why we don't eat pork

WHY ISLAM FORBIDS PORK?

Food and drink have direct effect on our health. That is why Islam has

prescribed regulations about our food and drink. It lays great emphasis on

our physical as well as moral health, because both of these are equally

important for a healthy society. The abstention from eating pork is one of

the steps taken by Islam to practise hygiene and to attain purity of soul.

Islam, for the cultivation of inner faculties, insists upon the cleanliness

of body and the purification of soul through Salaat (prayers) Zikr

(remembrance of Allah) and other devotional duties. Islam teaches us how to

attain the virtues and how to give up bad habits because both good and bad

grow in the man according to his upbringing, education and environment.

A human being has natural desires: food, sleep and sex being the three

primary ones. He has also natural emotions: sorrow, happiness, love, fear,

disgust and avarice etc. Islam doesn't recommend the complete abrogation of

these impulses but offers a method of controlling them through religious

education and discipline.

The prohibition of eating pork in Islam is relevant in this context. There

is a saying in English that "a man becomes what he eats." According to

physicians and medical experts, pork is a harmful diet. Consumption of

swine-flesh creates lowliness in character and destroys moral and spiritual

faculties in a man.

Body & Soul

The life of a man is a compound of body and soul. Anything, which is harmful

for the body, hurts the soul as well. Consumption of swine-flesh reduces the

feeling of shame and as such the standard of modesty. Those nations, which

consume pork habitually, have a low standard of morality with the result

that virginity, chastity and bashfulness are becoming a thing of the past in

Europe today. The number of unwed mothers is on the increase despite the use

of pills and other contraceptives.

According to a report, 60 to 70% girls in Sweden become mothers before

marriage. The formula of "skin to skin is no sin" is having its toll but

there is hardly and feeling of shame and remorse over the end-result. Since

the European nations have become addicted to wine and pork, sexual freedom

with all its attendant evils has got ingrained in their culture.

Consequently, homosexuality has been legalized by the British Parliament.

The Holy Qur'an has prohibited the swine-flesh, hence the Muslims would not

dare touch it. The Bible has also forbidden swine-flesh, but Christians

disregarded this order and started consuming it. The Europeans now proclaim

that pork is a very powerful diet, rich in protein. Some of them further

argue that since there is a great scarcity of food-stuffs in the world and

swines are available in abundant quantity, they should be consumed in diet

to overcome the food shortage. If this argument is true, why don't they use

dog's meat as dogs too are available in plenty? The Europeans perhaps hate

the mention of dog's meat in the same way as the Muslims shun pork.

Another wrong notion about swine-flesh is that its consumption lengthens

life-span, although this is a pure myth and absurdity. On the contrary,

people, who abstain from pork and liquor, have a longer span of life. The

Muslims in Central Asia bear a testimony to this truth.

However, in the consumption of flesh Muslims are required to be selective

and distinguish between Halaal (Lawful) and Haraam (Unlawful). This step

leads automatically to the deeper understanding of the need for the

cultivation of a pure human nature. As blood is virtually our life-stream

and whatever we consume ultimately affects the blood system, it is,

therefore, necessary to exercise choice in the selection of our food and

drink as per the requirements of the Shariah.

There are certain foods and drinks specified by Allah, and His Messenger

Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) as forbidden. The prohibition of these

foods and drinks is not by any means an arbitrary action or an unwarranted

decree of Allah. It is the first and foremost a divine intervention in the

best interest of man and for his own benefit.

The reasons behind the Divine intervention are numerous. They are of a

nature intellectual and spiritual, moral and mental, physical and economic.

And the sole purpose is to show man how to develop himself according to an

upright course of life in order to be a healthy unit in the structure of the

family, then of society and eventually of humanity at large.

Reliable medical doctors and social scientists are able to realize how those

foods and drinks forbidden by Islam are harmful and destructive to the human

spirit and morality as well as to the physique and moral fibre of man and to

verify the benefits of Islamic legislations on the subjects.

The prohibition is based on the aim of the purification of one's nature,

because food, when consumed, doesn't merely enter the stomach and intestines

and become excreta. It is absorbed and metabolized into the system and

circulated to all parts of the human body, including the brain, and this in

no small way affects man's nature.

The pig is naturally lazy and indulgent in sex, it is dirty, greedy and

gluttonous. It dislikes sunlight and lacks the spirit and will to "fight."

It eats almost anything, be it human excreta or anything foul and

unwholesome. Amongst all animal flesh, pork is the favoured cradle of

harmful germs. Pork also serves as a carrier of diseases to mankind. It is

for this reason that its flesh is not suitable for consumption.

Some people have argued that the "modern pig" reared in farms is given only

clean foods, therefore, its flesh should be consumable. The answer is that

you may feed the pig on clean, wholesome food, but you can't change its

nature. It is still a pig. A pig is not a plant and you cannot change it by

bud-grafting.

Medical Reports

Dr. E. Kazim. M.D. in his article "Medical aspects of forbidden foods in

Islam" (July 1981 issue of Muslim Journal has described diseases carried or

caused by the flesh of the swine. He writes:

The pig is a scavenger. It is an omnivorous animal. It eats everything.

There are many disease carried from swine to man, particularly parasite

infestations. Lately extensive research has been focused on senility-old age

is characterized by hardening of inner lining of the blood vessels of the

heart, brain etc. a process called atheroselerosis. When a clot forms, it

results in coronary thrombosis or a heart attack, cerebral thrombosis or

stroke.

Different dietary factors are responsible for atheroselerosis. Gross

atheroma may be produced in rabbit by feeding it with cholesterol, but when

you add lard (derived from hog fat) to the cholesterol, the incidence of

atheroma is increased and thus you would produce coronary thrombosis, and

myocardial infraction.

Besides, lard contains 2800 units of vitamin D per 100 grams and no vitamin

A at all. Lately vitamin D has been held responsible for atheroma, by

causing increased absorption of calcium in the blood vessels. In human

beings, serum cholesterol is not dependent on the intake of cholesterol in

the diet, but depends upon the proportion of animal fats in the diet, which

elevate the beta-lipo protein level in the blood. Animal fats contain

saturated fatty acids and these saturated fatty acids have been found to be

as one of the causes of atheroma in man. Medium fat bacon contains 25%

proteins and 55% fat."

According to medical research, the fat content in pork is more than any

other meat (beef, mutton etc.) and it takes longer to digest. Dr. M Jaffer

in an article in the Islamic Review (London) of January 1997 issue has

listed 16 kinds of harmful germs, which have been discovered in pork in

modern researches and the diseases, which could be caused by them. The

number of patients suffering from tapeworm disease is the highest in the

world among pork eating nations. Other diseases attributed to pigs are

caused by tri-chinelia spirates and intestinal worms occupy first place

among such nations too.

Dr. Glen Shepherd wrote the following on the dangers of eating pork in

Washington Post (31 May 1952).

"One in six people in USA and Canada have germs in their muscles -

trichinosis 8 from eating pork infected with trichina worms. 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 caters".

He continued "No one is immune from the disease and there is no cure.

Neither antibiotics nor drugs or vaccines affect these tiny deadly worms.

Preventing infection is the real answer."

After reading the statement of Dr. Shepherd, one can realize that there is

no real guarantee of safety when eating pork that one would not be affected

by trichina worm. That is why modern doctors advise three prohibitions

during illness: no liquor, no pork and no smoking.

Muslims follow the divine law which is much higher than the medical advice.

The Glorious Qur'an says, "So eat of the lawful and good food which Allah

has provided for you, and thank the bounty of your Lord if it is Him you

serve. He has forbidden for you only carrion and blood and swine-flesh and

that which has been immolated in the name of any other than Allah; but he

who is driven thereto, neither craving nor transgressing, Lo! then Allah is

Forgiving, Merciful." (16:114-115)

The above is the order from the Creator of the universe and Supreme

Law-Giver. All Muslims are under the obligation to obey it. This is a plain

and straightforward answer to those, who usually ask why Muslims abstain

from eating pork. Nevertheless, there is no sin, if a Muslims is forced by

famine or starvation to eat pork in order to save his life.

Rashid Shamsi (The Muslim World League Journal, Rajab 1420 - October 1999)