The halal polemics has begun … yet again!
Race and religious bigots will spin to trigger tension
Important to stick to the back of basics of Shari’ah (Islamic jurisprudence) & Research ethics
The relationship between Shari’ah and Fiqh is represented by a tree and its parts.

The roots rep the Shari’ah & its primary sources of legislation-Qur’an &Traditions of the Prophet (Sunnah)
The trunk and branches rep the tools & methodologies (Usul al- Fiqh/foundations of Fiqh & Maqasid/Objectives) used by scholars to derive the fruits (fatwas/rulings)
For e.g. The primary sources constitute the raw ingredients of a medicine
The methodology & tools are how pharmacists process the raw ingredients into a medicine
The resulting medicine is dispensed by doctors.
The meds may be out of date or cause adverse effects.
It warrants an alternative prescription.
The relevance of a fatwa would dep on its quality, the societal context & its ability to effectively achieve Maqasid Shari’ah-bringing benefit (maslahah) or removing harm (mafsada).
The 2nd Maqasid Shari’ah aka Priorities of Islamic Law is the preservation of life
Global-70 Million cases & 1.6 million deaths
M’sia-78K cases & 396 deaths
A #COVID19 vaccine is one of the solutions to end the pandemic apart from masking, distancing and hygiene
A maxim in Islamic law is that in social/human affairs (muamalat) the default rule is “everything is permissible unless proven otherwise”
In the absence of clear textual evidence to the contrary everything is permissible
Permissibility (Halal) does not require textual evidence
Silence in the text means permissible or an opportunity for ijtihad
To say any intervention is not allowed (Haram) requires textual evidence
The burden of proof that a medicine/vaccine/custom (mu’amalat) is impermissible falls on those who repudiate it, not on those who affirm it
Nevertheless, in borderline cases, the law prefers to err on the side of leniency, compassion and mercy.
The issue of the use of impure animal products in medicine was forwarded by the WHO office in 2001 to IOMS (Islamic Organisation of Medical Sciences) based in Kuwait.
It was attended by > 100 Muslim religious scholars and medical experts.
The seminar stated:
Transformation (istihalah) is the conversion of a substance into another which is different in characteristics.
It changes substances that are judicially impure or are found in an impure environment into pure substances
It changes substances that are judicially impure or are found in an impure environment into pure substances
It changes substances that are prohibited into lawful and permitted substances
e.g. Gelatine formed as a result of the transformation of the bones, skin & tendons of a judicially impure animal is pure and it is judicially permissible to eat.
e.g. Gelatine in medicines, capsules, vaccines etc
In vaccines gelatine is used as a stabilizer to preserve it’s potency.
Gelatine is hydrolysed (transformed) into a mixture of amino acids which is not specie specific.
@threadreaderapp unroll

More from Science

"NO LONGER BEST IN THE WORLD"
UNEP's new Human Development Index includes a new (separate) index: Planetary pressures-adjusted HDI (PHDI). News in Norway is that its position drops from #1 to #16 because of this, while Ireland rises from #2 to #1.
Why?

https://t.co/aVraIEzRfh


Check out Norway's 'Domestic Material Consumption'. Fossil fuels are no different here to Ireland's. What's different is this huge 'non-metallic minerals' category.
(Note also the jump in 1998, suggesting data problems.)
https://t.co/5QvzONbqmN


In Norway's case, it looks like the apparent consumption equation (production+imports-exports) for non-metal minerals is dominated by production: extraction of material in Norway.
https://t.co/5QvzONbqmN


And here we see that this production of non-metallic minerals is sand, gravel and crushed rock for construction. So it's about Norway's geology.
https://t.co/y6rqWmFVWc


Norway drops 15 places on the PHDI list not because of its CO₂ emissions (fairly high at 41st highest in the world per capita), but because of its geology, because it shifts a lot of rock whenever it builds anything.

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I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹

I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?