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What other meats, besides pork, are Muslims forbidden to eat ?

Dated: 06/08/1985

Location: The London Mosque

Language: English

Audience: General

What other meats, besides pork, are Muslims forbidden to eat ?

Are we allowed to eat meat apart from pork in school which is not halal? Yes, there are other types of meats which are not halal apart from pork and you want to know which ones. Yes. Is that right? Yes. Okay. If you go by classifications, all animals which are called animals of prey, which live on the flesh of other animals, they have been declared haram by the Holy Quran as a category. And in between them and those animals which have been declared halal positively, there are various animals which belong to the no man’s land.

But the principle declared by the Holy Quran is that not only should you eat halal but you should also eat tayyab and you should also be very careful as to use an animal for the purpose for which it is created. For instance, if you begin to eat horses, number one, it would not be tayyab because horses are meant for a different purpose, so their meat is not very savoury, very palatable to human taste. And this is why the horses in jungle are also not shot, not for game. Asses, they are built, donkeys, they are built for a certain purpose, for carrying loads, so they are not eaten.

And there are certain animals like camels which are multipurpose animals and which have been declared by the Holy Quran to be counted among those animals which have been created also for the purpose of eating. So these animals which belong to no man’s land, they are numerous, but human practice generally establishes that they are not eaten, they are not created for eating and they should be left alone. But you shouldn’t go by human practices, they vary. You should take your light from the principles laid down in the Holy Quran because the practices vary so much that if you go to Africa among the pagans, there are no inhibitions.

They can eat insects of all sorts and they enjoy them so much that they would keep watching for the insects whole night, you know, by a burning lamp. The moment an insect comes, they would grab it and eat it. And they think they are very delicious. And the Chinese, you know, they eat everything and anything. Once there was, a friend of mine told me a joke and he told me it was not a joke, it was a real experience, but we don’t know, I doubt it, if it actually happened. But it is relevant to your question.

The human practices vary so much that if you can’t take your light and direction from just human practices, you must take your light from the Holy Quran and the tradition of the Holy Prophet. Whatever he demonstrated to be good for eating, you should better restrict yourself, otherwise you will enter such regions where there will be just confusion and you won’t be able to decide for yourself. Now, this gentleman of the story, he went to visit Hong Kong or some other place where there is greater Chinese influence. And people had warned him, look here, they eat everything, so you better just not be satisfied by telling them that you don’t eat pork. You have to mention so many other things which you do not eat.

For instance, rats and donkeys and things of all sorts, and bats and so on. So he prepared a very long list. So when he went to the restaurant and the bear appeared, he said, look here, this is the list which I don’t eat. So instead of asking me what I would eat, I’m going to tell you I don’t eat these things. Bring anything else. So he bowed very gently and politely as the Chinese are generally serious, don’t worry, I’ll get you something still. So he brought some food and he ate it, and when he was upstairs in his room, he felt very hot. And the whole night he felt like barking. And the next morning, when he enquired what it was, it was told that it was a dog, because he had omitted dog from that list.

So he ate everything and anything which is available. This is a joke, but I tell you, an Ahmadi who was labouring, working as a labourer in Hong Kong, told me something which he had seen with his own eyes. And I know him to be an honest, truthful person, so I have to believe, otherwise I can’t believe it. He told me that once he was working in a cellar, not a cellar, but a basement where there was so much stock of grain, and, no, no, underground, I mean, underground basement, yes, go down, correct. And there was so much stock of grain of various types and there were so many rats as well.

So a Chinese labourer was working along with him, who used to bring his bread and would buy something to make a sandwich out of the pieces of bread he brought with him. So once he saw him with his own eyes, a rat scurried through. And immediately he grabbed the rat and sandwiched the rat alive between the two pieces of bread and started eating it. And he was so happy, his face was beaming with delight, you know, what a delicious sandwich that was. So don’t take your light from just human experience, please.

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Updated on November 16, 2024

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