Are Pastries with Poppy Seeds Lawful?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
Is it permissible for a Muslim organization to distribute pastries containing poppy seeds to needy people?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to what pleases Him. Amin.
Yes, consuming and distributing food containing Poppy seeds to anyone is permissible, and Allah knows best.
Poppy seeds come from the plant Papaver somniferum. Although they are derived from the same plant that produces opium and can potentially lead to positive opium results in drug tests, poppy seeds themselves contain almost no narcotic content.
The fluid that becomes opium is present in the bud only before the seeds are fully developed. Since poppy seeds are collected after full formation, they do not possess narcotic properties. [Encyclopedia Britannica]
Poppy seed would, therefore, be considered within the general bracket of permissible foods unless proven otherwise, and Allah knows best.
Allah says: “O believers! Do not forbid the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors.” [Quran, 5:88]
I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Mohammad Abu Bakr Badhib
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.
