I say, and with God's success: Gelatin is a liquid substance used in medicines and some foods, made from the skins and bones of animals. If the animals are permissible to eat and slaughtered in a lawful manner, it is permissible to sell and use the "gelatin" extracted from them in medicines and foods, whether it is taken from their flesh or bones. If it is taken from a dead animal that was not slaughtered, as is the case with imports from non-Muslim countries, it is permissible to sell it whether taken from flesh or bone; because it is property, as there is benefit derived from it by common practice, and it is pure if it is from bone, thus it does not render impure what it is used in, and it is impure if it is from flesh, thus it renders impure what it is used in, and it is not permissible to eat it in both cases; because it is a part of a dead animal. Our Sheikh Al-Othmani said in the jurisprudence of sales (1: 296): "The bone of a non-slaughtered animal is pure... and its skin is purified by tanning — this process is similar to tanning — so the gelatin made from them is pure, and it is permissible to use it in non-food applications by the consensus of the Hanafi school, and as for its use in food, the correct opinion that is fatwaed by the Hanafi school is that it is not permissible, but there is an opinion among the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools that it is permissible to eat it, and it is permissible to use it for treatment in capsules made from gelatin, provided that it is not made from pig skin or bones. As for non-medical use, it should be avoided unless its transformation is established. As for buying and selling, it is permissible for those not made from pig." And God knows best.