By Cyril Anderson

Many among non-Muslims, and even some Muslims don't understand the fuss over halal food.  Many of these people find it bizarre, seeing no connection between food and religious state.  However, in Islam, as in Judaism, this is an important matter, based on scriptural and philosophical arguments.

The idea of religious practice and faith is to draw close to God and to build and nurture our connection and closeness to God.  This connection is through our soul, and is made the stronger the more we are able to purify our soul.  However, the purity of our soul is related to the purity of our thought, and the purity and clarity of our thought is impacted by what we eat and drink.  Drink alcohol, and our thoughts grow hazy; overeat, and our thoughts grow similarly foggy.  The spiritual state is harmed by an improper bodily state of pollution through improper food.

The halal slaughter method

 The method of halal slaughter, often pronounced “barbaric” by those without much understanding of the process and its regulations, includes a number of precautions meant to ensure the most humane method of slaughter possible, minimizing the suffering involved in the “necessary evil” of killing animals for food.  One of the regulations is the need to use a sharp knife, slaughtering the animal by cutting the throat quickly and deeply.  The idea of this is to quickly cause massive bleeding and rapid unconsciousness due to lack of blood flow to the brain, all the while keeping heart pumping blood to remove blood from body.  If done properly, the unconsciousness should occur before swelling at the wound causes pain and makes the animal aware of what has happened.  There are good medical reasons why this would be a good method.  First of all, the method removes blood from the body of the animal, preventing it from sitting there, where it could theoretically provide a breeding ground for bacteria that could spoil the meat and make people sick.  The relative painlessness of the slaughter and the causing of the animal to black out quickly before becoming aware of what has happened is good because it keeps the animal calm.  If the animal becomes frightened, its body will release into the bloodstream, and into the flesh hormones usually released due to fear that could have a negative effect on the meat.  This notion of keeping the animal calm is furthered by some of the other regulations for halal slaughter.  This includes a requirement to give water to the animal before, not showing the knife to the animal beforehand, cleaning up the blood from the animals in between slaughters so that the new animals don’t see this and get alarmed, not abusing the animal in its life before slaughter, but treating it well, and feeding it no improper food.  In addition, it is required to say a prayer over the animal to God.

“Forbidden are blood, carrion, and the flesh of swine…”

 Another aspect of the Islamic law of importance is the prohibition on pork, carrion, and blood.  There are some evident reasons for these prohibitions: 

Blood is a potential breeding ground for harmful bacteria when an animal is killed.  Blood also carries nitrogenous metabolic wastes within it in transit to the kidneys, where this liquid waste is excreted as urine, an essential impurity, like blood.  For this, and likely other reasons that are not so clear, consumption of blood is forbidden in Islam.  This becomes then another supporting argument for the Islamic slaughter method, which minimizes the amount of blood left in the flesh after the animal is killed.

 Carrion, or meat from an animal killed by a fall, or sickness, or by another animal is also unhealthy.  The dead carcass lying around becomes a breeding ground for bacteria as the meat decomposes and begins to rot.  This is aided by bacteria left from the saliva of scavengers.  Often with carrion, it is unknown exactly how long the animal has been dead, posing a health risk.  So the wisdom of this prohibition, especially now that we have the benefit of microscopes to see microbes.

 Pig flesh is, like blood and carrion, banned by both Jewish and Islamic law.  The reasons are not 100% clear, but there are several conjectured reasons.  One of these is the uncanny and disturbing similarity in pig physiology and human physiology, both in terms of body structure and biochemistry of the meat.  Second is the unclean lifestyle of pig, including its willingness to eat its own feces.  Finally, the disgusting nature of modern industrial pig farms and the environmental havoc they wreak is another reason.

Teachings to limit meat eating

 Also useful to note are Islamic teachings about the spiritual benefit of limiting the amount of meat that you eat.  This is something which has both medical and ethical reasons behind it.  There are actually two major narrations about this.  One, by Imam Ali says, “be careful not to make your stomachs a graveyard for animals.”  That is, do not eat excessive amounts of meat.  Historical accounts record that Imam Ali followed this teaching strictly, eating meat only the minimum amount needed to sustain his strength and health, given the conditions of the day.  How this example would translate into the present day, when food alternatives allow you to get the same protein and other nutrients from non-animal sources such as tofu, beans, and other sources is difficult to say.  While there is not really any direct evidence from the core Islamic sources to say outright that one shouldn’t eat meat today, there is on the other hand no major basis within these same texts for an objection to the diet of vegetarians, or vegans, who choose of their own free will to avoid meat and even animal products.

The importance of cleanliness and wholesomeness of our food

 Another famous narration is one in which an imam instructs his followers not to eat too much meat, because, as he explained, “too much meat-eating hardens the heart.”  This fascinating narration can be read in two different ways.  First, from a spiritual standpoint, taking this to mean that eating meat will in some way affect your personality, thoughts, behavior, and actions, perhaps making you a harsher person, less compassionate.  Another, more literal reading could take this to describe the actual hardening of the heart, or rather, the walls of its vital arteries, from excess intake of the heavy fats of animal flesh.

There is great importance placed in Islam on the food being clean in all aspects.  This doesn't mean clean simply in the literal sense, but in a more general spiritual sense.  That is, food should not be associated with any wrongdoing, because eating this food is then seen as participating in this wrongdoing.  For example, if someone was exploited to grow or pick vegetables, or if the animals were raised in an abusive manner, or something was done which was illegal in the process between the growing or raising of the food and you, or if someone cheated in some way.  If you eat such food, you are helping the growth of wrong in the world by encouraging it with your money. 

 Now, one has to be careful not to take things too much to extremes.  One can turn oneself into a nervous wreck worrying constantly about the unseen, unknown details of the process that brought food to your plate.  Now, while it is a good idea to take some action to ensure that your food is sound, fortunately, God is merciful of course, and allows us to rest easy if we cannot see any evidence of something wrong after a reasonable investigation.  It is not expected that we make our lives ridiculously difficult, worrying about every morsel we eat, but we must do our best, and it is a sign of advancing spirituality and connection with God to be sincerely concerned with such issues.