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On what religious grounds can we evaluate this statement made by a doctor who claims that psychiatric problems occur more in pork-eating countries than in non-pork-eating countries?

Dated: 13/05/1984

Location: The London Mosque

Language: English

Audience: General

On what religious grounds can we evaluate this statement made by a doctor who claims that psychiatric problems occur more in pork-eating countries than in non-pork-eating countries?

He has not made this statement on religious ground. He is a physician, and he is speaking from the domain to which he belongs. From a medical expert’s point of view, he is discussing this aspect. There are many, and I am the doctor, who have concentrated on this point in particular, from their field. Why pork is forbidden? Now, there are two aspects, two angles from which we can study this question. Number one, there might be some inferences of pork on human psychology, which may not be known to man, but as long as you believe in the book in total, you are not permitted to raise questions about every single item of that. Whether you understand or not, if you accept the book, you should follow every injunction, because the fundamental claim is that that book is revealed by Allah, who is all-knowing, who is the creator of the universe, of every life on earth.

So, on that presumption, those who believe, they must follow the injunctions, whether they understand the philosophy or not. If their belief is wavering on the verge of belief or not to believe, then perhaps these questions would be valid for them, and it would add to their decision-making power. If they are not convinced on the details of certain questions, they may decide that that order could not be from Allah. But for every order, you do not have to give a satisfactory explanation in scientific terms. For example, some orders are of the nature of trial.

If somebody is the proprietor, does he not enjoy the right to tell you what to do and what not to do? That is the fundamental question. What do you think about it? If you come to my house and I am the proprietor, will I permit you or must I permit you to use everything you like or no? Fundamentally, I have the right to tell you. So to establish the right of propriety, Allah has been telling, eat of everything except this. Eat that and not that. And this is the first lesson of the Bible, which says that Adam was told to eat of that tree and not to eat of that tree.

So this is to establish the propriety rights. This is why in every religion, the list of those things which are forbidden is not the same. And nor is it the same at every time. And the Holy Prophet of Islam was told in the Holy Quran, the philosophy of right and wrong, and also it was told that we forbid certain things to Israelites as punishment. Even that is the philosophy. If you punish a child, sometimes you say, all right, no chocolate for you again. And you have every right to do that. But to deny that right to the creator, to give his orders for anything he chooses, for any reason he chooses.

So number one, this question is invalid. Why should God forbid a certain thing which he has created? He knows better. There may be so many reasons. If the reason has not been explained, we can only put conjectures, put forward conjectures. Now, if a conjecture is put forward by a certain doctor or some certain scholar, and it is not acceptable to you, then what? The point is, it was his conjecture. The Holy Quran didn’t mention it in so many words.

So whether his idea was right or wrong, it’s neither here nor there. Even that I can’t accept, because you say they are not true facts, and he says they are true facts. And you say they are not true facts. He himself says they are not true facts. What I’m trying to say is, don’t you think that a lot of Christian people who read this show will laugh at it, because I’ve given this book to a lot of people. This is what I have told all of you already. Even if they laugh at it, if they are sensible, they are just laughing at Dr. So-and-so’s explanation. Not at the injunction itself. Because I may put forward a different explanation, because that explanation has not been given, no explanation has been given by the Holy Quran.

So if I consider that explanation to be the reason behind, and somebody doesn’t believe it, he may laugh at me, he has every right. But still, he is not laughing at the injunction itself. Because there could be other reasons. For example, the sun rises daily, and various explanations were put forward for the reality of the rise of sun at various stages in history. There are so many things happening simultaneously, and one may say this is the cause and this is the effect. For example, in the morning, the birds begin to chirp and sing, just before the sunrise. And somebody may be naive enough to say that the sun rises because the birds have begun to sing. And this phenomena has preceded the phenomena of the rise of sun. You may laugh at it, but you can’t laugh at the fact that sun has risen. It is just an effort to explain things, and somebody, previously, there was another explanation too.

Some said that the sun rises because sun is revolving around the earth. And it appeared to be quite valid at the time. But now when you look back, you laugh at it. Still you can’t laugh at the fact that the sun rises. So if the orders are there without any explanation, if somebody has a right to laugh at some explanation put forward by somebody, but not at the order itself, to your mind maybe, but how can you project yourself into the mind of every reader and say this is the reaction of every reader? So write to him. You write to him and tell him that your experience tells you that this explanation is not acceptable. So why to put forward an explanation which instead of helping Islam is damaging the cause of Islam? This is what you want to say. I agree. It is possible. So you write to the author about it. You understand my point?


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Updated on November 7, 2024

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