Fri03292024

Last updateSun, 20 Aug 2023 9pm

Food

Food

Man requires food for the continuity of his life and the growth of his body. For this purpose many kinds of vegetables, fruits, other varieties of agricultural produce and meats have been put at his disposal.

 "We have established you on the earth and there have provided you with a livelihood". (Surah al‑A'raf, 7:10).

 "He produced you from the earth and settled you there". (Surah Hud, 11:61).

 "He it is who has made the earth subservient to you, so walk in the paths thereof and eat o f His providence". (Surah al‑Mulk, 67:15).

 Many significant points are related to the question of food such as the right of the common people to make use of the Divine gifts, the role of human labour in making the raw material usable, various aspects of material needs of human life and how to ensure the supply of the essential commo­dities and their equitable distribution. Anyhow at present we are concerned only with the question as to what food is lawful and what is unlawful.

 Islam does in no way forbid the partaking of tasty food and the drinking of healthy and pleasant beverages. In fact the holy Qur'an has encouraged the utilization of the Divine gifts.

 "Muhammad say: Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants, and to use the good things of His providing? Say: These on the Day of Resurrection will be only for those who were faithful in the life of this world". (Surah al‑A'raf, 7:32).

 Hence it should not be construed that a pious and faithful person should abstain from sumptuous food and drink. All good things have been created for man, and hence should naturally be used by the faithful.

 "O you messengers! Eat of the good things and do what is right". (Surah al‑Mu'minun, 23:51).

 At another place the Qur'an says: "O you who believe! Eat of the good things with which We have provided you, and give thanks to Allah . . . . . ". (Surahal‑Baqarah, 2:172).

 The Qur'an reproaches those persons who deprive them­selves of good things without just cause and make unlawful for themselves the lawful foods and blessings:

 "O you who believe! Do not forbid the good things which Allah has made lawful for you". (Surah al‑Maidah, 5:87).

 The general criterion for the foods and beverages being lawful is their being `good' i.e. wholesome, delicious, clean and pure.

 "They ask you what is lawful for them, Say: All good things are lawful for you": (Surah al‑Maidah, 5:4).

 Of course certain things have been prohibited, but that has been done just to save the Muslims from their evil effects and not to deprive them of any good thing. Only foul things have been prohibited, foul in the sense that they are obnoxious, harmful and impure.

The Qur'an summarizing the teachings of the Prophet of Islam in this respect says: "He declares the good things to be lawful and bad ‑things to be unlawful" . (Surahal‑A'raf, 7:157).

 Islam prohibits the eating and drinking of the following: All the foul things as mentioned above, such as the carrion, blood etc. and every food and beverage polluted by such things.

 All dirty and obnoxious things such as clay, mud, polluted­ water and putrid and rotten food.

 Dog, pig and other predatory animals like lion, wolf, bear, jackal etc.

 Invertebrate animals like snake, scorpion, wasp and worms.

 Birds which possess hooked beak and talons and are treated to be predatory birds, like eagle etc.

 The birds that usually soar in the air without flapping their wings and flap the same much lesser.

 The fish that have no scales.

 Some other animals such as elephant, rat, monkey, frog and tortoise.

 All alcoholic beverages. As a general rule everything intoxicant or narcotic which is definitely injurious for human health comes under this category.

 Experience and medical research have proved that alcoholic beverages and narcotic drugs are injurious to health and undermine physical and mental fitness. From moral and social point of view also they are the source of many evils. A drunken man loses the control of his senses and is liable to foolish action and undignified behavior. Such a person may even commit crimes. These poisonous stuffs have ruined many a family. People get addicted to them just to seek momentary exhilaration and false satisfaction. These things not only do not resolve the worries of their life, but also make them further complicated. Instead of making life happy they cause infatuation and frustration.

 Slaughtering of animals

The animals, the meat of which is allowed to be eaten, such as sheep, goat, cow, camel, deer, domestic fowl etc. have to be slaughtered in the prescribed manner. Otherwise if they die their natural death or are killed by beating, wounding or in any way other than the prescribed one their flesh is not lawful.

 We here reproduce the legal method of slaughtering from Articles of Islamic Acts (ISP, 1982).

 An act of slaughter to be legal must satisfy the following five conditions:

 (1) The person who slaughters must be a Muslim.

 (2) The animal while being slaughtered should be facing the Qiblah.

 (3) He must utter the name of Allah when slaughtering.

 (4) He must cut the throat of the animal with a sharp implement made of iron in a way that the jugular artery, jugular vein, oesophagus canal and trachea are cut.

 (5) It must move after having been slaughtered.

 In the case of a camel the only prescribed method of its slaughter is Nabr, which means thrusting a knife or any other sharp implement into the cavity between its neck and chest. Other conditions are the same in this case also. As for the fish the rule is as under:

 If the fish having scales is caught alive and dies after having been taken out of water, it is lawful. But if it dies inside the water it is unlawful. The fish having no scales is unlawful, even if it is caught alive and dies out of water.

 The meat of the lawful wild animals and birds killed with hunting weapons is legally edible provided the following five conditions are observed.

 (1) The weapon must be incisive or sharp, and must not be of the nature of a net, a stick or a stone.

 (2) The hunter must be a Muslim.

 (3) He should normally utter the name of Allah at the time of using his weapon. Anyhow, if he forgets to utter it there is no harm.

(4) The weapon must be used with the intention of killing the game. If it is killed accidentally, its flesh is not lawful.

 (5) When the hunter reaches the game, it should be already dead. If it is caught alive and there is sufficient time to slaughter it must be slaughtered in the prescribed manner stated above.

 An eatable or drinkable stuff is lawful only if it is not ill‑gotten, i.e. the stuff itself or the money by which it has been purchased must not have been acquired by unfair, dishonest or fraudulent means, such as theft, bribery, usury, swindle, embezzlement etc. Anything ill‑gotten, even if proper and lawful in itself, is not lawful and the person concerned is accountable for it, as its use involves encroachment on the rights of others. The Qur'an says: "Believers, do not devour each other's property among yourselves unlawfully, but rather trade with it by your mutual consent, and do not kill each other". (Surah al‑Nisa, 4:29).

 The question of lawful and unlawful property forms an important subject of the economics of Islam. But due to its being outside the scope of our present discourse, we skip over it.

 Wastage of food

Even the food‑stuff which is come by through fair means is not to be wasted or over‑consumed. Its over‑consumption is not only against the principles of economic justice, but is injurious to the health of the consumers themselves. It is very unfair that a few well‑to‑do persons may waste and over‑consume food‑stuffs while many others starve. The Qur'an says: "Eat and drink but be not prodigal". (Surah al‑A'raf, 7:32).

You have no rights to post comments

Find us on Facebook