The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) has said that the preservation of life is the key consideration for the permissibility of COVID-19 vaccines. According to Muis, vaccines will contribute to saving lives, providing greater health assurance as well as facilitating the return to economic activity and livelihood as much as possible.
The organisation has stated that a COVID-19 vaccine is permissible for Muslim use, pointing out that the objectives of introducing a COVID-19 vaccine and the processes involved in producing vaccines in general are "largely aligned to established Islamic principles and values". "We would advise and encourage Muslims to be vaccinated once it is available and when the vaccine has been medically authorised as safe and effective, as this is a basic necessity to protect lives in the context of a global pandemic," Muis said in a statement.
"Islamic jurisprudence places great importance on the sanctity and safety of human life and the protection of livelihoods. Accordingly, efforts that seek to protect human life from any form of danger and harm, such as the development of vaccines, are highly encouraged in Islam. Vaccines as a form of protection from diseases and ill-health are welcomed. Previous Muis’ fatwas, such as on the rotavirus vaccine (2013), consider vaccines to be a form of preventive treatment from diseases, and encouraged in Islam. This is drawn from the Prophetic guidance that one could consume foods that offer some protection from illnesses."
The religious view takes a more holistic stance that transcends the narrower issue of halalness or permissibility of its ingredients, Muis acknowledged, listing three considerations:
- The vaccine as critical to saving lives and in ensuring that societies can function safely and cohesively.
- The safety and efficacy of vaccines. Any COVID-19 vaccine must have no known adverse medical effects and have been scientifically established as not expected to cause harm to those who take the vaccine.
- Permissibility of ingredients used in vaccines. There are situations that permit the use of impure or prohibited substances for treatment as evident in some Prophetic traditions. In addition to this, the impure substances or prohibited items used in upstream processes would have undergone multiple layers of chemical processes such as filtration that would render them undetectable or negligible in the final product. This process occurs for the drug heparin (the use of pig enzymes) and the rotavirus vaccine (the use of trypsin).
"In Muslim jurisprudence, these processes are similar to istihala (استحالة) where the original substance changes its form and nature and no longer becomes prohibited. In such situations, the final product (drug or vaccine) is deemed permissible for Muslim use. Vaccines can also be fully synthetic and do not contain any animal components or cells, such as in mRNA vaccines developed for COVID-19," Muis said.
Muis' Fatwa Committee will review and assess the suitability of vaccines for Muslim use if they fundamentally diverge from the principles above, the organisation, added.
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Read the full religious position issued by the Office of the Mufti in English or Malay.