Avoiding Haram In Small Quantities

Haram and halal is accurately defined in the Quran and Sunnah. In an authentic hadith in Muslim, Abu Hurairah RA narrates that the Prophet SAW said:

“Verily, Allah is Pure and He only accepts pure, and indeed Allah commanded the Believers what He commanded the Messengers. He said: ‘O Messengers, eat of the pure things and perform righteous acts. Verily, I am Well-Aware of what you do.’ And He said ‘O you who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided you with, and give thanks to Allah if Him it is that you serve.’ Then the narrator of the hadith says: Then he (i.e. the Prophet) made mention of a man who is constantly in journeys and has dishevelled hair and dusty appearance (due to constant journeys for performing acts of righteousness such as Hajj, Umra, seeking knowledge etc.) and he raises his hands towards the sky saying “O my Rabb. O my Rabb”. But his food is from haraam. His drink is from haraam. His clothes are from haraam. He is nourished from haraam. How can it (his prayer) be accepted?”

[Muslim]

Unfortunately, so many people take this lightly, and will try and justify their consumption of haram simply because it’s in smaller quantities. For example, if sweets contain gelatine. we know that unless the gelatine is from a halal source, the sweets become haram for us. Others will happily consume food in which a small quantity of alcohol has been added because they argue it can’t make them drunk.

However, this argument is invalid because the Prophet SAW said: “Whatever intoxicates in large quantities, a little of it is haraam.”

[Tirmidhi]

Therefore, do not be taken in by others who may try and convince you that if haram is present in your food in small quantities, then it’s ok to eat – it most certainly isn’t and is not worth risking your imaan for.

Pure Matrimony – The World’s Largest Matrimonial Service For Practising Muslims