Question
Is it fine to consume items that are manufactured in a manner that resemble products which are clearly haraam, and very often are consumed to relish the taste of the haraam item? The many alcohol-free beers, rum flavoured ice-cream, bacon flavoured biscuits/ chips, etc., are examples of this. Would ginger beer be similar? I was once in the service of the Ameer of the Tabligh Jamaat in Bangladesh when he asked for a drink. We presented ginger beer. He flew into a rage, asking how could we ever consume something labelled beer?
Answer
Most certainly, it is not fine to consume the type of items mentioned in the question. Whatever Allah Ta'ala has made haraam is mabghoodh. It is not permissible to name any halaal item by the name of a mabghoodh haraam item. It is not permissible, for example, to name a person, Shaitaan, Iblees, Fir'oun, etc. despite him not being any of these accursed beings.
It is not permissible to say: 'I shall commit zina with my wife." Nor is it permissible to say that one is eating pork when the meat in fact is mutton, or to name milk urine, or to say that rice is faeces. If someone asks you about your mother: 'Who is this lady?', it will be haraam to say: "She is my sex-partner." How can the Imaan of a genuine Mu'min tolerate eating a product labelled faeces or pork or bacon regardless if it is SANHA's halaalized synthetic bacon. Names too exercise effects. The rage which the Amir of the Tabligh Jamaat had displayed was therefore 100% correct. Thus, SANHA's halaalized bacon-flavoured biscuits, rum-flavoured ice cream, etc. are not permissible even if these flavours are synthetic. If the items with haraam names are eaten "to relish the taste of the haraam products", then this will be kufr.
- Source
- themajlis.co.za
- Published in
- The Majlis Vol 22 No 07
- PDF page
- 5
Appears under Questions and Answers (approximate).