How Do I Navigate Foods that Contain Aromas Extracted from Alcohol?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I live in France, and 98% of products contain aromas, which are usually extracted with alcohol (with tiny traces remaining that are undetectable when consumed) or with glycerin, which can be animal- or plant-based. Unspecified ingredients might also come from animals or plants.

My question is: can I consume these products without checking unless I have a strong doubt, or unless they specify that the ingredients are Haram?

For aromas everywhere, since they never disclose how they extract them, should I act the same? When I eat or drink, I don’t taste, see, or smell alcohol or meat.

Answer

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

Alcohol and its derivatives are widely used in the food industry as ingredients, not as intoxicants, so their use is permitted.

Alcohol is used in global food manufacturing industries. It is found in medicines, food flavorings, aromas, preservatives, and solvents. This is a case of difficulty and widespread predicament (umum al-balwa) across the world. This is the difference between alcohol used as an intoxicant and alcohol used as an ingredient in food.

Allah Most High says, “Allah wants ease for you, and does not want unbearable hardship for you” [Quran 2:185; Keller, The Quran Beheld]

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, ‘Verily this religion is ease, and none makes this religion difficult except that it overwhelms them.’ [Bukhari]

Trace amounts are often permitted because they’re not used in large amounts, or for pleasure, or intoxication, and they’re chemically transformed or diluted enough to lose their alcohol (khamr) status in the legal sense.[Maydani, al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab; Usmani, Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim]

Follow what you know, not what you suspect. If a product is sold without an indication containing an impermissible ingredient, treat it as permissible.

And Allah knows best.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.