Is it permissible to take Chondroitin sulfate, a medication extracted from a calf, if its source is a foreign country and it is unknown whether the animal was slaughtered according to Islamic law?

The summary of the fatwa is that the original principle concerning slaughtered animals is that their slaughter is not considered lawful unless it is highly probable that they were slaughtered according to Islamic law.

Therefore, if it is known or presumed that the medicine is manufactured in an Islamic country or in a country of the People of the Book, where animals are not killed by electrocution, strangulation, shooting, or similar methods, then there is no harm in consuming it, although refraining from it, if another option is available, is better.

However, if the medicine is manufactured in a country whose people are Majus (Zoroastrians) or People of the Book, but they kill animals by methods not religiously acceptable for slaughter, or if there is doubt about this and its reality is unknown, then it is incumbent upon the Muslim to avoid consuming it.

If no other medicine can cure his ailment, or if he cannot obtain another medicine, and he is compelled to consume it, then there is no objection to consuming it, based on the principle that necessities permit prohibitions. Allah Almighty says: "And He has already explained to you what He has forbidden to you, except for that to which you are compelled." [Al-An'am: 119].