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15. NO PORK, WHY? There are many synonyms and names derived from pigs. They are: swine, boar, hog, pork, sow, lard, ham, porcine, and bacon. Pepperoni which is highly seasoned, hard sausage of beef and pork, should be avoided by Muslims as precaution. There are four verses in four chapters of the Qur'an mentioning the prohibition of pork, as follows: َّ ير َو َما أ ُ ِه َّل لِ َغي ِر "َُللاِ بِ ِه َوال ُمن َخنِقَة ِ ُح ِّر َمت َعلَي ُك ُم ال َميتَةُ َوال َّد ُم َولَح ُم ال ِخن ِز )3:)المائدة...َوال َموقُو َذةُ َوال ُمتَ َر ِّديَةُ َوالنَّ ِطي َحةُ َو َما أَ َك َل ال َّسبُ ُع Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which Allah’s name has not been mentioned while slaughtering, (that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah, or has been slaughtered for idols) and that which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by the goring of horns, and that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal….(Q. 5:3) َّ ير َو َما أ ُ ِه َّل لِ َغي ِر َللاِ بِ ِه ِ إِنَّ َما َح َّر َم َعلَي ُك ُم ال َميتَةَ َوال َّد َم َولَح َم ال ِخن ِز َّ فَ َم ِن اضطُ َّر َغي َر بَاغ َوال عَاد فَإ ِ َّن )5:َللاَ َغفُور َر ِحيم (النحل He has forbidden you only meat of dead animal, blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah (or has been slaughtered for idols or on which Allah’s Name has not been mentioned which slaughtering). But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, and not transgressing, --then, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.(Q. 16:115) َللا فَ َم ِن اضطُ َّر ِ َّ ير َو َما أ ُ ِه َّل بِ ِه لِ َغي ِر ِ إِنَّ َما َح َّر َم َعلَي ُك ُم ال َميتَةَ َوال َّد َم َولَح َم ال ِخن ِز )373:َللا َغفُور َر ِحيم (البقرة َ َّ َغي َر بَاغ َوال عَاد فَال إِث َم َعلَي ِه إِ َّن He has only forbidden you carrion, blood and pork and what has been consecrated to other than Allah. But anyone who is forced to eat it--without desiring it or going to excess in it--commits no crime. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur'an, 2:173)
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ي ُم َحرَّما َعلَى طَا ِعم يَط َع ُمهُ إِال أَن يَ ُكونَ َميتَة َّ َقُل ال أَ ِج ُد فِي َما أُو ِح َي إِل )345 أَو دَما َمسفُوحا أَو لَح َم ِخن ِزير فَإِنَّهُ ِرجس )األنعام Say (O Muhammad): “I find not in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be a dead animal, or blood poured forth (by slaughtering or the like), or the flesh of swine (pork); for that surely is impure …” (Q. 6:145) )357:)األعراف...ت َويُ َح ِّر ُم َعلَي ِه ُم ال َخبَآئِث ِ َوي ُِحل لَهُ ُم الطَّيِّبَا... … and he allows all lawful and good things and prohibit them as unlawful all evil and unlawful things…Q. 7:157) Why Muslims are not allowed to consume swine flesh, Allah through the Qur’an simply said that it is because it is unclean, as mentioned in the above verses.1 Allah let people find themselves the reasons for this prohibition, some of which are as follows: 1. Pigs are dirty animals. They are not considered the source of food, because they are scavengers; they eat anything they can find, waste and garbage, not only bugs and insects, but also their own feces, and dead carcasses of sick animals, including their own young. 2. Pigs contain viruses dangerous to humans. Pigs were first domesticated in China around 7500 B.C., and pork is one of the most consumed meats in the world. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there are more than 100 viruses enter the United States each year from China through pigs, and some of them are dangerous to humans. The swine flu (HIN1) is a virus that has made the leap from pig to human. Other sickness could be got from eating the meat of the pig. Pigs are primary carrier of Hepatitis E virus (HEV), Nipah virus, 1
The late Dr. Rashad Khalifa who claimed to be “Allah’s Messenger of the Covenant,” the founder and exponent of Inkār al-Sunnah said that based on the Qur’anic verses it is “the meat” of pigs which is prohibited, not “the fat.” (See Quran the Final Testament, Appendix 16, Dietary Prohibition, p. 663).What about pigs’ organs, which are not meat, are they also lawful like pigs’ fat (lard?)
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Menangle virus, and PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome).2 A kind of virus called Japanese encephalitis was originally from birds, but infected pigs through mosquitoes, and from pigs to humans which causes inflammation of brain. The encephalo myocarditis virus that causes the inflammation of the brain and the heart was from large rats eaten by pigs, and from pigs it infected humans. 3. Pork is toxic, as it contains toxins more than most other meats such as chicken and beef. It is more saturated with toxins. This is caused by the poorest and quickest digestive system of a pig. It digests its food quickly, about four hours. Due to short period of the digestive process in a pig’s short intestine, many of these toxins are not properly eliminated, but remain in its system and stored in its fatty tissues to be consumed by human. On the contrary, a cow eats vegetation, digests its food in about twentyfour hours, as it has three stomachs. Therefore, it has more time to get rid of excess toxins and other components of food that could be dangerous to health. 4. Pigs do not have any sweat glands to get rid of toxins. This increases the toxins in the pigs’ body. A person eating pork meat these toxins will enter his body. 5. Pigs carry various parasites some of which are difficult to kill even with cooking. Danger increases with eating undercooked pork, especially the trichinella worm commonly found in pork. The larvae of this work cause infection call trichinellosis or 2
The Nipah Virus was discovered in 1999, has caused disease in both animals and humans, and can lead to deadly encephalitis (an acute inflammation of your brain) in human. In 1998 this virus was discovered in Malaysia which was believed to have been from infected bats to pigs, where 117 pigs died, and then to humans; to prevent the spread of this virus one million pigs were destroyed. Menangle Virus was discovered in 1997 when sows at an Australian piggery began giving birth to deformed piglets. One year later, in 1998, it was reported that this virus could infect humans. The PRRS had been referred to as "swine mystery disease," "blue abortion," and "swine infertility," a nightmare since mid-1980s. It was first reported on in 2001 and is said that it may afflict about 75 percent of American pig herds.
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trichinosis, a serious illness. Among its common symptoms are: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, chills, swollen eyes, muscle pain, aching joints, breathing and coordination problems.3 Pigs are also primary carrier of taenia solium tape worm. 6. Pigs produce higher level of antibodies and growth hormones than other animals and human. Excessive quantities of growth hormone could cause excessive weight and as well as physical deformations. Pork contains higher levels of cholesterols and lipids causing a serious threat to human health, such as arteriosclerosis, sterility, damage of liver, and cancer. 7. Pigs excrete only 2% of its total uric acid content, the remaining 98% remains as an integral part of the body. The kidney extracts 98% of the uric acid from the blood and is removed through urination, whereas in pigs it is kept in their bodies. 8. Some diseases are unique to humans which are not shared by animals, except pigs, such as rheumatism and joint pain.4 9. Pork meat and fat contribute to obesity and related diseases that are difficult to treat.5 10. Pork meat and pork fat contribute to the spread of cancers of the colon, rectum, prostate and blood. 11. Pork is a kind of meat that contains the most cholesterol, an increase of which in the bloodstream leads to an increased 3
It is said that Mozart’s sudden death at the age of 35 was caused by trichinellosis. He had suffered many of its symptoms, and he died after consuming pork forty-four days earlier. A local German police at Stadt Allendorf near Marburg (a/L) in 1965 told me that long ago many people died in Germany because of the parasite in pigs called trichine, namely, trichina (Trichinella spiralis). 4 In late 50s I happened to read a book claimed to be written by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) who claimed to be a prophet, the mujaddid (divine reformer) of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah and at the same time the promised Mahdi awaited by Muslims, where he said this: The reason why swine flesh is prohibited for Muslims is because pigs are food for lions. I found this idea fascinating until I found myself in a film about animals’ lives in Africa where even lions did not like eating swine flesh; yet, most people do. 5 Mrs. Alma SchrÜder, my former landlady at Stadt Allendorf in Germany, was advised by her doctor not to eat pork because of her obesity.
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likelihood of blocked arteries. The fatty acids in pork are also of an unusual formation, compared with the fatty acids in other types of food, which makes them more easily absorbed by the body, thus increasing cholesterol levels. 12. Eating pork leads to scabies, allergies and stomach ulcers. Pork had been prohibited earlier in Judaism, as mentioned in the Old Testament: “And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.” (Leviticus 11:7-8). "The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat; for you it is unclean.” (Deu.14:8) In the time of Jesus (Prophet ‘Īsā, a.s.) early Christians might have also avoided pork, following him in observing the Biblical food restrictions when he said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). The followers of Seventh-day Adventists also do not eat pork, but Catholics and other Christians, mostly eat it for the following reasons: a. Jesus said: “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” (Mathew 15:11). “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’” (Mark 7:15-16)6 6
It is said that “scholars believe Jesus was speaking here of the Pharisaic requirement to emulate the Priests by washing hands before eating, and not of the Bible’s dietary laws.” Rabbi Bernard J. Bamberger (1904-1980) said: "There is no reason to doubt that Jesus observed the Biblical food restrictions, and there is no reason to think that he called for their abrogation.”
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b. Peter has a vision where a sheet is let down from Heaven with all sorts of animals (unclean) according to Old Testament Law. A voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord.” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven (Acts 10:13-16). For further details, see Acts 10 and 11). Act 10 abrogates two laws: food and Gentiles are no longer unclean. (He was hungry but did not have chance to eat from it). c. Paul declared that “Christ is the end of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4), and “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” (Galatians 3:23-25). For the Muslims Islamic dietary law remains unchanged till the Last Day. Pork remains unclean and ḥarām for consumption, even if we burn it into ashes and kill its whole bacteria and viruses. (CIVIC, 1 May, 2015) Bibliograpy: Al-Makatabah al-Shāmilah The Noble Qur’an. Translated by Dr. Muhammad Taqī-ud-Dīn and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khān Khalifa, Rashad.Quran the Final Testament. The Holy Bible. New International Version. http://draxe.com/why-you-should-avoid-pork http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/scientific_72.html http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/12/12/eatingpork.aspx (Dr. Mercola, Why I Do Not Recommend) http://mawdoo3.com/ لماذا حرم َللا لحم الخنزير http://askville.amazon.com/major-religions-eatpork/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=56920740 http://islamqa.info/ar/12558