experience. This should be an upright Muslim physician, but in the absence of one, a non-Muslim physician who is sensitive to the needs and requirements of Muslim patients would be valid.

3. One ingests the medicine only to the extent it is needed (which is fine in homeopathic medicines as one should only take the minimum dose).

Istihala (Transformation)

In the Shafi‘i school, homeopathic remedies which contain impure substances (and where the water it was diluted in was less than 216 liters) will still be considered impure as transformation is limited to only a few instances in our school.

In the Hanafi school, the highly diluted homeopathic remedy would result in transformation of the impure substance (which is scarcely traceable in remedies lower than 12c potency and virtually untraceable in any potency higher than this) and therefore renders the remedy permissible from this perspective, and in this difference of opinion is a mercy from Allah. (Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, Mughni al-Muhtaj)

Please also refer to the following answers which discuss alcohol in homeopathic remedies and impure substances in medicine: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fiqh of Homeopathic Remedies and Is Medical Marijuana Allowed in Islam?

Warmest salams,

Jamir

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.