Shafaqna English- Questions on Muslims issues in the West and answers from the Grand Ayatollah Sistani based on the text of the book: “A Code of Practice For Muslims in the West” by ‘Abdul Hadi As-Seyyed Muhammad Taqi Al-Hakim.
Question & Answer
Question: Is it permissible to eat lobster, in all its varieties, by following the pattern of shrimp?
Answer: It is not permissible to eat lobster.
Related Question
Question 1: Is it permissible to drink beer that says “alcohol free” on it?
Answer: It is not permissible to drink, if “beer” means the drink made from barley that causes mild drunkenness. But if it means a drink made from barley that does not cause mild drunkenness, there is no problem in it.
Question 2: Alcohol is used in the production of many drugs and medications: Is it permissible to take them? Are they considered pure (tahir)?
Answer: They are pure; and since the alcohol used in them is so minute that it dissolves in them, it is therefore permissible to take them also.
Question 3: There is this vinegar that is made from wine, in the sense that it was wine and then, through a manufacturing process, changed into vinegar. Therefore, the label on the bottle reads: “wine vinegar” as opposed to the vinegar made from barley or other items. One of the signs [of differentiating between “wine vinegar” and the wine itself is that] the bottles of this vinegar are displayed in the area of vinegar, and it has never happened that these bottles are placed on the shelves of wines. Moreover, there is no difference between such vinegar and the vinegar made from dates for example. So, can this wine which has turned into vinegar be considered vinegar under the rule of change (Istihalah)?
Answer: If the name “vinegar” can be applied in the view of common people upon that product, as has been assumed in the question, the same rule governing vinegar would apply to it. [That is, it is pure as well as permissible.]
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Source: sistani.org