Halal and haram are clear; what is the ruling on doubtful things? In Germany a girl bought noodles; there is an app there in which the ingredients are checked — if it is neither haram nor halal, what is its ruling there? What is the position of the German Salafi scholars?

1. The basic principle: the hadith of an-Nu'man ibn Bashir, may Allah be pleased with him, agreed upon (by al-Bukhari and Muslim): “The halal is clear and the haram is clear, and between them are doubtful matters which many people do not know. Whoever guards against the doubtful matters has protected his religion and his honour, and whoever falls into the doubtful matters falls into the haram... Behold, it is the heart” (Sahih al-Bukhari: 52, Sahih Muslim: 1599) — avoiding doubtful matters is a basic principle for protecting one's religion and honour, not merely precautionary advice.

2. The reality and limits of apps: an app only looks at the ingredients on the label and tells whether a clearly haram ingredient (pork, alcohol, gelatin) was found or not — it cannot verify the preparation / mixing; the source (plant or animal) of many ingredients (E-numbers, flavours, colours, mono-/diglycerides) remains unclear — the app puts them in “doubtful/unknown”, i.e. lawfulness has not been verified; if there is no halal certification, halal is not established merely by “no haram ingredient was found” — it is also necessary that the preparation, slaughter and processing be in accordance with the Shariah.

3. The ruling on the noodles: their lawfulness could not be verified; they are in the category of the doubtful — the demand of piety and caution: avoid them and take instead an alternative on which there is halal certification from a reliable body, or whose ingredients' lawfulness is certain. “Not being certainly haram” does not mean being halal.

4. The position of German and contemporary scholars: avoiding the doubtful is itself the original ruling; the information of apps is not a final Shar'i decision/fatwa, only preliminary guidance; preference is given to products with halal certification or certain lawfulness; when in doubt, avoiding is the way of piety and of the righteous predecessors.

Summary: Avoiding such doubtful noodles/items is better in the Shariah and in accordance with piety.

Translated from the original Urdu fatwa.