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Ruling on Selling Animal Bones and Horns

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Darul Iftaa Jordan
Is it permissible to sell animal bones, horns and teeth to be used in manufacturing adornment?

Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessing be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

There is disagreement among jurists about selling the bones, horns and teeth of dead animals. The majority prohibits the sale of any part of an inedible animal(For Muslims), such as the bones, horns and the like, whether that part was cut froma living or dead animal. This is because what was cut from a living animal is considered dead{Impure}, and whatever was cut from it after its death is considered impure as well, so it is prohibited to make use of it.

An-Nawawi(May Allah be pleased with him) said, "According to our Madhab(Shafie legal school/school of thought), the hair, the wool, the fluff, the feather, the sinew, the bones, the horns and the hooves take the ruling of a dead animal.'{Al-Majmou`,1/236}. Moreover, it was stated in the Shafie book Moghni Al-Mohtajj(P. 1/235), "The Sharia ruling on what is cut from a living animal and its placenta is the same as that of the animal itself when dead; if it is pure then that part is pure , but if it isn`t then that animal isn`t pure. This is based on the Hadith where the Prophet(PBUH)said, "What`s cut from a living animal is dead"{Related by Al-Hakim}. Therefore, what`s cut from a living person or fish or locust is pure; whereas, what`s cut from other creatures is impure……As for the part cut from the dead animal, there is no doubt that it takes the same ruling of the dead animal."

On the other hand, Hanafie jurists are of the view that the bones of the dead animal are pure. For example, Al-Bab`barti said, "It is permissible to sell the bones, the sinew, the wool, the horns, the hair, and the fluff of the dead animal and to make use of them as well, because they are pure. {Al-Enaya Shareh Al-Hedayah, 6/227}. In addition, it was stated in the Hanafie book {Al-Moheet Al-Borhani, 6/349}, "It is permissible to sell the bones of an elephant and other dead animals because they contain no blood, and so they don`t become impure. Therefore, it is permissible to sell them. This provided that these bones aren`t covered with greasy substance since if they are, they become impure and so it isn`t permissible to sell them. Moreover, it isn`t permissible to sell the bones of humans and swine.

In conclusion, there is no harm in adopting the opinion of the Hanafie jurists along with their aforementioned conditions, but one should adhere to the effective laws governing the hunting of animals and the selling of their organs. And Allah knows best.

This answer was collected from the official government Iftaa Department of Jordan.

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