Fatwa ID: 04632

Answered by: Maulana Qadeer Ahmed

Question

I have a huge issue. On almost every Jeans there is a leather patch at the back. I heard that pig leather is impure as pigskin can never become pure by being tanned. I am very worried because I usually wash my jeans with other clothes in my machine. As impurity is transferred by wetness I fear that all the clothes would have become impure. I called the company where I got the jeans from for asking for the source of the leather. I am still waiting for them to respond. If they told me that it was in fact made from pigskin, how can I get out of this situation? Do I have to clean every cloth? Would I even have to clean the baskets and lines where I put my clothes after taking them out of the machine?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer

Allah has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah”. (Al Baqara 2:173)

“Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience”. (Al-Mā’idah 5:3)

Say, “I do not find within that which was revealed to me [anything] forbidden to one who would eat it unless it is a dead animal or blood spilled out or the flesh of swine – for indeed, it is impure – or it is [that slaughtered in] disobedience, dedicated to other than Allah” (Al-‘An`ām 6:145).

“He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah”. (An-Naĥl 16:115)

You must determine whether the garment is made of pigskin or not. If one person does not know then ask someone who works in a leather store.

2. If you cannot be sure then it would still be better to abstain from wearing it since the Sharia has considered it essentially impure [najis al-‘ayn] and cannot be purified in any way.

If after your research the leather patch is indeed made from pigskin, then it will not be permissible to wear. The other garments in the washing machine or baskets will not be considered as impure. It is advised to wash them separately.

Only Allah knows best.

Written by Maulana Qadeer Ahmed

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham