How Do I Purify My Kitchen After Non-Halal Food Contaminated It?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question 

If non-halal food was brought into one’s home, does the cooking, storing, and handling of this food cause the spreading of impurities throughout the kitchen? If so, how does one purify the kitchen?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Firstly, non-halal meat only affects that which it comes in direct contact with if it is wet. [Ala’ al-Din Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-`Ala’iyya]

Dry meats, or merely moist meats, do not contaminate any surface because the transference of impurity only occurs when the wetness of the impurity is visible on the object contacted. This is not the case with merely moist or dry meats. [Ibid.]

Secondly, transference of impurity only occurs with direct contact of the wet meat with a surface. By this, it can be deduced that the microwave, the fridge, the freezer, or the like are not contaminated as the meat was merely stored in these things and not in direct contact with them. Steam and moisture do not cause the oven or microwave to be impure. [Ibid.]

Purifying Impure Surfaces

Any plates, countertops, or other smooth surfaces affected by impurity are considered pure when wiped. This applies even if water was not used. [Ibid.]

Note that the assumption is that everything is pure unless there is clear evidence to the contrary. Evidence such as visible impurity. [Ibid.]

Summary

One wiping of smooth surfaces contacted by impurities suffices. Microwaves, refrigerators, and freezers do not need purifying. Meat that was merely moist or dry does not cause surfaces to be impure.

Hope this helps

Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.