by Iris W

Created on: July 14, 2008

Ah, another subject on what is halal and what is haram. Amongst all the food in the world, pork (pig meat) is considered as haram in Islam. This is clearly indicated in the Holy Qur'an 5:4:

"Forbidden to you for (food) are: dead meat, blood and the flesh of the swine and that which hath been invoked the name other than Allah."

as well as in Qur'an 2:173:

"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."

Ignoring the fact that the Bible also mentioned the prohibition of consuming pork, let's go on to discuss the few reasons Islam made pork haram (after all, that is the topic here).

1) Medical and health aspect
It is a fact that a pig is very avaricious creature; it searches everywhere for food and eats almost everything including human excrete. Therefore, as scientifically proven, its meat may also carry a lot of of diseases, such as helminths, like roundworm, pinworm, hookworm, trichinellosis (or trichiniasis) and many others.

Pork is also supposed to contain high level of fats, therefore may cause obesity and high cholesterol.

2) Animal slaughter method
Islam requires the slaughterer to, whilst taking the name of the 'Almighty', makes an incision through the jugular veins, leaving all other veins and organs intact. This causes immediate death to the animal without harming any other vital organs in the process; otherwise the animal flesh would be permeated and contaminated with uric acid, making it very poisonous.

Since a pig anatomically does not have a neck and cannot be slaughtered the through the jugular veins, Muslims argue that their creator would have provided the animal with a neck so it may be fit for human consumption.

3) You are what you eat
Since the pig is perceived as a filthy, lazy animal and eats anything including human excrete, it therefore possesses no good or seemingly attractive quality to be eaten. This, however, is a weak excuse to prohibit the consumption of pork.

However, if the scientific reason stated above are 100% true, then half the population if the world would be sick from the consumption of pork, which they are not. Tobacco kills at a higher rate than pork does but it was not mentioned anywhere in the Holy book about the forbidding tobacco. Besides there are plenty of other animals that does not have a neck and cannot be killed the 'Islam way' yet they are allowed for Muslim's consumption (snake has no neck and is not forbidden).

Therefore, even with such good and scientific reasons for the prohibition of pork in Islam, it remains a fact that the ONLY reason Muslims do not and are not allowed to consume pork is because they are following the words of Allah as written in the Holy Qu'ran.

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