ABU DHABI — The UAE Fatwa Council, under the chairmanship of Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, has issued a "fatwa" (Islamic ruling), allowing the coronavirus vaccines to be used in compliance with Islamic Shariah’s objectives on the protection of the human body and other relevant Islamic rulings.

This comes in response to growing concerns among Muslims over the halal status of the COVID vaccines and following a request for an advisory opinion addressed by the Minister of Religious Affairs of Malaysia, to the UAE Fatwa Council on the same subject.

"Coronavirus vaccination is classified under preventive medicines for individuals, as recommended by the Islamic faith, particularly in times of pandemic diseases when the healthy happen to be prone to infections due to the high risk of contracting the disease, therefore posing risk to the entire society," the council explained.

The Fatwa Council added that even though the vaccine in question contains non-halal ingredients banned by Islam, it's permissible to use it in implementation of the Islamic rule that permits the use of such products in case there are no alternatives.

The council cited the highly contagious nature of the disease as a justification to use the vaccines owning to the dire consequences the pandemic has inflicted in terms of fatal physical and material damage.

The council added that concerned medical authorities and other competent expertise are the ones authorized to assess the side effects of the vaccine, calling upon all to cooperate with their respective governments to ensure the success of vaccination campaigns and respect for the preventive and precautionary measures taken in this regard. — WAM