In India and Pakistan, after slaughtering the chicken it is dipped in hot water to remove the feathers or to make it easier to remove the feathers.
Ulama have ruled that this make the chicken Najis to consume because the impurties inside the stomach break down and get absrobed in the Chicken (meat).
Some of the Ulama in India state that this chicken cannot be consumed (ever) while others say that since the dipping is only for a few minutes it can be consumed after washing it a 3 times in water.
Shaykhul-Islam (Mufti) Taqi Usmani Saheb (HA) states on the matter that this objection of chicken becoming impermissbale does not apply because the water does not reach boiling point and stays well below 100 C.
What is your scientific opinion on this matter? Can water be kept at such temperature for the Najasah to dissolve into the meat of the chicken rendering it impermissable.
Jazakallahu Khayran
Mufti Amjad Mohammed Responds:
This is a common procedure in order to de-feather poultry and other birds. The concept as you describe is the fear that najasa within the poultry’s digestive system can somehow be dissolved into the flesh of the bird and rendering it impermissible to consume.
However this is unfounded as there is more fear that the acidic nature of the internal environment is a bigger concern.
The process is referred to as scalding as is used in commercial and non-commercial settings. The temperature of the water can vary and is usually set lower for chickens and increased as the bird is maturer.
The conditions vary from 30-60s at 50℃ for the chickens etc to 30-75s at 60℃ for the maturer birds and wild fowl. There is no possibility of the breakdown of waste in the digestive system to be absorbed by the body. One would need significantly higher temperatures for much longer times to even entertain the possibility. Obviously the Indian subcontinent situation will vary across the vast land however it will not reach those conditions as it affects the flesh of the bird.
Furthermore the waste cannot be absorbed by the chicken until the digestive system breaks down. The waste will remain within the intestines until evisceration. In fact I’m not aware of how high the temperature has to be for chicken intestines to breakdown as it is eaten in many cultures when it is cooked at high temperatures including frying above boiling point of water.
So when the books of fiqh speak of this phenomenon it is most likely when the intestine tears due to poor handling and the faecal material contaminated the chicken or there is some rupture in some other part of the digestive system.
In fact catgut [which is not from cats but cattle and sheep and goat which will obviously be stronger than chicken gut] has such a high tensile strength that it was used for strings in musical instruments and tennis racquets only up be replaced by steel or synthetic polymer. It was also used as a suture and would breakdown after ninety days due to enzymes.
والله أعلم بالصواب
👉 Telegram Channel: telegram.me/theolivefoundation
👉 Markaz al-IftÄ - Groups:
1ï¸: Men (Only):
t.me/joinchat/FquhqEPmsTQxNToP0eLuGA ;
2ï¸: Women (Only): t.me/joinchat/Ab38qUNlOWrMuYVA7ilQ2Q &nb...;
👉 How to do I install Telegram on my Phone?
1ï¸: Android: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.messenger
2ï¸: IPhone: itunes.apple.com/in/app/telegram-messenger/id686449807?mt=8.
