View Full Version : PORK!
In folkloric terms, eating the meat of the pig is said to contribute to lack of morality and shame, plus greed for wealth, laziness, indulgence, dirtiness and gluttony. We insult a person by calling him or her a "Pig" when they demonstrate these characteristics.
Muslims are forbidden by God to eat the meat of the pig (pork). This is detailed in verses 2:173, 5:3, 6:145, and 16:115 of the
Qur'an. An exemplary verse is quoted here:
"He (Allah) has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other
than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,
then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."
Is Pork Forbidden to Muslims Only?
The Jews and Christians are also forbidden from eating pork. Here is a quote from the Old Testament to that effect: "And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase." Deuteronomy 14:8 Many Christians believe that this verse was directed only at the Jews. But Jesus himself says during the Sermon on the Mount; "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Some Christians say that, after a vision by St. Peter, God cleansed all animals and made them fit and lawful for human
consumption. If ALL animals are cleansed by Peter's vision, this includes dogs, cats, vultures, and rats: but you just don't see people getting excited about a cat-meat sandwich like they do over barbecued pork or bacon. Others say that it was Paul who rescinded the law forbidding pork to humans, in order to appease the Romans, who enjoyed the taste of pig-meat. Many excuses have been given, but none are very sound.
Many Far Eastern traditions also discourage the eating of pork. The 3,000 year old Confucian Book of Rites says, "A gentleman does not eat the flesh of pigs and dogs." Although many Chinese are avid eaters of pork today, physicians of ancient China recognized pork-eating as the root of many human ailments. Buddhists, Jains and Hindus usually avoid eating any kind of meat.
Bad effects of pork consumption
Pig's bodies contain many toxins, worms and latent diseases. Although some of these infestations are harbored in other animals, modern veterinarians say that pigs are far more predisposed to these illnesses than other animals. This could be because pigs like to scavenge and will eat any kind of food, including dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta (including their own), garbage, and other pigs.
Influenza (flu) is one of the most famous illnesses which pigs share with humans. This illness is harbored in the lungs of pigs during the summer months and tends to affect pigs and humans in the cooler months. Sausage contains bits of pigs' lungs, so those who eat pork sausage tend to suffer more during epidemics of influenza. Pig meat contains excessive quantities of histamine and imidazole compounds, which can lead to itching and inflammation; growth hormone, which promotes inflammation and growth; sulphur-containing mesenchymal mucus, which leads to swelling and deposits of mucus in tendons and cartilage, resulting in arthritis, rheumatism, etc. Sulphur helps cause firm human tendons and ligaments to be replaced by the pig's soft mesenchymal tissues, and degeneration of human cartilage. Eating pork can also lead to gallstones and obesity, probably due to its high cholesterol and saturated fat content. The pig is the main carrier of the taenia solium worm, which is found it its flesh. These tapeworms are found in human intestines with greater frequency in nations where pigs are eaten. This type of tapeworm can pass through the intestines and affect many other organs, and is incurable once it reaches beyond a certain stage. One in six people in the US and Canada has trichinosis from eating trichina worms which are found in pork. Many people have no symptoms to warn them of this, and when they do, they resemble symptoms of many other illnesses. These worms are not noticed during meat inspections, nor are they killed by salting or smoking. Few people cook the meat long enough to kill the trichinae. The rat (another scavenger) also harbors this disease. There are dozens of other worms, germs, diseases and bacteria which are commonly found in pigs, many of which are specific to the pig, or found in greater frequency in pigs.
Pigs are biologically similar to humans, and their meat is said to taste similar to human flesh. Pigs have been used for dissection in biology labs due to the similarity between their organs and human organs. People with insulin-dependent diabetes usually inject themselves with pig insulin. If you pour Coke (yes, the soda) on a slab of pork, and wait a little while, you will see worms crawl out of it.
Kindness to animals
Every creature was created by Allah for a purpose. The Prophet always encouraged being kind to animals. Although we should not eat the meat of the pig, it doesn't mean that we should hate pigs. We should show them the same kindness as any other animal, and not abuse or torture them. Pigs score high on tests devised to determine animal intelligence; in other words, they are very smart. It used to be that Europe people believed that pork would taste better if the pigs were kept in a state of filth, but this is not the natural inclination of the pig. When left to their own devices, it is said that pigs do not like to soil their sleeping
quarters. As for their tendency to wallow in mud, that is done mainly to keep cool.
Tayeb Habib
19-12-2000, 14:48
Assalamu-alaikum:
I might like to add the views of a friend who's non-Muslim and a Biologist who desn't eat pork.
He told me that the Chinese saying "you are what you eat" is actually true and can be verified Scientifically, i.e. anything you eat will become part of you. Hence, he thinks that by eating pork the character and habits of that animal become part of our body.
I just thought of sharing these thoughts.
Wa-salaam,
Tayeb
as salaam alaikum
I do wonder when we tend to rationalize why we are permitted certain things ir mandated certain things. Like this whole pork issue, we rationalize why it is prohibited but these same rationalizations can be held true for other animals that we are permitted to eat. Take chicken.. a very nasty animal, carries many diseases and its eating habits are just as bad if not worse than a pigs (they too eat their own feces, and eat more than twice their weight) so when we rationalize why pig is prohibited should we not also come to the conlcusion that other things are haram on that same rationalization?
Now i'm not saying those that use reason to explain prohibited things or mandated things are wrong but just reflecting on how we can connect certain things and if we use enough reason many more things would become haram by the same line of reasoning. Me thinks at times it is necessary just to take what is given with no reasoning on certain issues, because we tend to box ourselves in :)
ma salaam
Nzingha
- Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray - O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him.
al-Imam Al-Shafi'i
as-salaamu aleikum,
I have to add further to what sister Nzingha has highlighted, we should not try to rationalise and insert our own reasons for why Allah (swt) has forbidden some things and permitted others.
Very dangerous indeed.
If we use some chemical to cleanse the pig, does it then become halal? of course not!
Ibrahim.
Om_Mohammed
24-12-2000, 12:31
Assalaamu alaikum.
Hmmm...interesting points here about our attempts at rationalizing and explaining the reasons for declaration of haram or halal.
Something has been decreed by Allah that it is haram...it is not for us to question why, but for us to know, realize, accept and obey or act upon that knowledge of the prohibition. It is not for us to question anything which has been decreed by Allah...and it really benefits no one, in fact...could be rather harmful. For, as sister Nzingha has so tactfully pointed out...we could very well be backing ourselves into a corner from which there is no escape. The same description...or even worse...could be applied to many animals...not only to the pig. To some people...the smell of fish and other creatures coming out of the sea has such an offending smell that it is much worse than eating or coming close to pigs.
This is rather like the discussion by many about the permission to men in marrying mulitiple wives...they try to explain, rationalize...and yet there are those (even some muslims) who still cannot understand why...or are opposed to it. It is something which has been decreed by Allah...a permission (much similar to the prohibition of pork, in a way)...something for us to know and realize and act upon...yet not for us to question.
Om Mohammed
The Christians eat pork because Paul said that what we eat isn't important in God's eyes but it is faith, belief. Eating pork isn't going to make you act anymore like a pig than eating a duck. it's not going to make you a sinner. What nonsense I read above!!
A large chunk of the planet eats pork, christians and animists alike. Pork is as harmless to the soul as if you had eaten a goat.
By the way, goats eat anything and aren't much cleaner than pigs. They're fairly dirty animals and I don't see Muslims and Jews not eating them. It's an outdated law.
QUESTION : What is the teaching of Islam about pork ?
ANSWER : Pig is absolutely unclean and eating its meat, and fat etc.., as well as using its skin or any other parts is strictly forbidden. Allah has said in various places in the Holy Qur'an:- "Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine......" (5:3)
QUESTION : I, being a Christian, have no difficulty in eating pork. I often wonder why Muslim brethren have not been allowed to enjoy this food, as we Christians do ?
ANSWER : This question is somewhat astonishing because, according to the scriptures, even the Christians are not allowed to eat pork.
QUESTION : How can you say this ?
ANSWER : Well, let us see what the Bible says about pork: "And the swine......... he is unclean to you. Of the flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you." (Leviticus, 11:7-8). The same command is repeated in Deuteronomy, 14:8.
Rev. W.K.Lawther Clarke says in his concise Bible Commentary (pub. S.P.C.K., 1952) commenting upon these passages : "the laws were inculcated and obeyed because they embodied God's will" (p. 371)
Dr. E. A. Widmer quotes in his article Pork, Man and Disease, Vol. 69. 1)
"Pork although one of the most common articles of diet, is one of the most injurious. God did not prohibit the Hebrews from eating swines' flesh merely to show His authority, but because it was not a proper article food for man."
QUESTION : Well, these revelations are very interesting. Can you please, give some more references on this subject from Christians' writings ?
ANSWER :Yes, you may see the discourse under the word "swine" in the Westminster Dictionary of the Bible which is very clear. Here is an extract from it :
"The swine was a ceremonially unclean animal....... It is dirty, does not refuse to eat offal and carrion, and the use of its flesh for food in hot countries is supposed to produce cutaneous disease. It was not raised by Arabs (pliny Hist. Nat.vii.78), and was regarded as unclean by the Phoenicians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians......To the Jews swine's flesh was abominable, the pig was the emblem of filth and coarseness..... Yet pork found to the idolatrous feasts of degenerate Hebrews Isa. (65:4;66:17) In the region the command to a Jew to offer or to taste swine's flesh was loyal to the religion of his father or was willing to accept the worship favored by his conquerors (I Macc. 1:47, 50; IIMacc. 6:18, 21; 7:1,7). But Jews affected Greoian manners, and John Hyrcanus found it advisable to issue an edict that no one should keep swine. In the time of Christ one large herd of swine at least was pastured in the Decapelis (Mark 5:11,13), a region colonized by Greeks, among whom the swine was highly esteemed as an article of food. There is no reason to suppose that Jews owned either the swines or those in the far country fed by the prodigal son (Luke 15:15)." (pp. 584.5).
Similar statements may be found in almost all Bible dictionaries.
QUESTION : Thank you very much. But I have just observed that all that quotations are from the Old Testament. They are binding upon the Jews. But we, the Christians, would like to know what was the teaching of Jesus Christ on this subject.
ANSWER: Well, I was coming to that point. You see, whatever the teaching of Old Testament, the same was the teaching of Jesus Christ. He says in clear words that the laws of the Old Testament were to be obeyed without any Change: "Think not That I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these commandments, and shall teach men, so he shall be called the least in the
kingdom of Heaven." (Mat., 5:17-19).
QUESTION : I remember reading this saying of the Gospal several times. Sometime I wondered why Christ stressed this point in so many words?
ANSWER: It was because he knew that after his ascension some of his followers would denounce the Law. Jesus Christ himself obeyed the Law faithfully. It was only after his departure from this world that St. Paul, a forceful orator, and a member of "elite" circle of the society who took
to heart the Greek `advanced' civilization (as many people now-a-days take pride in being Westernized') prevailed upon the illiterate and simple-minded Christians to abandon the Law. The fact that he himself had never met Jesus Christ, and those who opposed him were constant companions of Christ, is most revealing.
Jesus Christ corrected Pharisees' misinterpretation of the Law. For example, his disciples in their hunger plucked the ears of corn on sabbath day. When the Pharisees objected, Jesus Christ replied, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." (Mk, 2:27). But he never said
anything against the Law, including the dietary laws.
St. Paul on the other hand denounced the Law, saying that "the Law worketh wrath for where no law is, there is no transgression." (Rom., 4:15)
QUESTION : This logic seems to me very convincing.
ANSWER : Well, if you am really convinced of this reasoning, then you should see to it that all legislatures are abolished, and all courts are closed. Thus there would be no criminal because there would be no law to transgress!
QUESTION : I don't think any Christian government would be pleased with this suggestion. Let us forget it. But tell me how St. Paul abrogated the Law?
ANSWER: He claimed that, "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (Rom, 14:14)
QUESTION : Well, I think it settles the matter nicely.
ANSWER: No. On the contrary, it creates more problems than it solves, You see, if that is what Jesus Christ had intended to be the tenent of Christianity, why did he not declare so when he was with his disciples in this world? Why did he advocate the theory of unchangability of Mosaic Law? Did St. Paul want the people to believe that Jesus Christ was not sincere in his pronouncements when he was with the people?
We Muslims cannot believe it. As for the Christians, action speaks louder than words.
QUESTION : I must admit that you have got a very strong point here. I now agree that according to the Original Christianity, pork was and will remain forbidden. But frankly speaking, I do not find anything wrong with pork.
ANSWER: I hope that you are not one of those who think that aping the Western culture is the proof of enlightenment.
In directing the dietary principles of the children of Israel and, thereafter of the Muslims, God meant these rules to be a source of continued benefit to mankind. The transfer of certain disease, as modern medical research has substantiated, would be adequate justification for this ancient law.
QUESTION : But this "transfer of diseases" is not the unique feature of pork. Even beef and mutton contain some germs of diseases.
ANSWER: Well, why limit your argument to beef and mutton? We know that even vegetables contain infectious germs. But the fact remains that pork reigns supreme in the greater content of germs among all meats that are known to human-beings. The more we read about it the more we dread it.
QUESTION : Can you name same of those germs to which you have just referred?
ANSWER: The following list shows germs or parasites that are found in pork. Many of them are contagious, others are fatal. This proves once more that the more science advances, the more Islam is proved to be correct in so many respects.
The present day science of parasitology lists a protozoan ciliate, the pork tapeworm, and the trichina roundworm as causing important diseases that the pig shares with man.
QUESTION : Well, I do not understand these Latin words. Please explain them in simple language.
ANSWER: In fact, I had not used their full Latin names. For example, protozoan ciliate is called by the doctors "Balantidium Coli" It is a "parasite, harboring in the large intestine." and is "the largest
protozoan affecting man."
QUESTION : What has this "Balantidium Coli" to do with pigs and how does it affect human beings ?
ANSWER: It is normal inhabitant of the pig's bowels It is excreted by its faeces and finding the external environment unsuitable for itself, develops a shell round it which is called a "cyst."
The cyst contains living parasites that communicate with man's diet thus enter his bowels, was found by Dr. Malmston (1857) and Stein (1862).
Dr. E. A. Widmer writes in his article Pork, Man and Disease (Good Health, vol.69, no.1) :-
"The protozoan cilite, known technically as Balantidium Coli, is extremely common in swine. Recent surveys in various countries reveal an incidence range of 21 to 100 percent. This organism is much less common in man. The general incidence of one percent reported in Puerto Rico is representative
of the incidence in many countries. When found in man serious clinical symptoms may result. Current evidence points strongly to the pig as the chief source of human infection." (Emphasis mine)
QUESTION : And what are those "serious clinical symptoms" which are caused by this germ?
ANSWER: It creates uncurable dysentery. Dysentery is a disease very familiar to the public. The symptoms of this disease are horribly acute and may end fatally. Unfortunately there is no specific cure for dysentery caused by Balantidium Coli up to date. According to Dr. Chandler in his
book, Animal Parasites and Human Disease, "it is only in pig raising countries and where there is too close an association between man and this animal that this disease is common." (page 7) (Emphasis mine)
QUESTION : What are other germs which are transferred from pig to man?
ANSWER: There are many more. For example, there is the "Trichinella Spiralis" (Trichina Worms).
Dr. Glen Shepherd wrote an article on the dangers of eating pork in the 31st May, 1952 issue of the Washington Post and the following informations are taken from that article:
"One in six people in the United States of America and Canada have worms in their muscles - Trichinosis - from eating pork infected with Trichina or Trichinelly. Many people so infected have no symptoms. Most of those who do have, recover slowly. Some die. Some are reduced to permanent
invalids. All were careless pork eaters " He continued:
"No one is immune from this disease and there is no cure. Neither antibiotics nor drugs or vaccines affect these tiny deadly worms. Preventing infection is the real answer.
"Fully grown Trichina worms are about 1/8 inch long and about 1/400 inch broad. They remain alive for about forty years, curled up in lemon shaped, invisible tiny capsules between muscle fibres. When you eat infected meat, these dormant worm capsules are digested but their live contents grow into
full size worms each of which has about 1,500 off springs. They get into your blood one to three weeks after you eat their parents. Because many organs can be invaded by the worms, symptoms can resemble those of fifty other diseases. This makes diagnosis difficult." (Emphasis mine)
QUESTION : I would like to know more about this disease-carrying germ.
ANSWER: Dr. Widmar writes in the article, Pork, Man and Disease - mentioned earlier:
'The trichina worm is essentially limited to Central Europe and those parts of temperate America to which its emigrants have gone.
"In comparison with the ciliate and the pork tapeworm the trichina worm produces the most serious effects in the human body. The adults are present in the small intestine of man. After mating, the females produce larvae which enter the blood vessels for distribution to all parts of the body. These migrating larvae may invade skeletal muscles, brain, bone marrow, retina, and the lungs. Since each female worm can produce more than 1,500 larvae, and since these immature worms invade many organs of the body, many clinical symptoms may appear. In heavy infections death may take place in the second or third week, but more often it occurs in the fourth to the sixth week after exposure. Any recovery predictions vary with the location and number of larvae trichinae, severity of symptoms, and the physical condition of the patient."
And now comes an interesting observation.
QUESTION : What is that, please?
ANSWER: "Trichinosis," the disease caused by "trichina worms" breaks out like epidemics. And its relation with pigs, like that of plague with rats, was known to people thousands of years ago. Those who do not believe in divine origin of Mosaic and Islamic Laws, say that it was because of this
epidemic that these religions prohibited pork.
The same article (Pork, Man and Disease) says:
"It is generally assumed that the presence of trichina worms in pigs was the basis for the prohibition of their use for food by the Jewish people." In his book, A history of Parasitology. W. D. Foster (1965) emphasizes this viewpoint when he writes: "The Mosaic and Mohammedan prohibitions on
the eating of pork are far more likely to have been to the observation of outbreaks of trichinosis than any other recognition of an association with tapeworm infestation.......The association of the disease with the eating of pork would be well within the capacity of primitive peoples. Indeed, what is surprising is that this association was lost sight of by the world at large although the conditions cannot have been uncommon, and looking back we can recognize epidemics which were almost certainly trichinosis."
QUESTION : What is the use talking about epidemics of long ago? Surely, with advance in medical science such diseases must have been eradicated from the face of earth?
ANSWER: Unfortunately, this is not the case. The same article says:
"Outbreaks of trichinosis are still common in the United States. Between March 9 and March 25, 1968, four of seven family members in Willoughby, Ohio, developed symptoms of trichinosis. The family had purchased sausage from a local packing company and after soaking it in oil for several days ate it raw (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. l7, no. 23).
"In May, 1968, a family of eight in New Berlin, Wisconsin, became ill with a "flu-like" disease. Later evidence was obtained that permitted a diagnosis of trichinosis to be made. All of the individuals ate raw `beef' hamburger sandwiches. It is assumed..."
QUESTION : If it was cause by beef why should "pork" be singled out for blame?
ANSWER: Don't be hasty, my friend. Let me finish the report. It goes on to say:
"It is assumed that these 'beef' hamburgers were contaminated with infected pork since cattle do not harbor the trichina worm (CDC Veterinary Public Health Notes, February, 1969) The hamburger meat was bought at a local market that had a single grinder for pork and beef."
And here is the 3rd report:
"In December 1969, trichinosis was diagnosed in seventy-six persons in Washington, Missouri This outbreak was attributed to eating locally manufactured pork which was not processed adequately to destroy the infective larva" (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report vol 18, no. 9)
QUESTION : Well this last report presents the problem in its true perspective. The infection was caused because the pork was not processed adequately. But with modern scientific methods all bacteria can be destroyed.
ANSWER: It is a delusion and nothing more. Dr. Shephered writes:
"Ordinary methods of salting and smoking do not kill these worms. Nor can Government inspection of meat at packing houses or abattoirs identify all infected pork."
Dr. Widmer says:
"It is significant to note that from the time of God's Command to the children of Israel until this decade, medical science has had no cure for patients with trichinosis. Treatment consists of alleviation of the symptoms caused by the worms rather than destruction of the worms."
After reading these statements of Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Widmer we can presume that there is no guarantee of immunity when eating pork which is affected by Trichinella worm. To take pork then is an extremely risky gamble with one's health or life as the stake.
QUESTION : You said in the beginning that "pork reigns supreme in the greater contents of germs among all meats knows to human-beings." I would like to have a detailed list of those germs.
ANSWER: In addition to the bacteria and worms described earlier, pork is the main carrier of the following germs and parasites:-
1) Tapeworms
2) Roundworms
3) Hookworms
4) Faciolopsis Buski
5) Paragonimus
6) Clonorchis Sinesis
7) Erysipelothrix Rhusiophathiae
QUESTION : Will you, please, explain their relation with pork?
ANSWER: Let us begin with tapeworm.
Tapeworm is called "Taenia Solium" in Latin. Pork is one of the main sources of this infection.
The incidence of human infection with the pork tapeworm varies throughout the world. In his now classic report "This Wormy World" (1947) Stoll estimated that 2.5 million persons throughout the world were infected with this organism.
QUESTION : What about roundworm?
ANSWER: It is a parasite, six to twelve inches long, which is also called a 'travelling worm' because it goes into various organs of the human body. Dr. Ramson mentioned in the `Srills parasitology.' that these parasites of men are identical with those found in pigs: they belong to the same species. It means that the worm which is found in pork is quite easily transferred to human beings where it does a lot of damage. The same statement is found in Encyclopedia Britannica, under `Roundworm'.
QUESTION : And what are 'hookworms' ?
ANSWER: The young worms of this disease enter the human skin by piercing the skin or through any wounds. Pigs eat up human excreta containing eggs of the parasites which develop inside them and they hatch into young worms. When these an passed out they are infectious to man. This infection is very prevalent in various tropical countries.
Encyclopedia Britannia (vol. ll) writes under 'Hookworm':
Hookworm is a parasitic roundworm. Two parasites Ancylostoma, duodenale and Necator americanus cause hookworm disease.
Hookworm disease is a scourge of tropical climates, resulting in a debilitated anaemic population. Anaemia in hookworm disease results from sucking of blood by the adult worms in the intestine and the attendant inflammation of the bowel. A single A. duodenale can remove, on the average almost one cubic centimeter of blood a day. As a blood sucker, N. americenus is about one fifth as efficient.
In general, the symptoms of Classical heavy infections include pallor of skin and mucous membranes, fluid retention in the face and extremities, constipation alternating with diarrhea, abdominal tenderness, increased appetite for bulky foods or unusual substances (clay eaters) sexual derangements (delayed puberty, impotence irregular menstruation), endocrine insufficiency, stunted growth, cardiac weakness, palpitation, hypersensitiveness of the skin to cold, physical debility, fatigue, dullness, apathy and melancholia."
QUESTION : Now what about Faciolopsis Buski?
ANSWER: These parasites were discovered by Lankaster (1857) and Odliver (1902). These parasites remain latent for a good time in the pig's small intestines. The parasite on leaving the pig infects the watersnail which in turn infects man. It is extremely prevalent in China.
QUESTION : And what is the parasite 'Parago-nimus'?
ANSWER : This parasite lives in the lungs of pigs. It was discovered by Dr. Mason in 1880. It is a common parasite which causes pneumonia in pigs. There is still no way of killing the parasite in the tissues, neither has anyone found a method of expelling them. The epidemiology of the resulting
is jaundice.
QUESTION : Now we come to 'Clonorchis Sinesis.'
ANSWER: This parasite was discovered by Cobbold (1875) and Looss (1507).
Clonorchis Sinesis is a sucking worm, a kind of parasite which inhabits the bile passage of pigs' liver, which is a source of these parasites infecting people in close contact with pigs The occurrence of the diseaka in China, Formosa, Japan, Korea and Southern India and Vietnam again points to the close association with pigs.
This parasite creates many serious diseases of liver and chest in human beings.
QUESTION : What are those diseases?
ANSWER: If this parasite is present in the lungs, it may cause pneumonia; if it is in the air tubes it causes suffocation and if in the intestines it causes intestinal obstruction, or acute pancreatitis.
Then there is Clonorchiasis, a peculiar liver disease. The liver becomes enlarged accompanied with severe jaundice, diarrhea and emaciation it may end fatally. Medical science, in spite of its strenuous efforts, has not yet been able to produce any specific treatment for it. Complications in the disease are stone formation in the liver and cancer.
QUESTION : Are there any more diseases connected with pork?
ANSWER: Yes. There are "Erysipelas" and "Endemic Haemptysis" (i.e. Bleeding of the Lungs), and "Brurellosis" (i.e. Swine Abortion).
QUESTION : What is "Erysipelas"?
ANSWER: This disease is caused by the germ "Erysipelothrix Rhusiopathiae." This disease occurs in acute and chronic forms. The symptom of the acute form are chiefly high fever and reduced activity and appetite. It usually brings rapid death. Chronic Erysipelas causes sloughing of diamond shaped
areas of skin, and there is residual damage to the joint surfaces and the heart valves which may result in lameness and/or sudden death.
The details may be seen in Chambers Encyclopedia (New Revised Edition 1968), vol.10 under 'Pig' and in the American People's Encyclopedia, (1960) vol. l5 under 'Pig'.
QUESTION : And what is its connection with pig?
ANSWER: According to the Chambers Encyclopedia, this bacteria can survive for long period in the soil and is also found in the body of some 30% of all healthy pigs. Thus eradication is impossible and overt disease is not a simple matter of infection.
And what is more troublesome is the fact that the same bacteria causes the same disease in human beings. Thus anybody eating pork taken from even a "healthy pig" is in danger of the above mentioned diseases and death. The said Encyclopedia says that "the same organism (i.e. germ) causes `erasipeloid' in man".
QUESTION : Now I see the wisdom of the Islamic law forbidding pork in fart. I am very much alarmed by these disclosures. Will you. Please, now explain "Endemic Haemptysis" ?
ANSWER: As I told you earlier, it means bleeding of lung. This disease is quite common in China, Japan, Formosa and countries where the consumption of pork is predominant.
Patients having this infection suffer from cough with rusty sputum and have repeated attacks of profuse bleeding of the lungs; disease in countries where human beings live in close association with pigs clearly shows that this animal is the reservoir of infection. The disease is, however, absent from countries where pigs are rare.
QUESTION : And what is the 'Swine Abortion'?
ANSWER: Its scientific name is 'Brucellosis.' The American People's Encyclopedia (vol. 15, under `Pig') says:
"Brucellosis or swine abortion is important not only because of hog losses, but also because the disease may be contacted by man. In the hog, brucellosis causes abortion and sterility. The disease is difficult to diagnose and practically impossible to cure. Disposal of infected animals is recommended"
In short, the pig, the supreme germ carrier, is the cause of many serious and fatal diseases, among them, dysentery, thrichinosis, tapeworm, roundworm, hookworm, jaundice, pneumonia, suffocation, intestinal obstraction, acute pancreatitis, enlargement of liver, diarrhea, emaciation, stone formation in liver, cancer, anaemia, high fever, hindrance of growth development in children, typhoid, lameness, heart trouble, abortion, sterility, and sudden death.
I do not know of any other animal carrying so many and so deadly bombs to wreck the human body.
QUESTION : Now I am fully convinced that pork is not a food, but a package of poisons. Still, I have heard many people saying that now a days pigs are raised in hygienic conditions and fed clean food and that they are quite different from their fore-fathers who ate human dirt and soil and
that their meat is not a danger to health.
ANSWER: All the statements of the doctors quoted above are about those very pigs who are raised in hygienic conditions and still carry the germs. Those are the findings of recent times based on experiences of modern pig-raising.
And still you must have marked such statement as follows:
"Balantidium Coli is extremely common in swine. Recent surveys reveal an incidence of 21 to 100 percent."
"It is only in pig-raising countries..... that this disease is common."
"One in six people in U. S. A. and Canada have worms in their muscles from eating pork."
'"No one is immune from this disease and there is no cure. Neither antibiotics nor drugs or vaccines effect these tiny deadly worms."
"There is still no way of killing the parasite (Paragonimus) in the tissues, neither has anyone found a method of expelling them."
"Medical science, in spite of its strenuous efforts, has not yet been able to produce any specific treatment for it (Clonorchiasis)."
"'Erysipelothix' is found in the body of some 30% ail healthy pigs. Thus eradication is impossible."
Today, all pig farms are run on so-called hygienic principles. But still the result is the same as it was centuries earlier.
Still, let us, for the sake of discussion, accept that a time may come (in distant future, perhaps) when drugs may be found to counteract the ill-effects of the germs and parasites carried by pigs. But even then it will not sanction the use of pork as a diet, just as discovery of snake-bite serums does not sanction our putting our finger in the mouth of a cobra.
CONCLUSION: I am really very much perturbed by these observations. I find that there is Truth in what you have said. I agree that pork is extremely harmful to the health, no matter how hygienic the conditions in which pigs are kept now-a-days.
I promise that from now on I will never take pork, bacon or anything connected with pig I know that breaking a habit is a very difficult thing, but I hope that by my strong will and the help of God I will succeed in my resolution.
ANSWER: Yes, I am sure God's help will always be available to if you genuinely want to obey His Command. May God Be With You.
Assalamu-alaikum:
I did not want to rationalise the fact that pork is forbidden in Islam. I thought of just sharing something I heard from a friend and that indeed brought in lots of other arguments as we can see here.
I must say that in Centre region of Portugal there are lots of pig farms and the smell is awful that it reaches the highway that connects the North and South, Lisbon and Oporto. I live in Portugal for those who don't know.
The Centre of Portugal is where lots of new Christians (Jews and Muslims converted to Christianity) ended up living, after the defeat of the Muslim Emirate. The Inquisition forced many of the so-called new Christians to own these pig farms (a sign that they had truly converted) and to eat pork.
If one makes same comparisions with early Christians one may find the same references. Pauline Christians persecuting the first Christians who were easily identified because they didn't eat pork. There's here some research matter for those who'd like to find out more about the first Christians.
Wa-salaam,
Tayeb
as salaam alaikum
I read about christians doing that to converted jews in spain. That they were watched to see if they ate pork.. did anything on the sabbath and so on. odd
ma salaam
Nzingha
- Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray - O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him.
al-Imam Al-Shafi'i
Tayeb Habib
05-01-2001, 19:49
Assalamu-alaikum:
Coming back to new Christians (this a real distinction with old Christians that was made during the Inquisition), perhaps it may be enlightening to many to learn about the history of a kind of sausage very much appreciated by the Portuguese called "alheira" (read alyera).
This sausage was invented by the new Christians who feared for their lives during Inquisition. As really they were Muslims or Jews at heart, they could be easily identified because they did not eat pork or prepare sausages based on pork. Thus, they substitued pork with a variety of meats such as of veal, turkey, chicken, duck, rabbit envolving them in bread flour that offered consistency to the sausage.
These new Christians used to hang them on windows of their homes so that the priests and other old Christians who passed by would see these sausages. It guaranteed that the household had indeed become true Christians as they now surely ate pork.
Of course "alheiras" later ended being popular among Christians who invariably added pork to other meats. "Alheiras" are very much appreciated by Portuguese Christians and the most famous "alheiras" are from Mirandela, Beira Alta and Tras-os-Montes.
Wa-salaam,
Tayeb Habib
As Salaam Alaikum
Sorry, I just stumbled onto this chat room on my schools System and I do not have the exact Surah and Ayat numbers but the Qu'ran says that Allah turned a society of people into Pigs as punishment so maybe this has something to do with the bodily connection of humans and Pigs. If anyone wants to know the Ayat and Surah# and for some reason can't find it (I'm 100% sure it is there) e-mail me and I will be able to e-mail back with the exact wording.
Ameerah
As Salaam Alaikum
I found the ayat and Surah 5:60
Say "Shall I point to you something much worse than this,by the treatment it recieved from Allah? Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshiped evil; these are many times worse in rank, and far astray from the even path.
Qulhal onobbi okum bisharrin min thalika mathoobatan aadina Allahi man la aanahu Allahu waghadida aalayhi waja aala munhumu alqiradata waalkhanazeera wa aabada alttaghooti olaika sharrun makanan waadallu aan sawai alssabeeli
>The Jews and Christians are also
>forbidden from eating pork.
While Jews are forbidden to eat pork, Christians aren't necessarily:
"9 *ļOn the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10 *And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
11 *And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 *Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 *And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 *But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 *And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16 *This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven."
-Acts 10:9-16
Now having said that, I will say I don't eat pork. There are many bad things that comes from it, and I believe the OT Law was very wise here.
Good day.
Strange face?
The end of the scripture quotation should read Acts 10 : 9-16. The code for this forum must intepret the : and 9 figures as a smily.
This looks like an old discussion that has stopped, but I'll throw in my two cents.....
Jesus is recorded in the earliest known Gospel as saying "Nothing that enters a person from outside can defile that person; but things that come out from within are what defile." (Mark 7:15) a few verses later, he says to his disciples, "'Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?' Thus, he declared all foods clean." (Mark 7:18-19). The pasaage cited from Acts of the Apostles and the letters from Paul also confirm that Christians consider all foods "clean" in the moral and spiritual sense (including rats, snakes, chickens, etc... if you are so inclined)
The ancient Isrealites chose to express their holiness as the people of God by avoiding foods they considered unnatural. Thus, they avoided fish that appeared to walk (lobster and other shellfish). They avoided animals with hooves that did not chew from the cud (swine, or pork)...,and so forth.
Some people today argue that this diet may have even helped them live longer by avoiding trichinosis. This is the argument made above.
What Jesus realized is that this type of legalism distracted one from the essential elements of the law: to love God above all, and to love your neighbor as yourself! True religion is about more than physical health. It is about our relationship with God and others. Thus, Jesus is affirming the old law, while avoiding legalistic superstion based on cultural circumstances.
To believe that pork somehow magically makes the soul unclean is actually superstitious. There is nothing wrong with avoiding pork if you want. I don't eat it myself, and I'm a Christian. But there is also nothing inherently wrong with enjoying God's creation and gaining nutrition where it is found. Christians believe that Jesus is God, and that the gospel writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit when crafting their catechetical rememberances of his teachings. Thus, Christians believe that in Christ, God has declared that it is acceptable to eat pork if you wish.
Personally, I am a vegatarian. Saint Paul would say I am weak in faith if I believed vegetarianism were required for salvation. However, I do not believe dietary regulations earn salvation, and I base this on the teaching of Christ.
The ancient Jews believed they were called to be "holy". The word they used meant "set apart". They tried to express their holiness through a restricted diet. They ate differently than their neigbors. They refused to eat foods from animals that seemed unnatural to them.
Thus, they avoided shellfish (fish that walk). They avoided ostriches (birds that don't fly). They avoided animals that had hooves but did not chew from the cud (pigs). They also avoided mixing dairy with meat because their neigbors had a practice of boiling a kid goat in its mother's milk (a particularly cruel and unnatural way to die). The Hebrew belief became that if you eat 'unnatural' things, you will become unnatural.
This diet may have also prevented trichinosis, and it's hard to say whether the diet arose originally from health concerns, or the improved health supported the theology behind the diet.
In the modern world, we have a hard time grasping how any part of God's creation could be unnatural. Jesus declared all foods clean. So God's word for us today about these dietary regulations MIGHT be to avoid artificial sweeteners and preservatives, and filling our bodies with chemicals. Just a suggestion....
Peace and Blessings!
Jcecil3
Om_Mohammed
23-10-2001, 19:37
Hello, Jcecil...see you've been busy at our forums. You are quite welcome here...as are all of our guests and visitors.
I will try to clarify a bit some of what you are apparently misunderstanding.
Islam follows rules of order of digestive nature, not because those things which have been forbidden are in question as to being 'unnatural'. Rather, it is a much higher degree of obedience that is sought.
Before continuing, let me quote for you some verses:
'O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, lawful and good; and do not follow the footsteps of Satan for he is to you an avowed enemy. For he commands you what is evil and shameful, and that ye whould say of Allah that of which ye have no knowledge. When it is said to them: 'Follow what Allah hath revealed;' they say: 'Nay! We shall follow the ways of our fathers.' What! even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance? The parable of those who reject faith is as if one were to should like a goat-herd, to things that listen to nothing but calls and cries; deaf, dumb, and blind. They are void of wisdom.' s.2, v.168-171.
'O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you; and be grateful to Allah. If it is Him ye worship. He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.' s. 2, v.172-174.
'Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone(altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not, but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, Allah is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most merciful.' s. 5, v. 3.
'They ask thee what is lawful to them (as food). Say: Lawful unto you are (all) things good and pure: and what ye have taught the beasts and birds of prey, training them to hunt in the manner directed to you by Allah: eat what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of Allah over it: and fear Allah; for Allah is swift in taking account.' s.5, v.4.
'This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them.' s.5, v. 5.
'O ye who believe! Make not unlawful the good things which Allah hath made lawful for you, but commit no excess; for Allah loveth not those given to excess. Eat to the things which Allah hath provided for you, lawful and good; but fear Allah, in Whom ye believe.' s.5, v. 87-88.
'So eat of (meats) on which Allah's name hath been pronounced, if ye have faith in His Signs. Why should ye not eat of (meats) on which Allah's name hath been pronounced, when He hath explained to you in detail what is forbidden to you-except under compulsion of necessity?' s.6, v. 118-119.
'Say: 'I find not in the Message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be dead meat, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine,-for it is an abomination-or what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than Allah's.' But (even so), if a person is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- the Lord is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.' s.6, v. 145.
'For those who followed the Jewish Law, We forbade every (animal) with undivided hoof, and we forbade them the fat of the ox and the sheep, except what adheres to their backs or their entrails, or is mixed up with a bone: this in recompense for their wilful disobedience: for We are True (in Our ordinances)' s. 6, v. 146.
'So eat of the sustenance which Allah has provided for you, lawful and good; and be grateful for the favours of Allah, ir it is He Whom ye serve. He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. But say not-for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,-'This is lawful, and this is forbidden,' so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper. In such falsehood is but a paltry profit; but they will have a most grievous Chastisement. To the Jews We prohibited such such things as We have mentioned to thee before; We did them no wrong, but they were used to doing wrong to themselves. But verily they Lord, to those who do wrong in ignorance, but who thereafter repent and make amends,-thy Lord after all this, is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.' s.6, v. 116-119.
================================================== ===============
Now, the Quran quotes aside, I would like to point out that it is not once mentioned that pork (or the flesh of swine, as described in the Quran) is 'unnatural'...but listed among the few things which have been prohibited for us to eat. That is withstanding the exception of the rule, in which there is no blame on the person who resorts to eating from this meat, in the event of terrible hunger or perhaps even starvation, and there is really nothing else to be had. There is no blame on the person in such an instance.
Also, the reason for the prohibition has not been given...that is something of which we have really no knowledge...we can only assume it is because of this or that.
The point being here is that it is something which has been prohibited to us, and something which, in obeying the orders and commandments of Allah, in submission to His commands and His will...we are to abstain from it. Similar to intoxicants, which are prohibited, as well as pre-marital or extra-marital sex. All of these are things prohibited, and some are more obvious seen their reasons (at least what we conceive as good reasons) for their prohibition. Yet...the point being that...as this whole life is a test for us...to test our faith, to test our willingness to obey, to test our readiness to obey, it is simply another thing for us to follow in, and not for us to question.
It says nothing that the animal itself is unfit for consumption, nor does it say that it is 'unnatural'...but that it is a commandment which we are to abide by in obedience to. Similar to the prayer, or the fast, or the charities, etc...merely something else for us to submit to, and to prove our obedience in this matter, and therefore attain for us another degree of acceptance, mercy, and forgiveness by submission.
That said, I would like to touch upon the Christian aspect or belief that salvation and ultimate happiness is dependent upon belief in Jesus as God, belief in his dying for the sins of mankind, and therefore denies the responsibility of each soul for his/her own actions or non-actions. This is not acceptable in Islam for several reasons.
1-Islam does not accept that there are any equals to God...whether that be Jesus or anyone else. Islam realizes the total humanity of Jesus, that he was born of a woman in natural birth, that he lived a human life. God is not in need of a partner, a son, or any other associate. God is simply ONE.
2-Islam teaches us that each soul bears it's own consequences...be they good or bad. Each one is responsible for his/her own salvation based on humbling himself/herself to God, seeking His forgiveness, and seeking His pleasure and acceptance. We are also told that God is near, and hears the calls of all those whom call upon Him. We are therefore encouraged to confront Him...on a direct basis without any intermdiary. This is the way to seek and attain His forgiveness..by reaching out to Him, humbling ourselves, and overcoming all aspects of arrogance.
3-no soul...even Jesus or any of the other great prophets...can carry the burdens of the sins of others. As each soul is responsible for his/her own sins...then also each soul can carry only his/her own sins...not the sins of others. This cancels out the theory of inherited sin...or the 'original sin'...which Christianity claims falls upon all of humanity. We are all born without sin...and begin to accrue sins and become responsible for those sins around the time of puberty...this is when it is considered that each person is able to carry his/her own weight, and can differentiate between right and wrong.
I hope that all of this serves to shed a little bit of light on this topic...it is not a point of the food being 'unnatural' or something of a contamination...but rather that it is something forbidden, and therefore we are expected to abstain from it.
Om Mohammed.
LAST EDITED ON 24-10-01 AT 02:49 AM (GMT)[p]Peace Om Mohammed
Your point is well taken about the natural/unnatural food argument. There is nothing I've seen in the Qur'an suggesting this was the motive Allah or Mohammed.
But I still believe this is the best interpretation of why the Jews practiced these dietary regulations.
I also do not believe that God gives us laws arbitrarily to test our obedience. According to Jesus, the whole law is based on loving God with our whole mind, our whole heart, and our whole being, and loving our neigbor as we love ourselves. I can believe that dietary laws express identification with a culture, which is a form of love. However, I find it difficult to believe that Allah just arbitrarily singles out some food as unclean solely to see if we will obey.
Even when Adam and Eve were forbidden the fruit, I don't see it as an arbitrary test. Rather, I think God was warning them that the tree was poison to humanity (with a poison that would effect the entire universe). What God commanded in this instance was similar to an earthly father telling a child not to drink gasoline. They refused to trust God, and reaped the consequences of that lack of trust. The tree, itself, was good and had a purpose, but the purpose was not intended as food for humanity. But pigs aren't literally poison if prepared correctly....
As to the other points you raise numbered at the end of your essay, perhaps we should continue under a new posting if you wish.
Blessings!
jcecil3
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