Pig skin lining in shoes

[Iva]

Assalamualaikum,

I have been shopping for shoes lately and to my horror I've discovered about 1 in 5 are made of pig skin lining. They are becoming a norm these days that you will find them in most shoes (lining). You can recognise them by their "3 dots" usually in a triangle. When I asked where the leather came from, they said "cow" and do not know what pig skin looks like, so they are of no help to me!

If I touched it and then realised its pig, I do not need to wash as long as its not wet...?

Surprisingly many Muslim nowdays do not know whether they are wearing products made from pigskin...I found this picture while googling.

[Iva]

In Malaysia, they label shoes made of pig skin lining...pretty interesting ey

[cheesegirl]

Will you know its pig skin by the colour?? Will a pair of shoes that cost $20 be unlikely to be made of it?

[Iva]

Apparently they are very cheap, I was so surprised to see some shoes at Kmart made out of pig skin lining too subhanAllah...I wrote down the shoe number and I am gona call Kmart inshaAllah to find out if its true...

I also sent out an email to NOVO because I really liked this one pair

[Iva]

Also, when I got home I went crazy looking at all our shoes too see if any of them were pig skin LOL

[Ibn Yusuf]

Bismillah walhamdulillah wassalaatu wassalaam 'alaa Muhammad

Assalaamu 'Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh

With current leather processing/treatment methods, it can sometimes be difficult to actually tell where a leather is from. However, the "three dots" from pigskin are usually still seen on shoe linings as the leather is not given the same degree of attention as other more visible parts of a product. Pigskin is also often used in lining as it's soft and cheaper than other leathers with similar qualities.

I find that if you contact the manufacturer directly they are usually happy and willing to advise you of whether or not an individual shoe has pigskin or not.

Wassalaamu 'Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh

[مروة]

Wearing gloves made of pigskin


I'm working with a company where the workers always use pig skin gloves. To my understanding, anything that comes from pig is haram and if touched, I have to wash my hand 7 times plus 1 time with soil. In this case, what should I do?.


Praise be to Allaah.

We have previously stated in the answer to question no. 1695 that pigskin is najis (impure) and does not become taahir (pure) by means of tanning.

Simply touching something impure does not make the body impure, unless there is some wetness either in the impure substance or on the body.

Shaykh Ibn Jibreen said:

If the body or clothes are dry and touch something impure that is also dry, that does not matter, because the impurity is only transferred when it is wet. Fataawa Islamiyyah, 1/194

Based on this, the hand does not become impure simply by touching these gloves that are made of pigskin, unless the hand or the gloves are wet.

If the hands become impure by touching the pigskin when there is some wetness, then you have to wash your hands. It is sufficient to wash them once, because there is no command to wash something impure seven times, one of which is with dust or dirt, except in the case of impurity caused by a dog.

Some scholars likened the pig to the dog, so they said that one should wash seven times in the case of pig-related impurity, one of which should be with dust or dirt.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “This is a weak analogy, because pigs are mentioned in the Qur’aan and they existed at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and there is no report which likens them to dogs. So the correct view is that pig-related impurity is like any other kind of impurity, and there is no need to wash seven times, one of which should be with dust or dirt.” Al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 1/356.

So the Muslim should strive to keep his body and clothes clean and pure, and avoid wearing these gloves that are made of pigskin, because that involves touching something impure and exposes his hands and clothes to the risk of becoming impure, which would affect the validity of his prayers. But if he needs to wear these gloves because he cannot find anything else, then it is permissible for him to wear them, so long as he is careful to avoid contaminating his body or clothes, and he hastens to wash off any impurity if he gets it on him, so that he does not transfer it anywhere else or forget to wash it off his hands or clothes.

There are permissible kinds of animal skins and leathers available which mean that there is no need for these impure types. We ask Allaah to help us to do that which He loves and which pleases Him. And Allaah knows best.



Islam Q&A

[*saRah*]

Iva isnt NOVO just the best hehe I got these really nice green shoes from there last time.

[Addicted]

From what I understand pig skin is much cheaper to use, especially in China.

At places like K-mart, they mention on the bottom of the shoe if it is synthetic leather or genuine leather. I just avoid the genuine leather because I'm guessing it's most likely pig leather.

I suggest you view these:

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?id=2075
http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.a...=3310&CATE=365
http://www.daruliftaa.com/question.a...nID=q-09435539
http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/questions/1711.html

Leather is used for many things: belts, jackets, wallets, shoes. So we have to be careful.

I changed my belt to one made of fabric, still does the same job

[UmmNRZ]

Very true sis Iva. I needed comfortable shoes during my pregnancy and it took me so long to get a proper shoe that did not have any pig skin. There's so much we need to be aware of subhanAllah!

[Iva]

Marrwa, what happened to your link? I thanked you but then I couldnt find your post

[مروة]

A q related to this topic was asked on another forum and answered by Sh. Asslam Hussein.

http://forums.sunnahinspirations.org...pic,139.0.html