Question:
(a) I would like to refer to Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 41, Hadith no.5249.
I wonder if the prohibition is specific for putting frogs in medicine or is general for the killing of animals to be made into medicine? If it is for the latter, I wonder about the permissibility and need to (a) breed (b) test or (c) kill (each is independent question) certain animals for example to source out some medicine such as insulin, serum, antibodies
etc.
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullah,
As stated in the Qur’an both the taskhir of creation (its being put at mankind’s disposal) and the honoring of human beings dictate the permissibility of using animals for mankind’s benefit such as farming and consuming them, or raising them for other purposes, together with the categorical prohibition of tormenting them for sport or pleasure (as in hunting them for sport, or cockfights, or dogfights etc.). It follows that extracting from animals medical benefits even at the cost of their lives is permissible in case of need.
Such a status of permissibility is inferred “a fortiori” (min babin awla) from the licitness of human anatomy (tashrih) and organ transplant on the basis of the commission of the lesser of two evils to prevent the worse scenario (irtikab adna al-dararayn li-tafwit ashaddihima) because all this is intended to save lives. The latter fatwa was given in the
Ninth annual convention of the World Fiqh Council held in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia in Sha`ban 1396/July 1976 while other notable dissents are on record such as by Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Ghumari (Allah have mercy on him), and Allah knows best.
The Ummah needs highly knowledgeable people both in Islamic law and in modern medical research that are qualified to address the major ethical issues that have emerged in the past half century such as cloning, stem-cell research etc. and from Allah comes all help.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
