Does cow skin fall under the permissible category of bovine like bones or not?

Bismillahi Ta’ala

Walaikum Assalam Warahmatullah

At the outset, there are two independent rulings which affect the utility of any part of an animal.

i. it being (tahir) pure (as opposed to najis)
ii. It being halal for consumption

Secondly, as mentioned in our earlier answer an animal either has:

• those parts of body which Shari’ah consider life to enter like muscle, hide (skin), tissue etc. or
• those parts of body which Shari’ah does not consider life to enter, like bone, hoofs, horns, hair, feather.

From above, if the proposed usage of the skin is only for leather purpose and not consumption, then even without dhabiha one could tan (dabbaghah) the skin to make leather and use it. Essentially in this case only achieving it being (tahir) pure is sufficient.

However, if the tentative purpose is for consumption (like gelatin, collagen etc), then skin must fulfil both i. and ii requiring dhabiha (slaughter) for it to become halal for utilization as well as consumption.

Wallahu A’lam

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi