Short answer
Only if it comes from cattle slaughtered by zabiha. Beef tallow is rendered beef fat, so it takes the ruling of the animal: from halal-slaughtered cattle it is halal, and from cattle not slaughtered properly it is carrion fat, which is haram to eat and impure. The four schools agree on this principle.
Fat from a zabiha animal is pure and halal. Fat from a halal species that was not properly slaughtered is carrion (mayta): haram to eat, impure, and not to be used on the body. Pork fat is haram in every case.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Tallow is the fat around a cow's kidneys and other organs, melted down and strained. It is used for frying (some restaurants cook chips or fries in it), in pastry and pies, in bird feed and candles, and lately in skincare balms sold as natural moisturisers. Suet is the raw fat, and dripping is the fat collected from roasting.
Fat is part of the animal, so it follows the animal's slaughter. The Quran forbids carrion, and a cow killed without a proper Islamic cut and Allah's name counts as carrion in the Hanafi school, even though the beef looks the same. When people asked whether carrion fat could at least be used to coat ships and light lamps, the Prophet ﷺ said: no, it is haram.
- Tallow from zabiha cattle: halal to eat and to use.
- Ordinary supermarket or rendered tallow: not halal for Hanafis, since the cattle were not slaughtered Islamically.
- Fries or pastry made with beef fat: avoid unless the restaurant uses halal fat.
- Tallow skincare: non-zabiha tallow is impure, so do not put it on your skin. Choose halal-certified tallow or plant butters such as shea and cocoa butter.
- Soap made from tallow: a separate case. Hanafi texts hold that impure fat made into soap is transformed (istihala), so many Hanafi scholars treat such soap as pure.
Tallow can also be hidden in ingredients such as mono and diglycerides and glycerin. For the conditions of halal slaughter see what makes meat halal.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:3
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةُ وَٱلدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ بِهِۦ وَٱلْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَٱلْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَٱلْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَٱلنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَآ أَكَلَ ٱلسَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى ٱلنُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُوا۟ بِٱلْأَزْلَٰمِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ ۗ ٱلْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن دِينِكُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَٱخْشَوْنِ ۚ ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلْإِسْلَٰمَ دِينًۭا ۚ فَمَنِ ٱضْطُرَّ فِى مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍۢ لِّإِثْمٍۢ ۙ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ ﴿٣﴾
Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
Carrion and pork, including their fat, are forbidden.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2236
Sahih... حرم بيع الخمر والميتة والخنزير والأصنام ...
"Allah and His Messenger have forbidden the sale of wine, carrion, pigs and idols."
When asked about using carrion fat for ships and lamps, he still said it was haram.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Dhaba'ih. An animal not slaughtered with the conditions of zabiha is carrion.
- Bada'i al-Sana'i, Kitab al-Taharah, on the parts of carrion. The fat and flesh of carrion are impure, unlike its hair and bones.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.