Dr. Hüseyin Kâmi BÜYÜKÖZER
Recently, the claim that protein, one of the basic needs of people, cannot be fully met from known sources until now due to the increase in population and that this need is met from insects has caused concern in Muslim societies with publications and practices coming from the West. GIMDES has shared its scientific studies on this subject with the public since its establishment. GIMDES has tasked the Fiqh Board to prepare a report on this subject again.
We present this Report to your attention:
The Fiqh Provision of Using Insect Protein as an Additive in Food and Dyeing Sector. Our subject is whether it is religiously permissible to add substances obtained from insects to food and drug products.
The first issue we will examine is; in general, the principle of determining the cleanliness or impurity of “Insect” type creatures and the final ruling on whether they can be eaten or not according to the results obtained. The insect aspect we will examine in our subject is whether it is religiously permissible to add the protein of insects obtained by various methods to food products.
According to the Hanafi and Shafi’i schools
In terms of rules, animals are divided into two as those living in the sea and those living on land. Those living in the sea: Except for the creatures called fish by the Hanafi school, all are inedible. Those living on land are divided into three groups:
1 – Those without blood, i.e. flies, locusts, spiders, etc.
2 – Those whose blood does not flow. These are the majority of other insects, snakes and the like.
3 – Those whose blood flows.
In the Hanafi school of thought, there is a consensus that animals in the first two categories, except for locusts, should not be eaten. However, the Shafiis have stated that lizards can be eaten along with locusts.
The reason why eating insects other than the exceptions, locusts and lizards, is forbidden is that these animals are among the bad (filthy) animals mentioned in the ayat we will mention. Because Allah Almighty has said:
“…He commands them to do good and forbids them from evil, permits for them what is lawful and forbids to them what is impure, and relieves them from their burdens and the shackles that bound them…” (Surah al-A’raf – 157)
According to the Maliki School of Thought
There are two views in the school of thought regarding the eating of insects:
1 – It is forbidden whether its death is through tazkiya(purification) or not. Although Maliki scholars such as Ibn-i Urafe and Qarafi have adopted this view, the majority of the school of thought has not accepted it.
2 – It is permissible to eat insects killed with tazkiya. This is the accepted view in the school of thought. Although the Maliki scholars have expressed different views on how to perform the tazkiya of insects, when the narrations are examined thoroughly, it is understood that the disagreement in the method of performing tazkiya is about virtue. Because no matter how it is tazkiya (no matter how it is killed), there is agreement (consensus) that it can be eaten if it is done with recitation of the Basmala and intention. As a result, the use of insect protein in foodstuffs can be permissible according to the Maliki school of thought if the intention and the Basmala are present when the insect is killed. If one of these is not present, it will not be permissible to eat this insect and use it in foodstuffs according to the Maliki school of thought.
According to the Hanbali School
In the Hanbali school of thought, the determining factor in whether an animal is clean or impure – except for those for which there is definitive evidence – is whether it has blood in its body. Living beings are divided into two groups:
a) Living beings that do not have flowing blood
b) Living beings that have flowing blood
The Hanbali scholars have ruled that animals that do not have flowing blood are clean, whether they are alive or dead. In their explanations for the reason for this ruling, they have stated that the only reason a dead being is impure/dirty is that the blood in its body hardens and becomes trapped, and accordingly, living beings that do not have flowing blood cannot be impure.
As seen in the results of the transplants, animals that do not have flowing blood are takhir, meaning they are clean. Imam al-Hajjawi stated in his commentary on “Zad Al-Mustaqni`” that it is haram to eat all insects other than worms that originate from food, and he stated that the reason for this was that the Muslim community considered such a creature to be malignant.
As can be understood from the above-mentioned narrations, eating insects is haram. Eating and selling insect protein is not permissible in the Hanbali school of thought.
It was stated that since there is no benefit in selling insects, it is haram to sell them. In conclusion, while the insect we are discussing is not permissible to be eaten or used as an additive in food products in the Hanafi and Shafi’i schools, it is also not permissible to buy or sell it in the food sector. In the Maliki school of thought, if the insect is killed in accordance with the Islamic method, that is, with intention and Bismillah, it is permissible. Otherwise, it is not permissible. The Hanbali school of thought, on the other hand, has adopted the same view as the Hanafi and Shafi’i schools regarding eating and selling insects, namely that it is not permissible.
In the light of these four schools of Islam and the fact that the followers of the four schools of thought show a mixed geography in the distribution of the world’s population, and that institutions and organizations that will produce Halal and Tayyib products will have to make an economic production, it has been deemed appropriate for the safety of the ummah that all insects, together with proteins, dyes and others, are treated as haram.
Only Allah (SWT) knows the best of everything.
