So he -asws said: ‘As for what is recognised from its lineage exactly, so do not go near it, and as for what is not recognised, so eat it, for it is at the status of the cheese, and do not ask about it’.
[45] فَقَالَ لَهُ قَتَادَةُ صَدَقْتَ وَ اللَّهِ جَعَلَنِيَ اللَّهُ فِدَاكَ وَ اللَّهِ مَا هِيَ بُيُوتُ حِجَارَةٍ وَ لَا طِينٍ قَالَ قَتَادَةُ فَأَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْجُبُنِّ قَالَ فَتَبَسَّمَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ( عليه السلام ) ثُمَّ قَالَ رَجَعَتْ مَسَائِلُكَ إِلَى هَذَا قَالَ ضَلَّتْ عَلَيَّ فَقَالَ لَا بَأْسَ بِهِ فَقَالَ إِنَّهُ رُبَّمَا جُعِلَتْ فِيهِ إِنْفَحَةُ الْمَيِّتِ قَالَ لَيْسَ بِهَا بَأْسٌ إِنَّ الْإِنْفَحَةَ لَيْسَ لَهَا عُرُوقٌ وَ لَا فِيهَا دَمٌ وَ لَا لَهَا عَظْمٌ إِنَّمَا تَخْرُجُ مِنْ بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَ دَمٍ So Qatada said to him -asws , ‘You -asws have spoken the truth, by Allah -azwj , may Allah -azwj Make me to be sacrificed for you!
By Allah -azwj , these are neither houses of stones nor of clay’. Qatada said, ‘So inform me about the cheese’. He (Abu Hamza) said, ‘So Abu Ja’far -asws smiled, then said: ‘Your questions have reverted to this?’ He said, ‘(It is) lost upon me’. So he -asws said: ‘There is no problem with it’. So he said, ‘Sometimes they put rennet of the dead in it?’ He -asws said: ‘There is no problem with it.
The rennet, there are no veins for it, nor is there blood in it, nor does it have bones for it, but rather it is extracted from between the bowels and blood’.
ثُمَّ قَالَ وَ إِنَّمَا الْإِنْفَحَةُ بِمَنْزِلَةِ دَجَاجَةٍ مَيْتَةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ مِنْهَا بَيْضَةٌ فَهَلْ تُؤْكَلُ تِلْكَ الْبَيْضَةُ فَقَالَ قَتَادَةُ لَا وَ لَا آمُرُ بِأَكْلِهَا فَقَالَ لَهُ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ( عليه السلام ) وَ لِمَ فَقَالَ لِأَنَّهَا مِنَ الْمَيْتَةِ قَالَ لَهُ فَإِنْ حُضِنَتْ تِلْكَ الْبَيْضَةُ فَخَرَجَتْ مِنْهَا دَجَاجَةٌ أَ تَأْكُلُهَا قَالَ نَعَمْ قَالَ فَمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكَ الْبَيْضَةَ وَ حَلَّلَ لَكَ الدَّجَاجَةَ Then he -asws said: ‘But rather, the rennet is at the status of a dead chicken from which an egg is extracted, so would you eat that egg?’ So Qatada said, ‘No, and I would not instruct with eating it’.
So Abu Ja’far -asws said to him: ‘And why (not)?’ So he said, ‘Because it is from the dead’. He -asws said to him: ‘So if that egg incubates, so a chicken comes out from it, would you eat it?’ He said, ‘Yes’.