Unnecessary troubling question by Pahang Mufti

FMT:

Ensure Covid-19 vaccines are halal, says Pahang Mufti

Mufti Abdul Rahman Osman says no Muslim will object if the Covid-19 vaccine is halal and has no forbidden items as per shariah law (AP pic)

PETALING JAYA: Pahang mufti Abdul Rahman Osman hopes the much spoken about Covid-19 vaccine will be halal to ensure peace of mind among Muslims.

He said while the utmost importance in Islamic law was to save lives, health authorities must ensure the vaccine was free from items deemed to be forbidden by the religion.

“We must ensure that it is halal. If there are no forbidden items in the vaccines, as per shariah laws, it should not harm anyone. If this is fulfilled, there will be no objections,” he told FMT.

Rahman was responding to comments by netizens on Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s social media account where they raised questions regarding the vaccine’s halal status.

Mufti Abdul Rahman Osman

Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said the halal concerns would be addressed by the health ministry, with advice from the National Fatwa Council.

“The ministry would first and foremost evaluate the vaccine in terms of efficacy and safety. It must be said in order to return to normal life, vaccines are the best way forward.”

Putrajaya had recently said it would make advance bookings for the vaccine through its participation in the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access initiative, with an estimated cost of over RM3 billion.

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kt notes:

Many medicine have alcoholic context so would theoretically be haram (forbidden) to Muslims. But fortunately for Muslims, Allah swt is MOST MERCIFUL and allows exceptions (told to me by Muslim friends aeons ago when I was working in KL, Kedah and Sabah-Sarawak, wakakaka).

If I remember, they said that: "He (Allah) has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name has been invoked besides that of Allah."

"But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then he is guiltless. For Allah is Most Forgiving and Most Merciful" - Surah al-Baqarah, V: 173.

Indeed, and no thanks to that Pahang Mufti. Podah.

That's right, the answer would be yes, it is permissible if (a) It is saving a life and (b) There is no available Halal alternative.

I wonder why the Pahang Mufti posed such a troubling question, troubling to devoted Muslims, where the exemption is well-known to many Muslims.

In the final analysis, it's not only a unnecessary troubling question but a useless one from a nasty eff-er.

Let us recall that in June 2016, the Pahang Mufti branded non-Muslim Malaysians as ‘kafir harbi’, unbelievers who can be killed if they are deemed enemies of Islam.

T'was reported Mufti Abdul Rahman used the expression in a statement he made on 23 June saying that Muslims would be committing a sin if they backed the Democratic Action Party (DAP), an opposition party that drew its supported mainly from Sino-Malaysians.

Apart from drawing shocked responses from Malaysia's church leaders, even the Chief Mufti of Perlis, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, criticised the Pahang Mufti, saying that the term "kafir harbi" is reserved for non-Muslims who reject and oppose Islam, conspire with the enemies of Islam and have no peace agreement with Dar-al-Islam (land where a Muslim government rules and the Holy Law of Islam prevails).

"No religion will ask you to kill another person just like that, and that has never happened before. I very deeply regret this type of remark”.