Types of cheese and their rulings

Question

Question: (1) Japanese rennet, which is put into cheese, is prepared from plants, while that made in Europe is prepared from animals. So is this permissible or not? (2) Microbes are not a part of an animal; will the cheese then be haram because of it? (3) Rennet in the amount of one teaspoon goes into seven seers (a unit of weight, ≈ 0.93 kg) of milk, and on the other hand there is widespread affliction (‘umum al-balwa). Will it be haram even from such a small amount?

Answer

(1) Rennet prepared from plants is obviously permissible. (2) If microbes are not parts of an animal, then what are they? (3) If one small spoonful of urine, wine or blood were mixed into seven seers of milk, would permission to drink that milk be given under the rule “the majority takes the ruling of the whole” (للأكثر حكم الكل)?

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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