Cultured meat is a promising product that is derived through biotechnology that partially circumvents animal physiology, thereby being potentially more sustainable, environmentally friendly and animal friendly than traditional livestock meat. Such a novel technology that can impact many consumers evokes ethical, philosophical and religious discussions. For the Islamic community, the crucial question is whether cultured meat is halal, meaning compliant with Islamic laws. Since the culturing of meat is a new discovery, invention and innovation by scientists that has never been discussed by classical jurists (fuqaha'), an ijtihad by contemporary jurists must look for and provide answers for every technology introduced, whether it comply the requirements of Islamic law or not. So, this article will discuss an Islamic perspective on cultured meat based on the original scripture in the Qur'an and interpretations by authoritative Islamic jurists. The halal status of cultured meat can be resolve through identifying the source cell and culture medium used in culturing the meat. The halal cultured meat can be obtained if the stem cell is extracted from a (Halal) slaughtered animal, and no blood or serum is used in the process. The impact of this innovation will give positive results in the environmental and sustain the livestock industry.

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Cultured meat is one of the most promising idea in food technology and it is expected to be in the market in the following years. One of the main obstacles is the acceptance of consumers that follow their religious teaching about food consumption, including meat. This article will discuss the religious perspectives on cultured meat, especially from the Islamic Law view. This study has implemented qualitative research and applied document analysis from the collected data of various sources. The result shows that there was high probability of cultured meat acceptance in the majority of the religions if the production complies with their religious meat dietary teaching. Further research must be done to investigate the acceptance of cultured meat among religious followers.

Cultured meat is one of the latest innovations in food processing that are environmentally friendly, highly demanded and meeting market requirements. The meat is no longer produced organically through conventional means of livestock farming but it is harvested in laboratories and factories. In fact it benefits consumer. This study discusses the concept and history of cultured meat, the production and the techniques used in its production. In addition, the analysis of the Islamic ruling is carried out by assessing the current fatwas dealing with meat culture. To complete this study, qualitative methods were employed by referring to journals, books and fatwas. The results showed that cultured meat that derived from slaughtered cattle is Halal whereas the cultured meat using the source of stem cells from living cattle is not Halal. The process of culturing meat is also considered as alteration of God’s creation, and the source of stem cells will determine the Halal status of cultured meat. ABSTRAK Daging kultur adalah salah satu inovasi terbaru dalam penghasilan produk makanan yang bersifat mesra alam selain menerima permintaan tinggi serta memenuhi keperluan pasaran. Daging ini tidak lagi dihasilkan secara alami melalui penternakan di ladang, sebaliknya dihasilkan di makmal dan kilang. Bahkan daging kultur boleh mendatangkan manfaat yang banyak kepada pengguna. Kajian ini akan membincangkan konsep dan sejarah daging kultur, faktor penghasilan dan teknik yang digunakan dalam menghasilkan daging kultur. Di samping itu, analisis hukum dijalankan dengan menilai fatwa semasa berkaitan status daging kultur. Kajian menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan merujuk kepada jurnal, buku dan fatwa semasa bagi melengkapkan kajian. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa daging kultur yang dihasilkan bersumberkan lembu yang disembelih adalah Halal dimakan manakala daging kultur yang menggunakan sumber sel stem dari lembu yang masih belum disembelih adalah tidak Halal dimakan. Proses pengkulturan daging juga berhubungkait dengan hukum pengubahan ciptaan Allah SWT di samping sumber stem sel akan menentukan hukum memakan daging kultur.