Black Ivory coffee (elephant dung coffee): halal or haram?

Introduction- Muslim people categorize foods into two main categories, halal and haram. Halal literallymeans permissible in Arabic, and haram translates to forbidden. The Qur'an clearly outlines which foodsfall into these categories. Whether a certain food commodity is lawful or unlawful therefore often dependson the opinion of religious scholars, or on suspicions of undetermined or prohibited ingredients. In practice,this means that, in order to avoid contamination from haram sources, religious authorities also consider thecontext and handling of food when they determine whether a product is halal.Black Ivory Coffee is a brand of coffee produced by the Black Ivory Coffee Company Ltd in northernThailand from Arabica coffee beans consumed by elephants and collected from their waste. Coffee beansthat are still in their original form are collected from the forest floor, cleaned then roasted and ground justlike other coffee beans. Therefore, it is not harmful to coffee drinkers as these germs will disappear aftergoing through the cleaning process, and grill with high heat before being packaged and sold. The taste ofBlack Ivory coffee is influenced by elephants' digestive enzymes and fermentation processes, which breaksdown the coffee's protein. This article offers analysis of whether elephant dung coffee is halal or haram?Methodology- In writing this review article, we searched in various databases such as google scholar basedon the keywords including halal, haram, Black Ivory coffee, coffee, elephant dung coffee.Findings- Imam al-Nawawi stated: If an animal eats a grain plant and then the grain is excreted from itsstomach in a good condition. If the grain is still in its original form, whereas if it is planted, it can grow intoa plant, then it is considered pure. However, its external part must be washed, for it has come into contactwith najis. This is also because if the grain has become food for farm animals, which means from anythingthat has changed and spoilt (due to it being broken down and digested), then it became (najis), the same asif it swallows grains then excreted. The internal parts of the grain are pure, while its skin can be purified by washing it. However, if the condition (of the grain) doesn’t stay the same changes), where if it is plantedit cannot grow, then it is considered najis.”Likewise, Syeikh al-Ramli stated that if the grain remains (excreted) in a good condition where if it isplanted it can grow into a plant, then it is considered mutanajjis and not najis. It is also a possibility that theopinion that states it is najis can be understood in the context that the grain is no longer in its original form.Conclusion- According to the above discussion and arguments, in our opinion, elephant dung coffee ismutanajjis and it is permissible to be made into coffee drinks on the condition: (۱) the coffee beans mustbe in a good condition, don’t have holes, aren’t broken and can grow if planted; (۲) and the coffee beansmust first be washed from the najis on them before being further processed into a beverage. Then, they areground and used to make coffee, the drink is halal and permissible to be drunk.

Keywords:

Coffee , Halal , Haram , Elephant