What Is the Ruling on Carmine in Food and Non-food Items?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Are carmine/animal-derived ingredients in non-food items permissible to use, such as paint, coloring pencils, clothes dye, dye, pens, etc., and would it be considered impure/affect your wudu?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health.
Carmine is extracted from the cochineal insect, also called cochineal, cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake – is a pigment of a bright-red color.
According to the majority of the jurists, the consumption of insects is not permitted and falls under the Quranic verse, “(…) He permits for them what is lawful and forbids to them what is vile.” [Quran, 7:157]
Will Carmine Red Dye Affect One’s Wudu
It will not affect one’s wudu, as the color is now considered to be pure after extraction and full process.
Summary Ruling of Carmine
The jurists summarize the following rulings about carmine:
- the bright red color obtained from it is pure;
- Its usage in external products like cosmetic products, etc., is permissible;
- Its usage in food items is not permissible. [Darul-Ifta, al-Jamia al-Ulum al-Islamiyya Binnori Town]
Related:
Is Cochineal (Red Dye From Insects) Permissible To Consume?
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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
