Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaykum. What is the evidence that the hair of a dead body is pure? شعر الميتة
Fatwas / Purification / Hair of a dead body
Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaykum. What is the evidence that the hair of a dead body is pure? شعر الميتة
Answer
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions. Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. The principle ruling is that individual specimens are pure. There is no evidence for their impurity. Regarding Allah’s statement: “Prohibited to you are dead animals…” [Al-Ma’idah 6:3] Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, “It does not include hair or what resembles it, because a dead being is the opposite of a living one; and life is of two types: animal life and plant life…” [al-Fatawa al-Kubra (1/266)] And he mentioned that hair life is like plant life; it grows and is nourished, and does not have feelings. Nor does it move of its own will. It does not become permissible [to eat] until the living animal dies and is separated from it [i.e, cut off from its source of life]. And there is no reason for it to be considered impure. And Allah knows best.
Your brother,
Dr. Khalid al-Muslih
28 / 3 / 1425 AH