Useful info regarding ingredients

[muslim forever]

Salaam

As we all know nowadays it is so hard to find halal cosmetics, creams, shampoos, soaps and etc due to the fact that many products contain alcohol and animal derived ingredients.

Therefore I wanted to share some info concerning this issue. Basically I have contacted several brands and enquired about their products containing ethanol alcohol and animal derived ingredients and :subh: I have so far received some great feedback! However some brands have not yet replied at all, which is rather sad.

The reason I have contacted the brands is cos I really am unsure of the ingredients in terms of what they mean. Therefore I have asked the brands to specify the products which are free from ethanol alcohol and animal derived ingredients. I feel this is the best way to know if a product is halal or haram.

I just thought that I would forward this info to u lot as it might be useful.

The feedback so far is as follows:

Feedback from ‘Dove’ http://www.dove.com/

This is what they stated when I sent them an e-mail:

‘The following products in our Dove range are free from alcohol and
animal deritives.

Fresh Touch Body Wash
Energy Glow Body Wash
Triple Moisturising Wash
All Dove Roll Ons
All Anti Perspirant Sprays
All Dry Creams
All Sticks
Rich Moisturising Cream
Firming Gel
Firming Lotion
Softening Silk Moisturising Lotion
Supreme Silk Moisturising Creme
Regenerating Hand Cream
Protecting Hand Cream
All Shampoos
All conditioners’

Feed back from ‘Clarins’ http://uk.clarins.com

This is what they stated when I sent an e-mail enquiring JUST ABOUT THE FACE AND EYE MAKE-UP

‘Thank you for your email.

I would like to confirm that Clarins products do not contain animal ingredients, although some by products of lanolin, beeswax and honey are used in some products.
I am not aware of ethanol alcohol as an ingredient in any product,
however, I have emailed our laboratory to check this out for you and will let you have a response in due course.’

Remember if ethanol alcohol is used it would either be stated as alcohol denat or ethanol alcohol. Lanolin and beeswax are permissible. Inshallah see the below links:

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/sho...ghlight=lanolin
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/sho...ghlight=beeswax

And honey is halal as we eat it.

Feedback from Olay www.olay.com

This is what they stated when I sent an e-mail enquiring about all of their products:


‘Please be assured that all of our Olay products are free of animal
ingredients
except the Complete Care Cleansing Milks, which contain Lanolin, and
the
Provital Night Cream.’

‘In answer to your email, if a product contains ethanol, it would be listed on the ingredients list as Alcohol (denat). If you check the ingredients list at point of sale it will be listed as such. This is the safest way to ensure a product does or does not contain this ingredient.’

Feedback from St. Ives http://www.stives.com/home.cfm

This is SOME of what was stated on the letter they posted to me when I asked them about alcohol and animal derived ingredients in their products:

‘Sometimes, in order to achieve a desired formulation, it is necessary to use an ingredient such as animal protein…. However please be assured that it is our general policy to formulate with plant derived ingredients, wherever possible.

Regarding your query on the chemical Ethanol Alcohol, any product that has Ethanol Alcohol present in its formulation, will be known as ALCOHOL DENAT which will then be stated as this in the ingredients list’.

Personally due to what was stated on the letter, I would avoid buying St. Ives products completely.

Feedback from ‘Sunsilk’ http://www.sunsilk.com

When my sister in law rang ‘Sunsilk’ the person she spoke to said that they do not use any alcohol denat/ ethanol alcohol and animal derived ingredients in their shampoos and conditioners only(isn’t that great! Subhanallah!). We didn’t really ask about the other products of Sunsilk. Therefore I have just sent an e-mail enquiring about all their products. They said they would try to reply back in 24 hours, which is great!


Principal Secret http://www.principalsecret.com

I didn’t really contact principal secret but on the TV they state that they do not use any animal derived ingredients or any ethanol alcohol. So their products are completely HALAL! How cool, and great is that!!!! By the way their products are totally awesome!!!

Feedback from ‘Clinique’ http://www.clinique.com/index.tmpl?ngextredir=1


‘Thank you for your interest in Clinique.

With regard to your recent email, we wish to advise that very few animal derived raw materials are found in Clinique products. Animal ingredients are used only when their efficacy cannot be duplicated by any other source of ingredients. When an ingredient can be obtained from either animals or plants, we use the plant derived material.

As you may know, our product line is quite extensive. Therefore, in order to respond to your query regarding ethanol alcohol and animal ingredients, we need to know the exact name and shade of the products, which you use or would be interested in using. We will then consult our laboratories and share our findings with you.

We look forward to further assisting you'

So I gave them the exact name and shade of the products, which I may use.

(You can check out the specific products I enquired about on their website if you do not understand what they are or how they look because of the way they are stated below).

Their reply is as follows:

‘Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in
Clinique.

With regard to your query, we are enclosing the information that you
requested concerning
the following products:

Pefectly Real Makeup (shades 02/04)
Superbalanced Compact Makeup (shades Alabaster Breeze/Neutral)
Pore Minimizer Instant Perfector Concealer - Invisible Light
Quick Eyes Eye Pencil - Khaki
Cream Shaper For Eyes - Black Diamond
Gentle Waterproof Mascara - Black
Long Pretty Lashes Mascara - Black

Ethanol alcohol

We do not use ethyl alcohol as an ingredient in the products listed.

We would like to take this opportunity to explain that we use the
Specific term "ethyl alcohol” rather than the more general term "alcohol" because some cosmetic products may contain other ingredients with the word "alcohol" in their name e.g. cetyl alcohol.
Such ingredients are not "alcohol" as in the everyday usage of the word to mean alcohol as in alcoholic beverages.

Animal derived ingredients

Of the products listed, we DO use animal derived ingredients in the following:

Gentle Waterproof Mascara - Black
Long Pretty Lashes Mascara - Black

We hope this information is useful to you.’


All praise belongs to Allah!!!!!

Inshallah when I get more feedback from the brands, which I have contacted I will put it up here as soon as possible.

Wasalaam

[fnaeem]

:jazak: for that sister.

in the hanafi madhab it would not be haram to use these products, correct ?
because we are not consuming alcohol. Also if the animal ingredients were non pork based it would be okay to use it. I understand its personal taqwa to not use such things but I am just talking about the strict legalistic point of view.

[Muawiyah]

Animal derived products aren't haraam if they undergo chemical change, according to the Hanafi fuqahaa and synthetic alcohol isn't unclean.

[Bitter Chocolate Soldier]

Alcohol Denat(ured) is alcohol which has been treated to remove the intoxicating qualities, so wouldnt such a product be permissible to use?

Animal derived products aren't haraam if they undergo chemical change, according to the Hanafi fuqahaa
what about the shafii and maliki schools?

[Omar HH]

GuidingHelper.com:

> What is the ruling on addittives to food referred to as
> E-numbers? Is one obliged to find out about them(which
> is often a long process)or is it suffecient to refrain from that
> which is known to be haram and not go into too much detail?

As footnote 2638 of the *Explanatory Notes* hints, one should not
delve too deeply into food ingredients (especially now a days) as
such will make life too difficult.

So for example if you see the European Union assigned E-number:

E309 Delta-tocopherol

You need not look up what Delta-tocopherol is unless it is *clearly*
and *commonly* known that such an ingredient is *always* taken from
an unslaughtered land animal.

In other words if you read in the ingredients "contains animal fat" or
"contains pork", then you should refrain from that food product. Otherwise,
delving too deeply will make life very hard and make the din very hard to
practice.

The Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "Indeed the
din is easy. And no one tries to make the din hard [for himself]
except that [this extremity in practice] overwhelms him."

[{Bukhari}]


As a side note, one should also know that a very famous trick of
Shaytan is to make the person lop-sided in his practice of din by
giving too much emphasis to any particular aspect of the din (and we
see so many such unfortunate souls today). As the person only has
limited resources and energy at his disposal, if he gives too much
emphasis to any one aspect, it will most certainly detract from other
necessary aspects and he will fail to achieve the well-rounded
character of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give
him peace) and most of the Companions.

And this is the reason why we have mentioned so many subjects
in the Guiding Helper, so that people will not give too much emphasis
to purification and salat (for example) - as they will expend their remaining
resources and energy on making their marriages work, raising their children,
resolving family conflicts, dividing up their inheritances, conducting
honest business transactions, etc.

[foodguide]

Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah,

All shampoos, shower gels, liquid soaps, soaps and shaving creams / gels are permissible as they go thru a complete metamorphosis. If you prefer, you may use vegetarian soaps.

http://www.gmwa.org.uk/foodguide2/viewquestion.php?foodqid=124&catID=1&compID=1

[Omar HH]

Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah,

All shampoos, shower gels, liquid soaps, soaps and shaving creams / gels are permissible as they go thru a complete metamorphosis. If you prefer, you may use vegetarian soaps.

http://www.gmwa.org.uk/foodguide2/viewquestion.php?foodqid=124&catID=1&compID=1

In the Hanafi school.

Shafiis and Malikis have a stricter opinion. I don't know about Hanbalis.

[toobaaapi]

assalam-o-elikom,
i read your article about st. ives products. before that i had already contacted st. ives company to inquire if their products are halal or not. i just want o share their reply with the sunniform community:

Dear Ms. Waheed,
Thank you for your interest in St Ives products and your question below. Please allow me to inform you that St Ives products do not contain any ingredients derived from pigs. Most products do no contain any animal ingredients. Products that do contain animal ingredients are those that have collagen and elastin. These ingredients come from fish.
Only facial cleansers contain a percentage alcohol, which is similar to the alchohol used for medical purposes.
I hope this answers your question to your satisfaction.

Kind regards,

Marieke Bouman – Ayoub
Assistant Trade Marketing Manager
Middle East, Africa & Asian Subcontinent[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[rasheedahmed]

Assalam O Alaikum Sister Muslim forever,

You have done a good job getting the information. One thing I want to clear regarding ethyl alcohol. All the companies mentioned that they do not have alcohol in their products based on the ingredient list of the products but they failed to provide you the information about ethyl alcohol present in the perfume as a solvent. Many products you mentioned has to have perfume as an ingredient. Ethyl alcohol is a hidden ingredient of perfume. Many companies do not provide this information to public because due to trade secret. It is possible those products contain ethyl alcohol let say obtained from grape.


Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
Muslim Consumer Group
www.muslimconsumergroup.com
www.canadianhalalfoods.com

[nazam]

Jazakallah sister, it was very thoughtful of you to share this info with other brothers and sisters. I have to add that it did not occur to me that animal ingredients (NON PORK BASED) were not permitted in islam, but since I have known life has become difficult. getting in touch will companies is not the easiest of things and it has complicated life so much. anyway I have checked some products but found such contradicting evidence, views etc. It makes me sad when I find so many different views presented even amongst muslims. Some people say its ok to use the products as they undergo chemical change and some say a big no no! Its so confusing.
Now I have heard that even perfume can contain animal ingredients, so I'm probably going to have to contact every company and find out, what i dont understand is I thought it was only ingredients derived from pig that were impure to apply (not eat!) eg beef in products or musk (made from deer stuff!)

[rasheedahmed]

Assalam O Alaikum Sister,

It is not difficult to know the ingredients, you have to learn by visisting Halal foods websites in your country. I do not know which country you live. Either Google or Yahoo search leads to those websites. Most important thing is educating yourself, it is also not bad idea by contacting companies, if your are contacting personal care companies, you have to ask two question 1. is there any ingredients derived from animal fat or source including hidden ingredients. The second question is any ethyl alcohol is used as hidden ingredients in perfumes.


Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
Muslim Consumer Group for Food Products
www.muslimconsumergroup.com
www.canadianhalalfoods.com

[toobaaapi]

assalam-o-elikom,
i wanted to tell you something i have recently ccome across. i couldn't help but reply to mr. rasheed ahmed from muslim conumer group here. when i contacted www.islamonline.net and asked them about it, in two or three different answers they again and again mentioned the same thing that ethyl alcohol is not najis, hence not haram if not consumed and NOT taken inside the body. if it is used on the surface of skin only, it is permissible, despite the fact that we have pores through which some thing may seep inside. they further said that animal derived by-products can be considered as najis, thus not even allowed for surface application.
i have been to the muslim consumer group site, and although it contains a lot of useful information, some of the information doesn't seem to make sense. i mean they are clearly labelling soaps as haram even though every muslim knows that soaps are formed after complete chemical transformation. i understand now a days when moisturizing soaps and shampoos are available, that ruling can not be applied blindly, but come on, that is not so for all the soaps. every one knows that if a soap has been created out of impure fat, it becomes halal if it has undergone complete chemical change.
also they should clearly mention that the products containing by-products of fish are permissible because fish can be consumed without being slaughtered, unlike goat and beef.

[rasheedahmed]

Assalam O Alaikum Sister Toobaaapi,

There is difference of opinion among Muftiyan saheban regarding nagus status of ethyl alcohol. Our ulema whose names are mentioned on our website consider it nagus. I have no comment what Islamonline.net said about ethyl alcohol.

Regarding the bar saops we mentioned on our websites are made from pork fat and also the companies will not guarntee that it will be pork fat free. Regarding chemical changes in making of bar soap you missed most important information on our website. The detail information is mentioned under "Servicess"section and subsection "Fiqah & Science".

The basic unit of fat are fatty acids whether pork fat or beef fat or vegetable fat. These fatty acids of pork fat remained as is in bar soap. So there is no chemical change happens, they never become a new chemicals. If the bar soap is made from pork fat, its fatty acids remained as is in bar soap, so the bar soap made with pork fat is Haram.

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGES (TABDEELE MAHIYA) DURING THE PROCESSING OF PORK GELATIN AND BAR SOAPS MADE FROM PIG FAT:

There is lot of discussion among Muslims living in western countries about physical and chemical changes of Haram raw materials during the manufacturing of food products, such as Type A gelatin from pig source, or emulsifiers such as Mono & Diglycerides from pork fat and personal care items such as bar soaps made from pork fat or glycerin. Several Muslims are quoting Fatwa?s (Fatwa is a legal statement in Islam, issued by a Mufti or a religious lawyer, on a specific issue) which were issued 50-60 years back, to justify to consume or use them due to physical and chemical changes occur during their processing.
There is no doubt about the following physical and chemical changes or Tabdeele Mahiya of Haram raw material to Halal products. This includes production of vinegar from alcohol, falling of pig in a salt mine and becoming part of salt mine, bone ash, tanning of dead animal skin. These Tabdeele Mahiya cases are acceptable to majority of Islamic scholars.

But few things such as vinegar from wine, pig gelatin, bar soaps made with pork fat are not acceptable according to scientific facts and opinions of several Islamic scholars. Since some of the fatwa?s are issued 50-60 years back, it seems that no assistance from Muslim scientists was used to check it out scientifically.

Requirements for Tabdeele mahiya are (1) complete change from originality to new things which are not present in the original material (2) change in the name (3) Complete conversion of basic components of a raw material to a complete new product containing new components and several others. The common understanding about change in the original status is that it should not contain original components. Some Islamic scholars do not pay attention to this fact and consider that any chemical changes or reactions result in a new composition, which is not true. Let us discuss this in detail:

Bar soap from Pig fat and other fat based ingredients:

Bar soaps are made from animal fat or vegetable oils or their fatty acids by reacting them with inorganic water-soluble alkali salt or bases. The source of fat is mutton or beef tallow or pork fat but glycerin is also added besides stearic acid (fat based).
The animal fat or vegetable oil is made of distinctive mixture of several different triglycerides. A triglyceride molecule consists of one molecule of glycerin to which three fatty acid molecules are attached, and these fatty acids are specific to different type of triglycerides. Fatty acids are the basic components of any fat. During manufacturing of bar soaps, fats or oil are heated with liquid alkali, such as sodium hydroxide or caustic soda or potassium hydroxide or caustic potash to yield neat soap, water and glycerin. This process is known as saponification of fat or oil. During this process, the basic components fatty acids are transferred without change in its composition from triglyceride to alkali making neat soap (combination of alkali and fatty acid). Neutralization with alkali is also used to produce neat soap. The neat soap is dried and made into pellets, then glycerin and other ingredients are added, and then mixture is extruded to make bar soaps. If the bar soap is made from pork fat then nothing happens to its basic components fatty acids, it remains as it is, same as in pork fat. So bar soap manufacturing process is not the example of Tabdeele Mahiya. The emulsifiers and mono and diglycerides also fall under this category.


Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
Muslim Consumer Group For Food Products USA
www.muslimconsumergroup.com
www.candaianhalalfoods.com