Halal products

What halal means for dietary supplements, and how we make sure you have permissible choices.

When is a product forbidden for a Muslim?

As a general rule, every food is halal for Muslims unless a specific text forbids it. The texts name carrion (animals that died without slaughter), pork, blood that has been shed, and anything offered in the name of other than Allah.

Elite Vitamins aims to offer products in line with Islamic law. We choose supplements free from forbidden ingredients such as pork gelatin and other non-halal materials.

Offering safe, halal products to our Muslim customers in Egypt is a priority for us, and we keep working so that our range meets high religious and health standards.

Allah says in the Quran: "Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, swine flesh, and what has been slaughtered in a name other than Allah's…"

قَالَ تَعَالَى: {حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ …}

When is a product halal?

A product is halal when it contains nothing that Islam clearly forbids. A plant-based product with no animal ingredients, for example, contains no carrion, no pork and nothing offered to other than Allah, so it is halal. If it is also free from alcohol and from substances that harm health, it is plainly halal and needs no certificate for Muslims to take it.

Where scholars disagree about a product, we follow the views of the Islamic Medical Fiqh Assembly. Its members include trusted religious scholars, biologists, chemists and jurists from many Muslim countries, who are well placed to weigh such questions in a way that respects both religion and science.

Key concepts in Islamic law

1. Istihala (transformation)

Istihala is a chemical change that turns a substance into something else. The change removes its original qualities, such as colour, taste and smell, and other properties such as the power to intoxicate. Scholars differ on products that result from istihala: some consider them haram, others halal. Examples include:

• Wine turning into vinegar, which no longer has the colour, smell or intoxicating effect of wine.
• Gelatin produced from animal fats, pork included, which keeps none of the qualities of its source.

Put simply, a substance produced by istihala does not take the ruling of what it came from, because none of the original's qualities remain.

2. Certainty is not removed by doubt

An established principle holds that what is known for certain to be halal cannot become haram without equally certain proof. Doubt alone does not make a product haram; at most it may make it makruh (disliked). Remember that all foods start out as halal unless a clear, definite text says otherwise.

The core rule: wine, carrion, blood and pork are forbidden by clear texts, and a Muslim may take them only in cases of genuine necessity.

3. Necessity makes the forbidden permissible

Islamic law accepts that necessity can permit what is normally forbidden, and each case is judged on its own facts. A patient who would suffer serious harm or die without a particular treatment must accept it, even when it contains something normally haram. Examples:

• Blood transfusion.
• Anaesthesia during surgery.
• Alcohol used for sterilization.

4. Hardship brings ease

This is a foundation of Islamic jurisprudence. When meeting a religious duty becomes too hard or impossible, a concession (rukhsa) is allowed so the burden stays bearable. It applies in many situations where strict adherence would cause undue difficulty. For example:

• It is hard to be sure that not a trace of urine touches clothes or skin when relieving oneself, so scholars are lenient here, since the religion does not ask for the impossible.
• Under this principle, traces of a forbidden substance are excused, for instance the animal rennet found in some imported cheese.

How we look for halal products

Since our first imports from countries that are not Muslim, we have worked hard to find vitamins and supplements that meet the requirements of Islamic law. We search in three stages:

1. First, fully plant-based products. We were among the first importers to bring 100% plant-based supplements to Egypt. A large share of our range is plant-based, with no animal ingredients and nothing produced through istihala.
2. Next, products free from disputed ingredients. Where a product does contain animal ingredients, we make sure it holds nothing that scholars disagree about, so that neither we nor our customers are left in doubt.
3. Then, products that scholars have agreed on. We also look at products accepted by respected Islamic bodies, for example the Islamic Fiqh Academy. Such products may be used out of necessity, or when nothing else is available.

Halal status is one of the criteria our pharmacists check for every product. See We select the best.

What if a product turns out to be haram?

However careful and thorough our research, a product that Muslims may not consume could still reach us.

If that happens, we may not sell it either. We dispose of it, we do not list it in our store, since both using and selling it are forbidden, and we make sure we do not buy it again.