Using lanolin face cream
29-7-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaikum,
I would like to buy a face cream and I asked the company about the ingredients. They use lanolin that is from sheep`s wool the others are from plants. Is it allowed?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
If the mentioned ingredient was extracted from the sheep’s wool, then it is permissible to use this cream. That is because the wool is pure whether it was taken from a living or a dead or a slaughtered sheep, provided that no parts of the sheep’s skin are attached to the wool if the wool was taken from a living sheep or from a dead sheep that was not slaughtered according to Sharee`ah.
On the other hand, if this ingredient was extracted from sheep’s skin, then it is pure as long as the sheep was slaughtered according to Sharee`ah. Contrarily, if this ingredient was extracted from the skin of a dead sheep, then it is impure and subsequently using this cream is impermissible.