.
‫ واة وام 

 ور
   و

و‬، ‫ا  ! رب ا‬

This is a brief report presenting the critical analysis of the research carried
out on the issue of gelatin by the scientific associates of an anonymous
Islamic organization. The Ulema and the scientific group involved in this
issue are humbly requested to read all the points carefully from beginning to
end. Due to the graveness of this issue, the readers are requested to
communicate any objections arising thereby before settling for something
contrary to what is expressed in this report.

.&$%‫وﺏ! ا‬

‫ أ ر 
 اوي‬
B.Tech. Chem. (Spl. in Leather), M.C.A.
The complex rules of analytical sciences are futile
in the view of the Islamic Shariah.

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When you observe the immaculate nature of the Islamic Shariah and
compare it with the unsettled and complex nature of the analytical sciences
you will realize that there is an absolute disconnection between these two.

This disconnection can easily be proved by quoting examples of two

substances which are identical in the view of science but different in the
view of the Shariah or different in the view of science and identical in the
view of the Shariah.

The example of the first case is vinegar and alcohol. According to

science, during the preparation of vinegar from alcohol, a little quantity of
alcohol is always left unchanged and remained in the prepared vinegar. But
if the same proportion of alcohol were to be added artificially to the same
quantity of any other liquid (say water or even the vinegar) then it would
become najis. So no matter how fiercely a scientist argues that "the liquids
have the same percentage of alcohol in them in both the cases", the Shariah
simply ignores his conversation and declares vinegar to be tahir and the
other liquid to be najis.
Another example of this case is semen (' ‫ )ا‬and prostate fluid (‫)ا )ي‬.
According to science, a quantity of normal human sperm contains 25-30% of
the prostate fluid. This means that the liquid portion of the semen (which
also constitutes the fluids from seminal vesicles and the bulbourethral
glands) has a considerable quantity of prostate fluid mixed with it. So if a
quantity of prostate fluid spoils a cloth and dries away in one case and four
times that quantity of semen spoils the same cloth and dries away in another
case then the cloth has absorbed almost the same quantity of the prostate
fluid in both the cases. To purify the cloth in the latter case it is enough to
scrub the dried portion away while in the former case it is necessary to wash
that portion of the cloth. No matter how desperately a scientist argues that
"the cloth has absorbed the same quantity of prostate fluid in both the cases",
the Shariah ignores his argument and declares one to be tahir and the other
to be najis. So two substances may be scientifically similar in their
essence but considered different from each other by the Shariah.

Thanks to Allah (s.w.t.) that we have nas (*‫ )ا‬in the above
mentioned cases, the presence of which bars any modernist from claiming
that our Ulema erred in their ijtihad in proclaiming these substances in an
instance to be tahir and in another instance to be najis.

The example of the second case is the cooking of egg. According to

science, the egg mainly contains a protein called albumin which is a water
soluble globular protein. When egg is boiled or cooked the albumin protein
undergoes a chemical change and is denatured to produce a new coagulated
substance which is insoluble in water. So scientifically a raw egg is different
from a cooked egg. But Shariah considers these two to be identical. If the
raw egg is tahir then its cooked form is tahir too and if the raw egg is najis
then its cooked form is najis too. So no matter how desperately a scientist
argues "that a cooked egg is chemically different from a raw egg", the
Shariah simply ignores his yelling and declares both to be identical in their
essence.
Another example of this case is the action of meat-tenderizer (known
as papain) on meat. Papain is an enzyme extracted from the latex of the
papaya fruit. For hundreds of years various cultures around the world have
been utilizing the latex of the raw papaya fruit as a meat tenderizer. This
enzyme has a distinguishing characteristic of breaking the peptide bonds in
proteins and hence freeing away their basic building blocks known as amino
acids. It can act on a variety of proteins hence it is used to tenderize the raw
meat before cooking by applying its solution over it. Since meat has a
collection of proteins (collagen, myoglobin, myosin, actin and some other
myofibrillar proteins) and practically a very small amount of papain is used
over it, the structure of the meat is observed to be retained even after the
action of proteolytic enzyme of Papaya. But if a large quantity of the latex of
raw-papaya fruit were to be added to meat, it would completely digest it and
dissolve it to give a solution of free amino acids while leaving only a small
quantity of indigestible materials. In the same way if the raw meat is minced
and then squeezed to separate its juices and then a considerable quantity of
papain is added to these juices and left for a longer duration then the whole
solution will undergo a drastic chemical change leaving nothing but free
amino acids and a few other small-molecular substances. The pathway of
this change is exactly similar to that of gelatin except that in case of papain
this change goes thousands of times further. In case of gelatin the larger
protein fibers of collagen break up to give the smaller protein fibers of
gelatin whereas in case of papain this breaking up proceeds and proceeds
until the basic building blocks of proteins are yielded. Now if a considerable
quantity of papaya's latex was added to the juices of swine's meat and left
over for a few days then according to science the resulting product is entirely
different; in fact according to science the difference between the resulting
product (i.e. the obtained solution) and the source (i.e. the meat juice) is
thousands of times greater than the difference between collagen and gelatin
although the course of this change is similar in both the cases. This great
difference occurs because the change was halted in its infancy in case of
gelatin were as it was allowed to proceed a very long way in case of papain.
So no matter how loud a scientist argues that "the resultant solution is
severely different from the raw-meat-juice", the Shariah simply ignores his
conversation and declares both to be identical in their essence. So two
substances may be scientifically different in their essence but considered
identical by the Shariah.

Another concept in the Islamic Shariah that rejects the analytical

sciences is the concept of Mulaqat-ul-Najasah. Suppose a bunch of swine's
hair is taken and washed several times and then treated with all sorts of
degreasing agents and various reagents to remove the last traces of any
material that could leach from it. Now after that, if this hair were to be
dipped in water and removed very quickly then the water would become
najis in the view of Shariah. No matter how desperately a scientist argues
that "not even a single molecule transferred from that hair into that water",
the Islamic Shariah plainly overlooks his yelling and declares that the water
has become najis. So Najasah is not something that could be determined by a
spectroscope in laboratory nor is it something that could be eliminated
merely by adding or removing specific atoms from a substance. So why
would someone care about "whether the OH group is present or absent",
"oxygen is added or removed" to determine Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in a substance.
The Islamic Shariah simply dispenses with such complexities.
 The erroneous claims made by the
researchers in their paper.

This section deals with some of the erroneous claims made by the
researchers in their paper that is under analysis here.
Please note that after substantiating the disconnection between the Islamic
Shariah and the analytical sciences, addressing some of those scientific
errors may apparently seem to have no effect on the issue of gelatin because
when those concepts are not to be utilized in the issue of Qalb-ul-Mahiyat it
does not matter whether the chemistry of substances that was presented in
the paper was correct or erroneous. But those erroneous statements are still
revealed here just to eliminate any bias that those statements might have
induced in the readers.

Erroneous Statement: In Ethanol the compound which gives it the

quality of intoxicating is the OH compound. If we add more hydrogen parts
to this compound your alcohol becomes more potent, you remove hydrogen
parts your compound becomes less potent.

Correction: First of all, the correct terminology is "OH group" or "OH

radical" and not "OH compound" if one is speaking about the functional
group attached to an organic compound.
Moreover, unluckily, there are no vacant places in the ethyl alcohol
molecule or in its OH group to accept any more hydrogen atoms so how do
you make the ethyl alcohol more potent by adding more hydrogen atoms to
the ethyl alcohol or to the OH group? Ethyl alcohol is an aliphatic primary
alcohol with a saturated carbon chain so there are no double or triple bonds
in it or any re-arrangement capacity to enable the addition of more hydrogen
atoms. The only way to add hydrogen to it is by replacing the oxygen in the
OH group by hydrogen. In that case the resulting compound will be the
ethane gas. Now how did this make "your alcohol more potent"; well ethane
escaped in the form of gas which can neither be drunk nor can intoxicate a
person. So how can the addition of more hydrogen make the alcohol more
potent?
Moreover, the intoxicating quality is not just due to the OH group but due to
the structure of the alcohol molecule as a whole. The factors that are
responsible for its intoxicating nature apart from the OH group are: a short
carbon chain so as we go higher in the series and as the number of carbon
atoms increases the intoxicating quality of the corresponding alcohol
decreases. For example Methyl and Ethyl alcohol are intoxicating (although
the former after consumption produces in liver some lethal substances and
hence is toxic) whereas Stearyl alcohol does not seem to have any
intoxicating effect at all even though it has the same hydroxyl group (OH
group) in it as in ethyl alcohol and is an aliphatic primary alcohol same as
ethyl alcohol. Another intoxicating factor is the capability of the molecule to
undergo oxidation and the ability to act at specific sites of GABA and
glutamate receptors and hence facilitating the action of depressant
neurotransmitter in brain and inhibiting the action of excitatory
neurotransmitter in brain.

Erroneous Statement: (In conversion of alcohol into vinegar) what we

have understood is that two changes took place. First: Physically a very
small change.

Correction: What is meant by the word "physically" except the taste,

smell, color and a similar set of properties?
In that scope, physically, the change is not small but rather large. Almost all
the significant physical properties of the original substance change to a large
extent during the conversion of alcohol into vinegar. Some of the differences
between the physical properties of ethyl alcohol and acetic acid are:
1. Regarding flammability, the water mixture of alcohol burns very easily at
room temperatures whereas the water mixture of acetic acid burns does not
burn at all.
2. Regarding taste, ethyl alcohol has a distinct stinging taste and produces a
heat-like sensation in mouth where as acetic acid is sour to taste.
3. Regarding smell, ethyl alcohol has a characteristic pleasant smell whereas
acetic acid has a pungent odor.
4. Regarding volatility, ethyl alcohol is volatile whereas acetic acid is a non-
volatile liquid.
5. The boiling point of ethyl alcohol is 78.29 degrees centigrade whereas the
boiling point of acetic acid is 118.1 degrees centigrade. So ethyl alcohol
boils off much before the boiling point of water is reached whereas acetic
acid boils at a temperature 18 degrees above the boiling point of water.
6. The melting point of ethyl alcohol is (minus)-114.36 degrees centigrade
whereas the melting point of acetic acid is (plus)+16.5 degrees centigrade.
So ethyl alcohol freezes at a very low temperature much below the freezing
point of water whereas acetic acid freezes very easily much above the
freezing point of water.
7. The density of ethyl alcohol is 0.78 g/cm3 so it is much lighter than water
whereas the density of acetic acid 1.05 g/cm3 so it is slightly heavier than
water.
8. And above all, ethyl alcohol is intoxicating in nature and acetic acid is not
intoxicating.

Especially with regard to taste, smell and the intoxicating nature the change
is so extreme that it is very improper to say that physically there is a very
small change.

Erroneous Statement: (The second change is that, in Vinegar,) with

regard to qualities the intoxicating nature is still present but at a very minute
level.

Correction: It has been stated earlier that the intoxicating nature of Ethyl
alcohol is not merely because of the OH group. So the mere presence OH
group in the acetic acid molecule does not mean that the intoxicating factor
is still present in vinegar.

Erroneous Statement: When one understands the metamorphosis (of

alcohol into vinegar) one has to understand that the amount of change that
takes place is very miniscule. In this example it was simply the adding of a
few parts of oxygen and the removal of a few parts of hydrogen which
diluted the ethanol making it into acetic acid.

Correction: The addition of oxygen and the removal of hydrogen is not a

miniscule change scientifically speaking. This change is called oxidation and
according to science this change (i.e. addition of oxygen) has the power of
burning down substances to ashes and seizing away from substances their
color and corroding bulks of iron into rust.
In this case too i.e. conversion of ethyl alcohol into vinegar the change is not
miniscule but large enough to throw a substance from the family of alcohols
(which are organic bases) into the family of organic acids (viz. carboxylic
acids). And thus a substantial change has occurred in the physical and the
chemical properties of the original substance scientifically speaking.

Erroneous Statement: (During the preparation of gelatin) one would

also have to accept that a conversion did take place, that is the converting of
arginine to ornithine (by means of heat) this helped in creating gelatin.

Correction: Only a very minute portion of arginine in collagen is

converted to ornithine on treatment with alkali. The major portion of
arginine remains untouched. The arginine composition of collagen is
approximately 9.2% where as the arginine composition of gelatin is
approximately 8.8%. So the collagen lost only 4.3% of its total arginine. The
rest 95.7% of arginine is still there.
Here, the researchers agreed at least that the actual change took place "by
means of heat". Now it is upon Ulema to ponder whether merely heating
collagen in water be considered Qalb-ul-Mahiyat.
(Note that collagen is nothing but the dense middle layer of the skin free
from fat, nerves, veins and flesh etc. which means that collagen obtained
from a najis skin is najis too.)

Erroneous Statement: (In the conversion of collagen to gelatin) we

have a physical and a chemical change which results in a change in the
qualities of both the products. Where as collagen fundamentally, is rigid and
does not stretch, because of these changes (physically and chemically) it
now becomes gelatin which is not rigid and can gel.

Correction: If that is the criteria for determining Qalb-ul-Mahiyat then

one would have to accept that Qalb-ul-Mahiyat occurs during the cooking of
egg, or making of meat-soup.
Egg mainly consists of a protein called albumin which on heating undergoes
a chemical and a physical change. The albumin undergoes a chemical
change and is denatured upon heating and it coagulates to give rise to a new
structure that is different from the original material. Where as raw-egg
fundamentally, is a thick liquid and can dissolve in water, because of these
changes (physically and chemically) it now becomes coagulated which is a
solid and cannot dissolve in water.
Similarly is the case of meat-soup. Whereas meat is a solid that cannot
dissolve in water, upon heating in water it undergoes a chemical change. The
connective tissues in it are hydrolyzed to give water soluble gelatin which
can be obtained by evaporating its soup. Similarly glutamates are separated
due to hydrolysis and go into the solution. So the solids obtained from meat
this way can dissolve in water and can gel and stretch whereas meat does not
dissolve in water and cannot gel.
Moreover if this is the way how materials are differentiated, like by saying
that collagen is rigid and cannot gel and gelatin is not rigid and can gel, then
it will be saddening to hear that in this case the differentiation did not occur
at all because even collagen can gel and lose its rigidity by dissolving it in
boiling water. One can obtain collagen powder from a chemical shop and
observe this phenomenon with his own eyes. And it will be further
saddening to hear that the resultant product in this case is nothing but
gelatin.

Erroneous Statement: Amino acid which is distinctive feature of

collagen (they give strength and rigidity) are lost in the denaturation process.

Correction: No amino acid is lost in the denaturation process. Only the

links between these amino acids are broken at some places and minute
portions are hydrolyzed and some amino acid chains re-arrange themselves
thus giving rise to the gelatin molecule. There are 16 noteworthy amino
acids in collagen and each of these amino acids is also present in gelatin in
almost the same proportion as in collagen. A very minute change in
proportion occurs due to the hydrolysis process and alkaline or acid
treatment.
Erroneous Statement: It is interesting to note that during the
manufacture of gelatin, chemical changes take place so that, in the final
gelatin product, the composition and the identity of the original material is
completely eliminated because of this, gelatin is not considered a meat food
product by the united states government. The plant is under the supervision
of the Federal Food and Drug Administration.

Correction: The Islamic Shariah has its own rules and does not rely upon
what the Non-Muslims categorize substances into. So it does not care
whether gelatin is considered by them a meat product or a vegetarian
product. There are various occasions where the vegetarian communities
(they call themselves veggies or vegans) have their own version of
"vegetarian-egg". It is a special variety of eggs produced in poultry farms by
chicken which is fed only a vegetarian meal instead of fish meal or a similar
animal product. Such eggs are generally agreed by the vegetarian society to
be a non-animal or vegetarian product. But in the perspective of Shariah it is
an explicit animal-product and is identical to the meat of the bird which lays
it. So this egg is no different from the egg of the chicken which was fed food
derived from animals like fish-meal.
So just because a group of Non-Muslims accepted a substance to be a non-
meat food product does not mean that Islamic Shariah should too accept
their point of view.
Moreover it is incorrect to say that the composition and identity of the
original material is completely eliminated.
All properties of collagen are retained by gelatin except for the appearance
and texture. The following list shows a list some of the properties of
collagen that are retained in gelatin which proves that the composition and
the identity of the original material are not lost.

Physical Properties:
* The properties of the gelatin depend upon the animal source from which it
is produced.
* There is no change in taste, color and smell of collagen after being
converted into gelatin.
* Gelatin putrefies rapidly in moisture and so does collagen in the same way
as dried meat putrefies in the presence of moisture.
* People who are allergic to certain animals are also allergic to the gelatin
obtained from these animals as they are allergic to the cooked meat of these
animals.
Chemical Properties:
* Collagen and gelatin are both fibrous proteins.
* The amino acid composition of collagen and gelatin are almost
same and their proportions in them are also almost equal.
* The amino acids that are distinctive feature of collagen (i.e.
hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine) are also present in gelatin in almost the
same quantity.
* The triple helix structure of collagen molecule is also retained in gelatin to
a very large extent.

It is also worth noting that according to science, gelatin has in it a

considerable portion of collagen particles in their original form. So in case of
najis collagen this najasah remains unchanged in gelatin even in the
scientific perspective. So the more one goes in depth of this issue by
utilizing the analytical chemistry or any other complex method not approved
prior by the Islamic Shariah the more the matter worsens. If a chemist
analyses collagen and gelatin in the laboratory he will find that a
considerable amount of collagen molecules are still present in gelatin
powder and at one place when he agrees that a change has taken place on the
other place he will have to agree that a change has not taken place and a
portion of the original substance is still present in the final product.
So it will be wise not to involve such complex methods of analysis in
determining Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in gelatin.

There are two simple facts that are enough to rebut the argument of
those who say that Qalb-ul-Mahiyat occurs in gelatin. First, that gelatin can
be obtained by merely heating skins and bones in water. And second, that
the hide trimmings from animals are apparently the same hide trimmings
until before the process of boiling these in water except that the flesh layer,
veins, nerves,, sweat glands and the epidermal layer was separated from
these and the collagen rich dermal layer was left over to be dissolved in hot
water to yield gelatin. When Ulema will personally observe these two facts
they will need no scientist to assist them in determining whether Qalb-ul-
Mahiyat occurs in gelatin or not.
 Why the making of gelatin cannot be
considered Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in the Shariah.

Gelatin is nothing but raw collagen dissolved in hot water. Collagen is

a structural protein found in all animals. It constitutes approximately 90-95%
of the total corium of an animal skin. During the manufacture of gelatin, the
hair, flesh, nerves, veins, sweat glands, albumins and other proteins are
removed from the skins by means of very dilute solutions of acids
(approximately 1-5%) or alkalis to leave only the corium layer of the skin.
This skin is then dissolved in hot water to yield gelatin. Collagen which is
present in the skin remains collagen itself in its essence even after the
treatment with acid or alkali.

It is known that the collagen constitutes 90-95% of the corium layer of

the skin. Now if the source of the skin is an animal which is Najis-ul-Ain
then this 95% part of its skin is also Najis-ul-Ain. This means that during the
manufacture of gelatin this Najasah remains in its original form until the
skins are ready for boiling. After heating this collagen in water it is
converted to gelatin. So the main change occurs during the heating process.
Now since the mere boiling of Najis-ul-Ain substance in water is not
considered Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in the Islamic Shariah therefore the change of
collagen to gelatin cannot be considered Qalb-ul-Mahiyat.

This is also substantiated by the fact that gelatin can be obtained by

merely boiling the raw skins and bones in water. In 1681 A.D. gelatin was
manufactured by merely boiling raw-skins and bones in water. The highly
complicated methods utilized today in the production of gelatin have been
evolved just to produce a gelatin with a high purity. Now if the production of
gelatin by merely boiling skins in water cannot be considered Qalb-ul-
Mahiyat by the Islamic Shariah then how could the production of gelatin by
these evolved methods be considered Qalb-ul-Mahiyat after knowing that
the resultant product obtained by both of these methods is the same gelatin
(according to its essence).

This is also substantiated by the fact that gelatin is produced during

the cooking of meat. Meat consists of a considerable quantity of collagen in
the form of connective tissues. During the cooking process this collagen gets
converted into gelatin.

Hence the fact that gelatin can be obtained by merely boiling skins in
water is enough to prove that Qalb-ul-Mahiyat does not occur in gelatin.

Those that support the view of Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in gelatin can simply

be refuted this way. Qalb-ul-Mahiyat can occur either before boiling the
skins in water (i.e. during the treatment with a dilute solution of an acid or
an alkali) or after boiling the skins in water. If they accept that Qalb-ul-
Mahiyat took place in the skins before boiling these in water, then they will
have to accept that merely dipping skins in a very dilute solution of an acid
or an alkali is enough to declare Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in najis skins and this
would be against the reality because Shariah did not accept Qalb-ul-Mahiyat
in case of leather which is nothing but dense collagen treated with acid and
later neutralized and tanned with tanning agents. And if they accept that the
Qalb-ul-Mahiyat took place during the boiling process then they will have to
accept that the skins before the boiling process did not undergo Qalb-ul-
Mahiyat and najis skins still remained najis until the boiling phase. And
since merely boiling najasah in water does not bring about Qalb-ul-Mahiyat
in such substances a self-contradiction is proved in their claims.

The author requests the Ulema to visit the gelatin production plant
personally to inspect the production of gelatin and ask the technicians there
to show them the skins after each phase in the manufacturing process
especially just before the process of boiling these in water. They will agree
that najis skin remains najis until the heating phase even after undergoing so
many processes. Now they can decide themselves whether merely extracting
that najasah in hot water makes it tahir.
 What went wrong?

What went wrong during the research? Was it the data that was
insufficient or was it the method used in the research that was wrong? The
following analysis will answer this question.

The researchers observed the examples of Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in Shariah

and found in each of these examples a definite chemical change and hence
deduced a rule that all chemical changes that affect the physical properties of
a substance can be regarded as Qalb-ul-Mahiyat. And that was an illogical
deduction because the best one could claim after observing those cases of
Qalb-ul-Mahiyat was that "such chemical changes were found to be
"associated" with the examples of Qalb-ul-Mahiyat". Not that "such
chemical changes "caused" Qalb-ul-Mahiyat". That is where the fallacy
occurred. The researchers assumed something that was associated with these
examples of Qalb-ul-Mahiyat to be the "cause" of these and hence ignored
the most basic principle that every researcher should keep in mind. And that
principle is "Association is different from Causation". Just because
something is observed to be associated with an event does not mean that the
event is caused by it.

The fact that the chemical change observed in these cases is only a
form of "association" and not "causation" can be proved by the
disconnection between the complex rules of analytical chemistry and the
Islamic Shariah. There are many cases where chemical changes occur to a
much higher degree like in case of action of papain on meat juices but the
Islamic Shariah did not accept Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in such substances on the
other hand there are many cases where two substances are scientifically
identical but the Shariah declared these two to be different.

Moreover, if these chemical changes were to be the actual "cause" of

Qalb-ul-Mahiyat then our fuqaha in earlier days had simply ruled Qalb-ul-
Mahiyat in cases like decay of najasah in earth, converting of dead animal
into salt etc. without ever knowing this "Important Cause" and that would be
like accusing those Fuqaha to be incompetent in ruling Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in
those substances. So it would be a better investment to research on what
made those fuqaha to declare Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in those substances.
 Another error that occurred here was that the researchers overlooked
the data required for the research. The researchers only considered the cases
where the Shariah accepted Qalb-ul-Mahiyat and ignored the cases where
the Shariah did not accept Qalb-ul-Mahiyat. Whereas the issue could only be
resolved by a two way approach: By searching the answers to the question:
"What is Qalb-ul-Mahiyat?" and by searching the answers to the question:
"What is not Qalb-ul-Mahiyat?"

And we definitely know that preparing a meat-soup in water and later

separating the soup and evaporating it in air is not Qalb-ul-Mahiyat as we
definitely know that boiling najis skins and bones in water and evaporating
the extracted solution is not Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in the Islamic Shariah although
these may be Qalb-ul-Mahiyat in the view of the modern science. This way
we definitely came to know that conversion of collagen to gelatin is not
Qalb-ul-Mahiyat.

.‫ اغ‬-‫و  
 إ‬

. 1 ‫ ﺏن ا! و ! ا  و ا‬/‫ﺕ‬