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Non-Halal Meat is Unhealthy and Indisposed - A Scientific Explanation
We live in a world inhabited not only by humans but also by countless other
creatures that share the world with us. Animals provide resources and services
that we use. They form part of the life-support system of the earth on which all life
depends. Every kind of thing is produced on the earth in due balance and measure.
The Qur'an amply describes this ecological and organic vision of the world:
The earth We have spread out (like a
carpet), set thereon mountains firm and
immovable, and produced therein all
kinds of things in due balance.
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 15, Verse 19)
We see that each animal has been created with a specific purpose, either to benefit
human beings directly, or as symbols for people to ponder over God's greatness
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 16, Verse 5, 8; Chapter 24, Verse 45).
And, you will see many of them striving
with one another to hasten in sin and
exceeding the limits, and their eating of
what is unlawfully required. Certainly evil
is that which they do.
Why do not the learned men and doctors
of law prohibit them from speaking of
what is sinful and their eating of what is
unlawfully acquired? Certainly evil is that
which they work.
(al-Qur'an- Chapter 5, Verses 62-63)
Say, Did you note how Allah (SWT) sends
down to you all kinds of provisions, then
you render some of them unlawful, and
some lawful? Say, Did Allah (SWT) give
you permission to do this? Alternatively,
do you fabricate lies and attribute them to
Allah?
(al-Qur'an- Chapter 10, Verse 59)
Meat of that Animal Slaughtered by Non-Muslims is Forbidden in Islam
al-Qur'an has clearly stated that consuming that animal's meat, which non-Muslims
have slaughtered, and in an un-Islamic manner, is forbidden and prohibited.
Allah (SWT) has forbidden you what dies
of itself, and blood, and the flesh of the
swine, and that over which any other name
than that of Allah (SWT) has been invoked
.
(al-Qur'an- Chapter 2, Verse 173)
Qur'an, Chapter 5, Verse 3, and in Chapter 6, verse 146 calls for a similar behavior
in Muslims. For the meat to be halal and consumed by Muslims, the following
must take place and this is agreed in general by ALL Muslims around the world.
The person who slaughters the animal
must be a Muslim.
The name of Allah must be pronounced
before incision is made, facing the animal
in the direction of the sacred Ka'bah in
Makkah al-Mukarramah.
The instrument being used for
slaughtering should be extremely sharp.
The incision should be made in the neck
just below the glottis, cutting the throat
and esophagus, the jugular vein and the
carotid artery without cutting the spinal
cord.
Kamoonpuri (1998) makes a further statement and says that the person slaughtering
the animal must not interfere with the carcass before convulsions have completely
ceased and the animal is pronounced dead. Skinning or dismembering the animal
just after the slaughter is also not recommended in Islam.
Youth and Muslims of today question as to why the Book of Allah has such strict
commands when people in modern societies live together and work together as
friends and brothers, and strongly believe in sharing. There are two reasons for
this ruling, and we shall explain both, and in the light of conscious and intelligent
info-energy that we have already introduced.
Animals Slaughtered the Muslim Way does NOT Cause Harm to the Animal
The Prophet (S) has said:
Allah (SWT) calls for mercy in everything. So be
merciful when you slaughter; sharpen your blade
to relieve its pain.
According to Kamoonpuri (1998), the prescribed method of slaughtering an
animal in Islam saves the animal from any kind of pain. When the animals major
blood vessel in the neck is cut-off that produces an immediate stunning effect.
The advantage of not cutting the spinal cord is that the brain continues to send
it electrical impulses to the heart demanding blood. As all the blood is drained,
the pipeline, which takes blood to the brain, has already been cut off. The violent
reactions in the animal are from the natural muscular contraction and no pain is
experienced. Kamoonpuri (1998) mentions two researchers, Gucel and Erbil who
subscribe to the fact that blood can cause toxicity in the animal's meat, all has to be
drained, and the Islamic way of slaughtering takes care of that.
Schultz and Hazim surgically implanted several electrodes at various points on
the skull of animal subjects; then making a deep incision with a sharp knife on the
neck of the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides. Some animals were
then slaughtered by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck
cutting the jugular veins and the carotid arteries of sides as well as the trachea
and esophagus (Islamic Method). Other animals were stunned using a Captive
Bolt Pistol (CBP). During the experiment, electroencephalograph (EEG) and
electrocardiograms (EKG) recorded the condition of the brain and the heart of all
animals. The results were as follows:
Islamic Method
1. During the first three seconds after slaughtering, the EEG did not record any
change, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any pain during or immediately
after the incision.
2. For the following three seconds, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep
unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood gushing out of the
body.
3. After this total of six seconds, the EEG recorded zero level, showing no feeling
of pain at all.
4. As the brain message (EEG) dropped to zero level, the heart was still pounding
and the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action of the spinal cord) driving
maximum blood out of the body.
Stunning
1. The animals were apparently unconscious soon after stunning but the EEG
showed severe pain immediately after stunning.
2. The heart of the stunned animal stopped beating earlier than the one slaughtered
the Islamic way thus resulting in the retention of more blood in the meat.
Professor Schultz and Dr. Hazim of the Hanover University in Germany concluded
the following through an experiment:
Islamic way of slaughtering is the most humane,
compassionate and sympathetic method of
slaughter (no pain, deep sleep recorded due to
the large quantity of blood gushing out from
the body), and that the captive bolt stunning
practiced by the Western methods causes severe
pain to the animal.
Humankind and Animals
Allah created animals for the service of humans and are a boon to him, and one
must utilize them in the name of Allah. We should make judicious use of them
for our benefit and must be grateful to God. Due care should be there. There is
a hierarchical ranking and distinction between living beings. The animals are
superior to plants, which can be sacrificed for them, while plants and animals can
be sacrificed for man. However, only the prescribed and permitted animals can
be sacrificed (al-Qur'an - Chapter 6, Verse 145; Chapter 5, Verses 3, 96; Chapter
6, Verse 121; Chapter 40, Verses 79-81) for humans in a prescribed manner.
Humankind should remember that the earth belongs to all living creatures.
And, He has set out the earth for all creatures.
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 55, Verse 10)
In Qur'an:
And, Allah has made subservient to
you whatsoever is in the heavens and
whatsoever is in the earth - all of it - on
His behalf. Verily, in this are signs for
people who reflect.
(al-Qur'an- Chapter 45, Verse 13)
What, do they not see that We have created
the cattle for them, of what Our hands
have wrought, and of them, they are the
masters?
In addition, We subjected unto the cattle;
and some of them they ride upon, and
some of them they eat. And, for them, in
them are benefits and drinks. What, will
they not be grateful?
(al-Qur'an- Chapter 36, Verses 71-73)
In such cases, it is also possible that the animal offers itself for slaughter. The
recommendation to hunters is to invoke the name of Allah even when they are
about to fire a bullet, or send a dog, and so forth, to subdue the animal. Moreover,
because certain specific animals have been sent into this world to care and provide
food to the humans, the act of invoking the name of Allah would remind them of
their responsibility in this world
It is reported that Prophet Isa (AS) once called a Deer and it came towards him
and agreed to be slaughtered. Prophet Isa (AS) consumed the meat of the animal
and then, by the permission of Allah, he gave life to the animal and resurrected the
Deer. The animal then disappeared in the bushes.
Allah confirms that animals are conscious, have a purpose in life and will return
to Allah:
There is not an animal (that lives) on the
earth, or a being that flies on its wings,
but (forms part of) communities like you.
Nothing have we omitted from the Book,
and they (all) shall be gathered to their
Lord in the end.
(Qur'an - Chapter 6, Verse 38)
Many passages from the Qur'an and traditions state that all animals are endowed
with spirit and mind and there is ample evidence in the Qur'an to suggest that
animals' consciousness of spirit and mind is of a degree higher than mere instinct
and intuition.
We are told in the Qur'an that animals have a cognizance of their Creator and,
hence, they pay their obeisance to Him by adoration and worship:
Don't you see that it is Allah Whose
praises are celebrated by all beings in the
heavens and on earth, and by the birds
with extended wings? Each one knows its
prayer and psalm, And Allah is aware of
what they do.
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 24, Verse 41)
The following verse tells us how all the elements of nature and all the animal
kingdom function in harmony with God's laws; it is only humans who infringe, and
thus bring affliction on themselves. The Qur'an dwells on this theme repeatedly
to emphasize the point that man should bring himself into harmony with nature,
according to the laws of God - as all other creation does:
Don't you see that all things that are in
the heavens and on earth pay adoration
to Allah - the sun, the moon, the stars, the
mountains, the trees, the animals, and a
large number among mankind? However,
there are many (humans) who do not and
deserve chastisement.
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 22, Verse 18)
A Dutch team of scientists recently found scientific evidence of mental suffering
in animals. They have discovered that, like the human brain, an animal's brain too
releases a substance called Endorphin to cope with emotional distress and pain,
caused by frustration or conflict. This substance is 100 times more powerful than
morphine. (Report by Compassion in World Farming Agscene, August 1985, 20
Lavant Street, Petersfield, Hants, England).
History also narrates that when Namrud was preparing the fire for Prophet Ibrahim
(AS), there was a little frog that used to fill its mouth with water, and pour it on the
fire to try to extinguish the fire. Apparently, the frog was just fulfilling his part of
the responsibility if the animal is asked about this on the Day of Judgment.
Animals have been reported and observed to communicate with humans, and
many such incidents have been recorded in the blessed life of the Prophet (S).
In several instances, and as we shall note later, animals have complained of their
hunger to the Prophet (S). They have even witnessed the Prophet's leadership
on many occasions. Many instances in the history of Prophet Suleiman show
his ability to communicate with animals. Shamanic practitioners have also been
observed to communicate with animals and ask their spirits before they make a
sacrifice. Apparently, Allah (SWT) has given this power to humans as well. It is
therefore possible that animals offer themselves when one invokes the name of
Allah, as the animal would associate the name as his or her creator and his or her
responsibilities on earth. Allah knows better.
Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) discusses the following about sacrificing animals and
consuming their flesh, and is worth mentioning in his own words:
It shows that as far as eating of meats are
concerned, humanity is divided in numerous
categories. The spectrum shows on one side
total prohibition and on the other unrestricted
indulgence. When he uses some meats, he follows
the dictates of nature, and when he refrains from
some items, it emanates from some ideology, or is
a result of his second nature.
The Buddhist system prohibited use of all
animals altogether. This is one extreme, and its
opposite is the excess which was prevalent among
uncivilized people, in Africa and elsewhere, who
had no hesitation in eating any meat, even the
flesh of man.
The Arabs used to eat the meat of quadrupeds
and other animals, even rats and lizards. They
ate all types of dead cattle, which they killed
by slaughtering, or which died by itself, was
strangled or beaten to death. They ate what died
as a result of fall, or by being gored by another
animal, or which was killed by beasts of prey.
They ridiculed the Muslims, saying, Why is it
that you eat what you kill yourselves and do not
eat what has been killed by Allah. Many people
offer similar objections even today. Some people
say, What is the difference between one flesh and
the other, when the human body does not get
any harm from, especially if it is hygienically
prepared, because the digestive system does not
differentiate between this and that?
The Arabs also used to eat blood. They filled the
intestine with blood, roasted it and offered it to
the guests. During famine days, they used to
wound their camels with arrows and drank the
blood, which came gushing out. Even today,
eating of blood is common among many non-
Muslims communities.
The Chinese Buddhists are more liberal than the
ancient Arabs are. Reportedly, they eat all types of
animals including dogs and cats, even the worms,
seashells and all types of insects.
Islam has chartered a middle course, and has
allowed the meats, which are agreeable to
the normal human nature. It has selected in
quadrupeds the cattle like sheep, goats, cows and
camels (also horse and donkey, although with
dislike); among the birds, it disallowed the birds
of prey and allowed those other birds which have
craw and those which flap their wings more often
and do not have talon. In marine animals, it has
allowed some categories of fish, details of which
may be found in books of Islamic Laws.
Even while allowing the above-mentioned
animals, it has prohibited its blood and that which
has died of itself and on which the name of Allah
has not been invoked. The purpose behind these
rules is to revitalize the natural canon, inasmuch
as the man naturally likes to eat meat. Together
with it, Islam respects the correct thinking and
normal nature as these too are repulsed from
eating those things, which may prove harmful to
human being, or which the human nature thinks
odious and unclean.
He also remarks:
The prohibition of strangling an animal or
beating it to death comes under this category of
rules. In addition, it has forbidden slaughtering
an animal with another one looking at it. At the
time of slaughtering, many rules based on mercy
have been laid down, as for examples, the animal
should be given water before slaughtering, and
so on, details of which can be seen in books of
jurisprudence.
When all is said and written, the fact remains that
Islam is a religion of reason, not of sentiments.
It does not give precedence to the dictates of
sentiments over the rules, which are meant to
bring reform in the human society. It accepts only
that sentiment which is accepted by the reason.
So in the end, that too becomes the dictate of
reason.
As for the talk of divine Mercy and His being the
most Merciful of all, do they think that Allah is
tenderhearted being? On the other hand, that
his senses are influenced and He feels pity on
some things? Obviously, these are material and
physical characteristics and Allah is far above
such things. The Divine Mercy means that Allah
bestows good on someone who deserves it as
much as he deserves it. That is why sometimes
what we think is punishment turns out to be the
Mercy from Him, and vice versa. Consequently,
according to the reason, it is not good to neglect
or discard a beneficial action by listening to what
is suggested by our false mercy. Nor is it allowed
to be negligent in legislating the Islamic Laws,
keeping in view the realities of the creation.
Meat of Animals Slaughtered by Muslims is Electrically Balanced and Stable - A
Note on Battery-Farmed Meats and Leather Belts
Dr. Hazim remarks further that the Electro-Encephalographic (EEG) recordings of
the animals (after being slaughtered) dropped to a zero level, and the heart was still
pounding, the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action), and driving maximum
blood out from the body. This procedure greatly results in hygienic and electrically
balanced (with steady energy fields) meat for the consumer.
Schwartz and Russek (1999) make a stern comment in their book The Living Energy
Universe on ingesting just any meat, in particular that meat from animals that are
often raised (and slaughtered) under stressful and abusive circumstances and we
ingest their cells (with unfavorable info-energy) into our bodies. Their molecules
then replace some of our molecules, and we end up living with the info-energy of
the animal's pain and suffering. One's health can thus be compromised.
Concerning battery cages in the US and several countries in the West, it has been
argued that there may be no experience of life more fraught with stress and pain
than that of the battery-caged animal. These animals do not live on a farm, but
inside a gigantic metal factory. Such facilities hold literally millions of animals that
are confined in row after row of tiny wire battery cages. These cages are too small
to allow them to stand in a normal upright position, much less stretch, unfold
their limbs, or exercise. Throughout the course of her short life, the battery-caged
animal will be forced to endure beak mutilations, overcrowding, filth, disease, and
periodic starvation.
On July 24th 2003 and on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA), Sir Paul McCartney ran a full-page ad, featuring an open letter to one
fast-food restaurant (not named) CEO, in today's Louisville Courier-Journal,
the hometown paper of this fast-food restaurant's corporate offices. In the ad,
McCartney challenged the CEO to improve living and dying conditions for the 750
million chickens that are raised every year in overcrowded, feces-filled sheds on
factory farms and killed in frightening ways for these restaurants.
Among the improvements that McCartney and PETA wanted the restaurants to
implement were the following - replacing crude and ineffective electric stunning
and throat-slitting with painless gas killing; phasing out the forced rapid growth
of chickens, which causes their leg bones to become crippled; and implementing
gentler, automated chicken-catching, which would reduce the high incidence
of bruising and broken wings and legs, and much of the terror associated with
manual catching by low-paid catchers, who often roughly sling the birds into
wooden crates.
In brief, the cages are frightening, smelling of death and disease. Animals sit on
vast stretches of land, countless rows of giant metal structures protruding into the
sky. From a distance, you can get an eerie sense of the overwhelming number of
animals who live day after day, minute after minute, inside the long windowless
sheds. From rows of cages stacked floor to ceiling, the animals have been observed
to cry out. The air is dense with the screams of thousands of animals that are
suffering extreme physical and psychological pain.
Texas County pig farm worker in the US pleaded to three counts of felony cruelty to
animals stemming from a PETA undercover investigation. The videotape showing
the manager of this particular farm (not named) owned pig farm, mercilessly
bludgeoning pigs with iron gate rods in three separate incidents. This is the first
time in U.S. history that a farmer has pleaded to felony cruelty to animals for
injuring and killing animals raised for food. On May 14th 2001, PETA submitted
the video to Texas County District Attorney Donald E. Wood, whose office filed
charges against the manager on August 31.
Employees at this farm, North America's third largest pork producer, were also
caught on video routinely throwing, beating, kicking, slamming against concrete
floors, and bludgeoning animals with metal gate rods and hammers. Other
pigs were left to die slow and agonizing deaths with severe injuries, illness, and
lameness, often unable to reach food or water, without even a trace of veterinary
care despite the fact that Peņa was fully aware of their conditions.
In 1999, in North Carolina, the first-ever felony indictments for cruelty to animals
on a factory farm in the U.S. were issued against 3 workers after an investigation
into a pig breeding facility. In that case, all three workers were convicted for their
parts in the beating and bludgeoning of pigs, including the skinning of a sow, which
was still fully conscious.
On September 5th 2001, PETA announced that it will continue its campaign
moratorium against one of the largest chain fast food restaurants in the world, but
will pressure the corporation to adopt less abusive slaughter standards for chickens
and to internationalize its animal welfare standards. In 1997, this worldwide chain
of restaurant was found culpably responsible for cruelty to animals in a court of
law.
Chickens raised for this fast-food restaurant (not named) are crammed into
crowded, filthy warehouses with less space per bird than a standard sheet of paper.
This overcrowding causes disease, suffocation, and heart attacks. Some breeding
pigs raised for this restaurant live their entire lives in cement stalls, unable to turn
around, lie in a comfortable position, or nuzzle their babies. U.S. federal standards
for slaughter say that all animals should be fully stunned before their throats are
slit, but this restaurant considers it acceptable if slaughterhouses inadequately
stun 1 in 20 animals, and refuses to ask their suppliers to hire extra stunners.
Most people who eat meat don't think too deeply about all the processes involved in
converting a living animal to meat on their plate. For modern animal agriculture,
the less the consumer knows about what's happening before the meat hits the plate,
the better. If true, is this an ethical situation? Should the animal agriculture be
reluctant to let people know what really goes on, because we're not really proud
of it .? (Cheeke, 1999)
In a press release dated May 20th 2003, US Congressman Jim Moran (VA) says:
The vast majority of meat, milk, and eggs in
America come from factory farms, which hardly
resembles bucolic family farms many Americans
envision their food comes from. Instead, they are
part of agribusiness, where animals are massproduced
for the slaughterhouse. And, in the
agribusiness, financial profitability takes priority
over treating animals humanely.
Unfortunately, the Food Marketing Institute's (FMI) Animal Welfare Program
guidelines do not require that a sow (mother pig) have enough room to walk or
turn around, but rather that she actually has enough room to fit in the cage without
being forced against the bars (FMI-NCRR Animal Welfare Program - January
2003 Report).
Up to six egg-laying hens have been observed to live in a battery cage with a wire
floor area of 1.7 square feet. These conditions lead to lameness, bone brittleness,
osteoporosis, and muscle weakness (Rollin, 1995). During transport, all farmed
animals lose at least 3% of their weight, most in the first hour, from urination and
defecation as a result of stress. These animals must stand in their excrement and
they are exposed to extreme weather conditions in the open trucks, sometimes
freezing to the trailer (USDA, 1997).
Competition to produce inexpensive meat, eggs, and dairy products has led animal
agribusiness to treat animals as objects and commodities. The worldwide trend is
to replace family farms with factory farms; warehouses where animals are kept in
crowded pens or restrictive stalls. Large numbers of beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs,
chickens, and turkeys are raised under such conditions.
Because of the respect, honor and reverence Muslims give to animals and
individual animal slaughter (more on this under the section - Islam's Stand on
Vegetarianism), scientists have shown beyond doubt that Muslim-slaughtered
(Halal) meat is the most electrically balanced meat, and therefore most hygienic
and healthy. Heistand and Coleman (1999) write in their book Electrical Nutrition
that animals display extreme fear in the slaughterhouse environment employed
by western societies. Commercially produced chickens are traumatized and react
with extreme fear when slaughtered, because of their unbelievably cramped and
over-crowded cages. All this creates a highly unstable network of energy within the
animal and thus affecting its meat. In their words:
The most disharmonic food by far, from an
electrical understanding, would be batteryfarmed
chicken.
Imam Ali (AS) has said, and reported in al-Kafi - Volume 6, Page 229:
Do not slaughter a sheep in the presence of another
sheep and a camel in the presence of another
camel while they are looking at the animals being
slaughtered.
Interestingly, non-Muslim researchers, Heistand and Coleman (1999) continue:
All slaughtering undertaken with honor and as
a part of a ceremonial sacrifice, as in HALAL
killing as practiced in the Middle East, and other
ceremonies practiced by many cultures around the
world, balances any of the emotional traumatic
frequencies that one would be concerned about.
It is, therefore, apparent that the non-Halal meat in supermarkets, non-Muslim
butchery centers, and meat in fast-food restaurants contains disharmonic, highly
unstable and weak fields of energy, together with painful and traumatic info-energy,
thereby affecting the meat and making it unhealthy for consumers. To consume
such meat would not only mean disobeying Allah (SWT), the electrically unstable
meat would introduce a host of electrical, energy and info-energy malfunctions into
one's system as he or she consumes the meat, making that individual vulnerable,
and prone to health and mental challenges.
Besides the disturbance to the electrical network of the meat, the fear and panic
caused to the animal slaughtered in battery-farms would further cause the animal
to produce stress-related chemicals into their system that would alter the meat's
chemical composition as well. Heistand and Coleman (1999) report that such kinds
of unstable meat, when consumed on a long-term basis may lead to cancer, and
other degenerative diseases. The psycho-physiological effects of long-term stress
in humans have been documented in ample studies. The hormones and chemicals
released during stress do a lot of damage to the tissues rendering them unfit for
human consumption (Kamoonpuri, 1998).
The effects of unfavorable and unsteady energy contrived within the animal during
slaughter are therefore significant and the studies worth mentioning. Weston
(1998) writes that Dr. Puharich and seven other U.S. Navy physicians discovered
that when they radiated mice with a lower frequency, unstable 5 Hz frequencies,
cancer was induced within 48 hours. When the mice were radiated with the higher
frequency, free flowing, balanced healer energy frequency of 8 Hz the mice's tumors
were healed within 48 hours.
Ostrander and Schroeder (1970) quote Dr. Errera, Councilor of nuclear matters
to the Belgian government, that traditional healers have been recorded in reliable
experiments to be able to induce free flowing and harmonious energy from their
hands to animal flesh. This act has been observed to purify the meat with higher and
more balanced/coherent vibrations of energy, so much that it does not deteriorate
for a month, even though the meat was never refrigerated.
Moreover, Kamoonpuri (1998) lists down the following that also has to take place
during any kind of Islamic slaughter:
The knife must not be sharpened in front
of the animal.
The animals should not be slaughtered in
front of each other.
The animals should be given water to
drink before slaughtering.
The animal should be laid on its sides,
soothed and should be stroked gently on
its back.
Having the animal slaughtered on its right side with its left side exposed, the
benefits are worth mentioning. According to Kamoonpuri (1998), this advice by
the Prophet is perfect and a scientific fact. When the left side of the neck is incised,
the carotid arteries are cut first thereby stopping oxygenated blood from reaching
the brain. The animal thus becomes unconscious because of oxygen depletion. This
procedure results in the same two actions mentioned earlier - convulsions based
on the muscular contractions that drives out all the remaining blood, and no pain
is experienced.
Islam has strictly prohibited tampering with the lives of animals and inflicting
torture upon them just for the sake of fun. Setting animals against each other, such
as cocks, oxen, or sheep, for the sake of fun or for any other reason, is completely
forbidden in Islam. Using an animal as a target for shooting practice with a gun
or bow is forbidden. The Prophet cursed one who kills a living creature as a mere
sport. The Prophet prohibited the setting of animals so as to fight one another. The
birds, which are flying beauties, are not to be harmed for the sake of fun, since the
Prophet said:
A sparrow that was killed just for fun would, on
the Day of Judgment, complain (to God) against
the person who did so, just for fun and not for any
material gain.
The Prophet admonished us to avoid the seven abominations (sins), and for one
of the sins he recited the following verse of the Qur'an, (Kill not a living creature,
which God has made sacrosanct, except for a justifiable reason). That person
will be answerable to God if he kills a sparrow or anything smaller without a
justifiable reason. When asked what would be a justifiable reason, he (the Prophet)
replied, to slaughter it for food-not to kill and discard it. The Prophet prohibited
stoning animals even with pebbles - Even if it does not kill or bleed, it may harm
their eyes and teeth.
Since animals are communities, just as humankind is, they, too, deserve mercy and
affection. The Prophet said,
Our Most Merciful God showers His mercy on those
who are themselves merciful. One who has been endowed with a gentle nature
has received a portion of the goodness of this world and the next. If you want
to be loved by your Creator, love His creatures. God says, If you are anxious to
receive kindness from Me, offer kindness to My creatures.
When the Prophet (S) was asked to define Islam, he said
to believe in Allah and be
kind to the whole of creation.
Leather Belts
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reports that every year, the
$14.5 million global leather industry tans millions of animal skins, many animals
from whom these skins are taken suffer all the horrors of factory farming, including
extreme crowding and confinement, deprivation, anaesthetized castration,
branding, tail docking, dehorning, and cruel treatment during transport and
slaughter.
Humaneness is not a priority of those who poach and hunt animals to obtain their
skin or those who transform skin into leather. Alligators on farms may be beaten
to death with hammers and axes, sometimes-remaining conscious and in agony for
up to two hours after being skinned (Reid, 1997).
Crocodiles are often caught with huge hooks and wires and reeled in, when they
weaken from blood loss. Poachers sometimes kill one species of animal to use as bait to capture another. Snakes and lizards may be skinned alive because of the
belief that live flaying imparts suppleness to the finished leather.
Kid goats may be boiled alive to make kid gloves and the skins of unborn calves and
lambs, some purposely aborted, others from slaughtered pregnant cows and ewes,
are considered especially luxurious. Shearling, contrary to what many consumers
think, is not sheared wool. The term refers to the sheep. A Shearling is a yearling
sheep, which has been shorn once. A Shearling garment is made from a sheep or
lamb shorn shortly before slaughter. The skin is tanned with the wool still on it.
For the above reasons and reasons mentioned below, Muslims are prohibited
from wearing leather belts during prayer - leather from an animal, which was
slaughtered in a non-Muslim manner. The weaker fields of energy and tainted
info-energy remain in the memory and energy surrounding the belt. These
memories of torture and pain most certainly have the ability to interfere with the
energy fields related to one's attention in prayer. This concept is explored in details
in the section on Prayer.
Kindness to Animals
The Islamic worldview and guidelines give sufficient basis for a humane treatment
of animals. One major objective of Islam is that it seeks to make the human being
kind hearted towards fellow creatures. Kindness is an important ingredient of the
human conscience. God Himself is compassionate and kind and wants man, His
vicegerent on earth, to be kindhearted towards all living creatures.
The animal world in Qur'an has its own rights, just like that of the human
world. Animals have similar characteristics, peculiarities, temperaments, and
consciousness of their own. They have the ability to experience what we all consider
to be morally relevant states of consciousness such as pain, distress, fear, anxiety,
loneliness, boredom, joy, and pleasure. Many animal species other than mammals
share abilities we thought made humankind singular, such as communications,
tool using and tool making, love and nurturing a partner and family. Altruism
has been observed in most species. This modern ethological finding is reflected
in the Qur'anic concept of animals as a community just as humanity is, (there
is no creature on earth, or a bird, which flies on wings, but they are
communities like you, al-Qur'an - Chapter 6, Verse 38). This verse elegantly
speaks also of the sanctity of life.
The ancient nation of Thamud was warned that even a thirsty camel has its own
drinking right. The story of Prophet Salih (AS) and the people of Thamud illustrate
the moral that denying animals their basic right to pasture and spring for food
and water is a heinous sin in divine vision. The Thamud had arrogated all rights
of water and pasture to themselves. On Prophet Salih's intervention, the due of
the poor and their cattle was given to each in turn. As a test case, a she-camel
was selected, which, according to the agreement, would enjoy free access to the
spring and the pasture. However, the privileged people killed the she-camel, which
caused their destruction by an earthquake.
One of the messages in the story is that all animals have their rights in the resources
of nature and that man can only deny them at his own peril. In the anecdotes of
Prophet Nuh (AS) and his ark, the Prophet was directed to load (in the ark) from
everything a pair, male and female. This is indicative of the divine scheme of life on
earth, which for balance requires preservation of all types of animals. Qur'an lays
down the duty of being good towards, and doing good to, the animals. God loves
those who are kind and enjoin kindness.
People should not kill a living creature, which God has made sacrosanct, except for
a justifiable reason. Even the faithful are specifically enjoined not to kill game while
in the sacred precincts in pilgrim's garb. Reflecting the prominence of animals in
the divine scheme of things, many chapters in al-Qur'an are named after animals
in the Qur'an - the Cow, the Cattle, the Bee, the Ant, the Spider, and the Elephant.
Thus, we see that Islam sanctifies life in all its aspects, omitting nothing from its
embrace.
As Imam Ali (AS) says that, he would not steal a morsel of food from the mouth of
ant even if the entire heavens and the earth were handed to him. His son Imam
al-Husain (AS) displayed a similar behavior in the event of Karbala (just before his
martyrdom) by giving water to his horse first.
Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) writes that Husain bin Saeed has also narrated the
following tradition from the same Imam. In the same book Ja'far bin Muhammad
narrates from his father, the Holy Messenger had ordered us to desist from
physically branding animals or hitting them on their faces because these animals
too chant their praises of the Lord. We shall mention the praises of each animal
later.
The same book records Ishaq bin Ammar bin Abi Abdullah quoting from Imam
Sadiq:
Every animal on land and in sea falls prey because
it has been negligent in praising the Lord.
Kulayni has quoted this tradition from Muhammad bin Muslim and he in turn
from Imam Sadiq that the Messenger said:
No one should scar or brand the faces of the
animals.
Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) writes:
This question gives precedence to the
feelings over realities. Legislation follows
the real good of humanity and not the
emotional feelings. We may expound it as
follows, Look minutely all the things, which
you find around yourselves, you will see that
all of them in their creation and follow the
law of continuous change. All things without
exception do change to other things; and
those other things in their turn do change into
these things - directly or indirectly. Nothing
comes into being unless another thing loses
existence in the process. Nothing continues
living on this earth without something else
going out of existence. This material world
is the world of change and exchange; or you
may say, the world of the eater and the eaten.
The earthly compounds eat the earth itself
by absorbing its chemicals to themselves
changing them to their own images; then after
sometime, the earth again eats and destroys
them. Again, the vegetable world gets its
nourishment from the earth and absorbs the
air, then later the earth eats it and breaks
it down to its original ingredients, the first
elements; and this cycle continues.
How comes the animal world which gets its
nourishment from vegetables, water and air.
Some animals feed themselves on other animals,
like the wild beasts, which eat the meat of their
preys; and likewise predatory birds eat the pigeons
and sparrows. The digestive systems of these
carnivorous animals and birds do not accept any
other food. The small birds in their turn feed on
grain, flies, fleas, insects and mosquitoes, while
the mosquitoes feed on blood of man and other
animals. Then, finally, the earth devours them
all.
Clearly, the system of creation, which has overall
control on all the creatures, has ordained that
man should get nourishment from meats, etc.,
then it has guided the previous parts of existence
towards it.
It is the system, which has created in human
beings the ability to get sustenance from both
animals and vegetables. He has in the front of his
alimentary system the teeth, some of which are
made to cut, the others to break, some to tear and
others to grind. They are called canines, molars,
premolars and incisors. Man is not like goat or
cow, which cannot cut or tear apart, nor is he like
the beasts of prey, which cannot grind or incise.
Islam is a natural religion. Its only aim is to
revive the tracks of nature, which the human
ignorance has obliterated. It is bound to declare
lawful what the creation guides to and the
nature decrees. Islamic Legislation revives this
natural commandment; and in the same way, it
restores other arrangements, which the Creator
has ingrained in our nature. We have already
mentioned that it confirms the decree of reason
that one should abstain from such meats, which
are harmful physically or spiritually, and it
strengthens the inner feelings by prohibiting
what the normal human nature dislikes or feels
aversion. These two principles ultimately are
based on the Divine management of the creation,
and Islam has given credence to them. It has
prohibited that, which harms the growth of the
body and has forbidden that, which is injurious
to the well being of human society. For example,
that which has been slaughtered in the name of
other than Allah or that which has been obtained
through gambling and dividing with arrows and
so on; and it has prohibited those repulsive things
which the nature abhors.
Meat of Pig is Forbidden in Islam
Muhammad ibn Abdillah narrates from one of his companions that he said - I said
to Abu Abdillah (AS), May I be made your ransom! Why did Allah forbid the dead
animal, blood and flesh of swine?
He said:
As for the flesh of swine, verily Allah had
transformed some groups in various forms,
resembling swine, monkey, bear and other such
animals. Then He prohibited (His servants) to eat
the animals of similar shapes in order that they
should not be polluted by it and should not take
the Divine punishment lightly.
In Islam, Pig's meat is forbidden, and the reason why this rule was prescribed upon
Muslims is that Pigs are mainly scavengers. However you struggle to maintain their
food intake, they will return to what they are normally used to and is a normal way
of living and eating to their standards. Pig is an animal, which lives on offal and
pigsty. Abstention from eating pork is a measure to safeguard health. Of all the
domestic animals, Pig is the most avaricious, eating anything including human
excreta. It is the cradle of harmful germs and parasites. Its meat is a carrier of
diseases to man, thus making it unfit for human consumption.
Such prohibition is also found in the Bible:
The Pig also, because it is a splitter of the hoof
but there is no cud. It is unclean for you. None
of their flesh must you eat and carcass you must
not touch.
Deuteronomy 14:8 (Bible)
The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible clearly states that:
The swine is ceremonially unclean animal ... It
is dirty, does not refuse to eat offal or carrion,
and the use of its flesh for food in hot countries
is supposed to produce skin diseases. It was not
raised by Arabs, and was regarded as unclean by
Phoenicians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians ... To the
Jews, swine's flesh is abominable, and the Pig was
the emblem of filth and coarseness...
Athar (1986) asked farmers in Fisher, Indiana who breed Swine, and their
comments:
Swine is cheaper to breed, since it does not
require pasture, it can live on manure and other
such items including dead meat. In fact, it can
even eat its own feces. Their sexual habits are also
different from other animals like cow, sheep and
goat. Swine have very little shame i.e. engage in
sex acts anytime, anywhere.
The female hog is very aggressive in sexual
activities, and when she is in heat she does not
care about anything (i.e. food or privacy) until she
has the sex. They i.e. swine, also lick the genitals
of their partners after sex like dogs, but not other
mammals like cow, sheep or goat.
It is apparent that an animal who lives such a life and spends most of his time
scavenging food particles, which have astonishing unstable and low charge
networks of energy, making the energy fields surrounding the body and soul of
that animal highly unstable and the meat, therefore unhealthy. The unfavorable
and corrupt info-energy within Pigs can hardly be questioned.
It is apparent that an animal who lives such a life and spends most of his time
scavenging food particles, which have astonishing unstable and low charge
networks of energy, making the energy fields surrounding the body and soul of
that animal highly unstable and the meat, therefore unhealthy. The unfavorable
and corrupt info-energy within Pigs can hardly be questioned.
Whosoever eats the meat of Pig shall have no
shame.
And, because Pigs love watching their partners have sexual relations with other male
Pigs, this makes its meat even more dangerous. This is why we see this practice in
Western continents. Athar (1986) writes that consuming dead meat, for example,
can and does also lead to that individual following after the instincts of that animal.
This aspect is explained further in details in the section on Transplants.
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. This is much apparent in societies where Pig's meat is consumed
in large quantities.
Many Far Eastern traditions also discourage the eating of pork. The 3,000-yearold Confucian Book of Rites says that a person does not eat the flesh of Pigs and
Dogs. Although many Chinese are avid eaters of pork today, physicians of ancient
China recognized eating pork as the root of many human ailments. Kamoonpuri
(1998) quotes Nanji and a French scientist who found a significant correlation
between eating pork and the incidence of a liver disease, Cirrhosis. An even higher
incidence was revealed when alcohol consumption was added. Shepard (1952)
found a similar correlation.
The argument that certain farms will raise Pigs in a very clean and unpolluted
manner is weak, since one can hardly proclaim to watch the animal all the time when
it is feeding or having sex. Further, according to the systemic memory process, the
fields of energy within Pigs (with stored previous memories and experiences) may
contain significant adulterated memories and will have already affected the meat
in some way. This may also apply to other animals, but more to Pigs.
Such foods can and do affect people and make them vulnerable. It is reported that
in the event of the battle in Karbala, al-Husain (AS) informed the troops of Ibn
Sa'ad who were his enemies and denied the Truth of Islam from the grandson of
the Prophet (S) that a lot of their behaviors and decisions against Islam were a
result of eating non-Halal foods.
al-Husain (AS) addressed the troops of Yazid as follows:
Your bellies are filled with the unlawful. Now you
will not accept the truth. Why don't you deal with
justice? Why don't you listen to me?
Clearly, the Infallible complained in general about the people's un-Islamic eating
behaviors and the effect on one's mind, body and soul. Apparently, to abstain from
consuming such products is also one of the many rules to attain spiritual perfection
(Taba Tabai, 1991).
A similar incident was observed when Muhammad Hanafiyya was in the battle
of Siffin fighting for Islam and refused to proceed further because of too many
forthcoming arrows. Ali (AS) patted him on his shoulder and told him that such a
nervous behavior was a result of his mother's milk when he was a baby and being
breastfed, (The mother of Hanafiyya was not Fatima al-Zahra (AS).
Certain other animals are also considered as Forbidden Foods in Islam. These
include beasts of prey with canine teeth - Muslims cannot eat the primates
(monkeys, man, etc) and the canidae (dog, wolf, fox, etc), as well as the felidae
(cat, lion, tiger, etc).
Ayatullah Sayyid Dastghaib al-Shirazi has the following to say on the effects of
forbidden foods and food prepared by a non-Muslim:
As long as even one morsel of haram (unlawful)
food is in the body of a person, he is himself like
the Satan. Beating drums and seeking protection
from Satan is his hypocrisy. As long as he is not
able to shake away the influence of Satan from his
person, all his prayers are mere pretences.
About Rizq-e-Halal (legitimate food), there are
several traditions of Ahlul-Bayt (AS). Rizq-e-
Halal is like a seed on which the quality of the
plant will depend. Care must be exercised and
good seed to ensure the health and sturdiness of
the tree.
Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:
O people, eat pure and halal food and don't
tread the footprints of Satan.
When one has doubt about the food being halal,
he should rather abstain from eating it. Avoid
using haram food and clothes. The use of these
will have such deleterious effect on the person
that he becomes the victim of fears and doubts.
The foods we consume take us to darkness. There
is no light in them that can give nourishment to
our spirits. Our tongues too are influenced by
these foods that we utter falsehoods and abusive
language. We indulge in misguiding games and
play. Backbiting has become our habit. All our
limbs and organs have been exposed to the effects
of haram and unsavory (makruh) foods. The body
has therefore become insensitive to the instinct
of remembrance of Allah. The limbs and organs
have thus turned into the playthings of Satan.
One type of haram food is najis (impure) food.
If impure food goes down the throat, Satan will
transmit his effect throughout the body.
Even babes in arms should not be fed with najis
food. One should not think that a child is innocent
and free from the incidence of the rules of Islamic
Law.
Remember, the adults are bound with the
requirements of the Islamic Law and it is their
duty to take care to nourish their children with
pure food. When a child is brought up on najis
food, he will develop negative and un-Islamic
tendencies as he grows up. It is to be borne in
minds that only animals can take Najis food.
The occasion when one is required to abstain
even from Halal food is when he is fully satiated
and can eat no more at that moment. Over-eating
is a taboo and a satanic trait.
Sayyid Tawus has recommended application
of this verse to all foods, although the verse
pertains only to animal foods. Sayyid Tawus
says, All the edibles that are prepared without
taking the name of Allah before commencing the
preparation, I don't partake! How can a believer
eat the bread that has been cooked by the baker
without taking the name of Allah?
Qur'an:
Verily those who guard (themselves
against evil) when an evil thought from the
Satan afflicts them, they become mindful
(of God and are awakened) then lo! They
see (aright).
The people who are in the process of escaping
from sinful acts and Satan tries to overwhelm
them, they instantaneously busy themselves in
the remembrance of Allah. With the felicity of
this act, the curtains of thoughtlessness are raised
from their eyes and they comprehend the evil
schemes of Satan very clearly. Thus, they are able
to save themselves from the evil bait of Satan.
We have mentioned that piety is a very important
tool concerning our food habits. Our food, or
nutrition, is like the seed of plants. The type of food
one takes nourishes good or satanic tendencies
in a person. If the seed is satanic, then the body
acquires evil tendencies. If a haram morsel goes
down the throat, then the control over the body
will come into the hands of Satan. Till the time
that morsel remains in the body, Satan too will
occupy it.
Dead Animal's Meat is Forbidden in Islam
Muhammad ibn Abdillah narrates from one of his companions that he said - I
said to Abu Abdillah (AS) - May I be made your ransom! Why did Allah forbid
the dead animal, blood and flesh of swine?
He said:
As for the dead body, nobody goes near it or eats
it but his body becomes weak and thin, and his
strength is lost and his generation is discontinued;
and one who (habitually) eats dead body will not
die but unexpectedly.
As for blood, it creates burning thirst and hardheartedness,
mercilessness and unkindness; one
cannot be sure that he would not kill his child or
parents; he cannot be trusted about his friends or
companions.
Athar (1986), Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology
at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis comments on the effects of
ingesting dead meat:
All hormones and antibodies are retained in the
blood, and all infected organisms including virus
flourish in the blood media, therefore ingestion
of such will be dangerous medically. It may also
induce animal instincts as seen in carnivorous
animals like dogs, cats, and lions.
The above view is similar to Schwartz and Russek (1999) that the ingested meat
with such traumatic memory can infiltrate the human cells and cause an effect
mentally and in ones behavior. As explained in later sections, Muslims are also
advised not to imitate the clothing and design of unbelievers as a change of heart
may be apparent in Muslims.
For the above-mentioned reasons, the meat of a dead animal is also forbidden in
Islam. Moreover, the meat does not meet the requirements of a balanced electrical
matrix. Once an animal dies on its own, the body stops producing the life-preserving
hormones and enzymes thereby lowering the charge of the electrical matrix of its
meat, altering the chemical composition, and making the meat unhealthy and toxic.
In a few hours or so, the animal starts decomposing, radiating unstable energy and
thus the meat becomes even more harmful to consumers. The network of infoenergy
within such an animal is also less desirable.
Further, eating such kinds of meat is forbidden because we would be introducing
in our system weaker fields of energy that have the strong ability to interfere with
our emotions, thoughts processes, and our health. However, that animal, which
is slaughtered in the Islamic manner, meets the requirements of electrically
balanced and healthy meat since the meat is preserved from the blood, as almost
all of it gushes out during the slaughter. Also, the life-preserving hormones and
chemicals are at work until the time of slaughter. There is no pain or torture, so the
memory within the network of info-energy of the animal is not disturbed. In brief,
the Islamic method of slaughtering an animal causes the energy and information
contained within the energy surrounding that animal remain stable throughout
the pre and post-slaughter period.
Food Prepared by an Atheist
Islam is such a perfect way of life that Allah has even prohibited sacrificing animals
on idol stones and images, as the meat of the animal becomes spiritually unclean.
Forbidden to you is that which dies of
itself, and blood, and flesh of swine. And
that on which any other name than that of
Allah has been invoked. And the strangled
(animal) and that beaten to death, and
that killed by a fall and that killed by being
smitten with the horn, and that which
wild beasts have eaten, except what you
slaughter,
and what is sacrificed on stones set up
(for idols),
and that you divide by the arrows, that is
a transgression. This day have those who
disbelieve despaired of your religion, so
fear them not, and fear Me.
This day have I perfected for you your
religion and completed My favor on you
and chosen for you Islam as a religion;
but whoever is compelled by hunger, not
inclining willfully to sin, then surely Allah
is Forgiving, Merciful.
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 5, Verse 3)
Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) says:
The verse prohibits eating the flesh of an animal
slaughtered on stone. In this way, it prohibits of
the customs of the Days of Ignorance. They had
set up around the Ka'bah stones, which they
venerated and over which they offered sacrifices.
It was a custom of idolatry.
An advice from the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (S) to Abu Dhar (AR):
O Abu Dhar! Do not accompany but a believer,
and let no one eat your food but a pious person,
and don't eat the food of the evildoers.
Several scholars in Islam have passed a ruling to Muslims to avoid eating food
prepared by non-Muslims or by Atheists, and some of them have forbidden this
completely, in particular when the non-Muslim has made contact with the food or
ingredients for that matter, with wet hands. Even though the ingredients may not
be involved, the contact the Atheist may have with the food while preparing the
meal is what is in question.
It is very likely that Atheists do not follow the prescribed rulings in Islam and
therefore drink alcohol, commit adultery, not wash themselves after going through
natural episodes, and so forth. The nature of the vibration in their energy is lowered
and the info-energy surrounding these people is corrupt. Even though Muslims
can have such adulterated info-energy within their energy systems (by following
un-Islamic behaviors), the possibility is greater in non-Muslims who do not have
guided principles in order to act accordingly.
This low-charged energy in a person may thus interfere with the energy of the food
causing a reaction. The quality of the vibration (from the energy) in food is vital
and important in understanding how the food will react on the person ingesting the
food (Chopra, 1991). According to Chopra, the one who prepares a meal involves
him at the energy level with the ingredients, and the effects are noticeable. He
writes that there is a big difference when a sick child is presented with soup made
by his mother than the soup from a can. There is also a difference in the quality of
food prepared by an angry and upset individual than a loving and caring person.
In any case, fields of energy in an atheist or an unbeliever will have retained
emotional and adulterated memory episodes that may interfere in the network of
energy fields of the food being prepared. Just as ingesting non-Halal meat or Pig's
meat may be dangerous to one's health, so is the case with food prepared by non-
Muslims.
Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) writes the following about the lives of non-Muslims:
Allah has, in these verses, condemned interest
in the most emphatic words. No other deed has
been condemned in such a harsh tone. The only
exception is befriending the enemies of religion,
which also has been execrated with equal force.
All other major sins have been condemned
emphatically in the Qur'an, but the level of their
condemnation is far below that used for these two
evils.
Not only fornication, liquor and gambling, but
even more grievous sins like murder and creating
mischief in the earth seem milder than these two
- interest and making friends with the enemies of
religion.
And why? The reason is very clear. The bad effects
of the above-mentioned sins remain mostly
confined to individuals, one or more; further,
they impair only some particular psychological
traits of the doer.
But these two evils bring such destruction in their
wake that religion is uprooted and even its signs
are obliterated, the lifeline of human social order
is severed, human nature is overpowered
by their
harmful intoxication, and it loses all its control
over the people's thinking and action.
For these reasons, non-Muslims, unbelievers and infidels, as well as unclean
Muslim individuals are prohibited from entering the mosques or taking care of
them, as there is greater possibility to infiltrate, adulterate and corrupt the pure
network of energy fields within the environment of the mosque. This is also, why
all Saints have forbidden vile acts of sin and ignorance to be performed in Churches
and Synagogues.
Even Muslims have been prohibited to enter the mosques and even touch the
writings of al-Qur'an when in the state of Janabat (after having sex and before
taking the prescribed shower), or women in the state of menstruation.
The idol worshipers are not to frequent
the mosques of God, while confessing their
disbelief. These have nullified their works,
and they will abide forever in Hell.
(al-Qur'an- Chapter 9, Verse 17)
Forbidden foods and everything that is unlawful to ingest does cause harm to the
individual. Islam has thus, prohibited its followers from consuming and even to
participate in its production. Shaheed Dastaghaib Shirazi (AR) quotes a tradition
from Safinatul-Bihar, in his book Greater Sins - Volume 2, in which the noble
Prophet of Allah reported:
Prayers of the one who eats a single morsel of
the forbidden are not accepted for forty nights,
nor are his invocations accepted for forty days.
Every piece of flesh that grows by consuming the
forbidden is most deserving of being burnt in hell
fire, and even a single morsel consumed causes
some growth in flesh.
Muslims are Advised Not to Make Friends, Imitate the Behavior, Clothing and
Fashion of Non-Believers
Mr. Ahmed Ali writes in his comments under Qur'an - Chapter 3, Verse 118:
The believers are warned not to make friends with
the enemies of Islam, their associates and relatives.
Tolerance is desirable only when it is known that
there is no joining of hands to launch an offense
against the true faith. It is a wise maxim to preserve
the faith from the contaminating influence of
impiety and infidelity. The disbelievers will not
fall short in corrupting or vitiating the true belief
of the believers, because they cannot control their
hatred. The believers are bound to believe in all
revealed books, but their enemies do not believe
in the final book of Allah. To make mischief they
pose as believers and plot to harm the faithful,
but in the end their goal shall never be achieved.
The glory of the true believers shall continue and
increase and shall never perish. Allah knows the
spite that is rankling in the breasts of the enemies
of the true faithful, and has laid it bare.
And indeed He has revealed to you in
the Book that when you hear Allah's
communications disbelieved in and
mocked at, do not sit with them until they
enter into some other discourse. Surely
then you would be like them. Surely Allah
will gather together the hypocrites and the
unbelievers all in hell.
(al-Qur'an - Chapter 4, Verse 140)
al-Sadiq (AS) has said, Allah (SWT), the Exalted and Most High, inspired one
of the prophets commanding him - Tell the believers not to wear the clothes of
My enemies, not to eat like My enemies, and not to walk like My enemies, so as
not to be My enemies as they are My enemies. This citation can be found in al- Jawahirus-Saniyah, chapter on Abu Abdullah Ja'far, son of Muhammad, al-Sadiq,
Tradition 60.
Islam has been kind enough to prohibit their followers from wearing and observing
dresses or performing actions similar to the infidels. Undoubtedly, if one were to
observe clothing and fashion similar to the non-believers, this act can make one
oblivious to the teachings of Islam as he permits the sharing and tarnishing of
his network of info-energy with the energy of the infidels, thus adulterating one's
information and memory within his or her system of energy.
By observing such fashion seen in non-Muslims, the effects are visible, clearly
show in one's pride, and decrease in humility that Islam encourages. For instance,
men wearing earrings, the hair-cut and color, shape of beard and hair style, the
bikini and tight-revealing dresses, the tie and knots on one's shirt, the openings in
trousers and the relevant shortness, the kind of fashionable clothes seen in films
and movies, and so forth. In many cases, such clothes are even forbidden for a
Muslim to observe.
Ali (AS), the Prince of Believers, has said that there are effects in the fashion and
tailoring of clothes.
It sometimes happens that those who wear the clothes cut
similar to those of the foreigners, gets a feeling of ignorant attachment to them,
and thus, he repulses and abominates the friends of Allah (SWT) and His Prophet,
and loves their enemies.
From Allah, the advise is, therefore,
not to adopt the style and mannerism of my
enemies, lest you may be considered as one of them. He who appears like a certain
type shall be identified as of that type.
Commenting on Qur'anic Verse 54, Chapter 51, Allamah Taba Tabai (AR) says:
Briefly, Allah warns the believers against taking
the Jews and the Christians for friends, and
threatens them most severely. Then, He points in
an apocalyptical way where such friendship was
to take them and how it would turn into ruins
the magnificent structure of religious character.
Then, Allah will bring on scene a people who
will manage the affairs and restore the religion's
structure to its original splendor.
This is what makes a lover of a group a member
of that group and unites him with it. It has been
said, Whoever loves a people, he is one of them.
Also [it is said], A man is with whom he loves. And
Allah has said forbidding loving the polytheists, O you who believe! Do not take My enemy
and your enemy for friends, would you
offer them love while they deny what has
come to you of the truth . (60:1).
The verses go on in the same vein, until it says,
...and whoever makes friends with them,
these are the unjust (60:9). Also He says,
You shall not find a people who believe in
Allah and the latter day befriending those
who act in opposition to Allah and His
Messenger, even though they were their
fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or
their kinsfolk . (58:22).
Allah has also said regarding the love of the
unbelievers - and the wording is general which
includes the Jews, the Christians and the
polytheists - Let not the believers take the
unbelievers for friends rather than the
believers, and whoever does this, he shall
have nothing (to do) with Allah, except
(when) you guard yourselves against
(them) for fear from them. And Allah
cautions you of Himself . (3:28). The verse
clearly speaks about the wilayah of love and
affection rather than that of covenant and pact.
Remember that when the third chapter, The
House of Imran, was revealed. The Prophet (S)
had already concluded pacts and truce with the
Jews and the polytheists.
Thus, the clause, do not take the Jews and the
Christians for awliya, clearly forbids loving
them or having any affection towards them.
This is because such feelings pull the souls and
spirits towards each other and it creates mutual
moral effects on both sides. And if Muslims are
influenced by un-Islamic behavior, their society
will diverge from its religious way (which is based
on the felicity of following the truth) to the way
of unbelief (which is based on following the low
desires and worshipping the Satan); and thus it
will go astray from the path of the natural life.
They are friends of each other - As explained
earlier, wilayah here means friendship, because
their hearts are nearer to each other and their
souls have mutual attraction. Consequently, they
think similar way; they join hands in following
their low desires, and their haughtiness leads
them to reject the truth; they strive together
to extinguish the light of Allah, and help each
other in fighting against the Prophet (S) and the
Muslims. It seems, as all of them are one person
of one religion. Although actually they are not
of one religion, yet they have joined their forces
and have become one power against the Muslims,
simply because Islam calls them to truth and
opposes what in their eyes is the greatest goal
- To follow their low desires and licentiousness
in objects of desire and enjoyment of worldly
attractions.