Eating food in which a lizard fell

A lizard fell into a jar of cheese which we store for one year, and we found it dead. Is it lawful to eat the cheese, knowing that it is covered with water? How can we clean it?

Fatawa Jan 9, 2023 0 60 Add to Reading List

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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

A lizard is a type of geckos and its blood does not run when it comes out. Consequently, when it falls into water or a soft substance, it does not contaminate it. Ar-Ramli, may Allaah have mercy upon him, a Shaafi‘i scholar, said: “Dead animals that do not spill blood when wounded are not considered impure. This applies to either the animal which does not originally have blood or the one whose blood does not run such as geckos, hornets or wasps, beetles and flies. Consequently, they do not turn the liquid impure.”

An-Nawawi, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said, “The majority of scholars agreed that the blood of geckos does not run.”

Allaah Knows best.