By Babatunde Jose
In a multi-faith society, it is usually necessary to clear misconceptions about each other’s religion, particularly those things that are capable of causing disaffection between people. Some of such issues relate to food. What is halal and what is haram, interfaith marriage, attendance at burials, and even felicitations during festivals. Unfortunately, there are clerics who try to exacerbate these differences by accentuating the gulf between the religions out of ignorance, misinterpretation of the gospels and in some cases outright mischief to cause ill-will and disaffection. The Quran offers an insight into these issues in some of the Surahs. Today we shall examine the issue of food as enunciated in Chapter 5 of the Quran.
This Surah has been called Al-Ma’idah (the food), because of the invocation of Jesus (as) when he asked for the descent of heavenly food, mentioned in verse 114 of this Surah. The Arabic term Ma’idah originally is used for a tray with food inside. At-Tirmidhi recorded that `Abdullah bin `Amr said, “The last Surahs to be revealed were Surat Al-Ma’idah (Chapter 5) and Surat Al-Fath (chapter 48).”
The chapter’s topics include animals which are forbidden, and Jesus’ and Moses’ missions. Verse 90 prohibits “The intoxicant” (alcohol). Verse 8 contains the passage: “Do not let the hatred of a people lead you to injustice”. And Verse 67 is relevant to the Farewell Pilgrimage.
The highpoint of this Surah relates to the permission and prohibition of foods, thereby clarifying confusions being perpetrated by ignorant interpreters.
This topic is very important in view of interfaith relations and understanding. Can I break bread with my neighbor from another religion? Can he break bread with me too? Can I marry from another religion? Can I join my friends in celebrating their religious festivals? Can I as a Muslim wish my neighbor Merry Christmas during their yuletide? Can I offer him meat from my Ileya ram? Can I eat the food he brings me during their Easter and Christmas celebrations? Can I attend his burial?
For the purpose of this exercise, we shall limit our interrogation to verses 1,3-5 of this Surah as they have a bearing on the illicit interpretation of ignorant and mischievous Alfas who are bent on endangering the religious harmony that exist between Muslims and their Christian brethren. They have caused so much confusion that one is at a loss to discern what food is halal and what is haram.
The Quran says in the opening of the Surah: Believers! Honor your bonds! All grazing beasts of the flock are permitted to you except those which are recited to you hereinafter, . . . . Indeed, Allah decrees as He wills. (Quran 5:1)
This brief introductory statement is followed by an enunciation of those prohibitions which people are required to observe.
The terms in which the injunction is conveyed are bahimat al-an’am (all grazing beasts of the flock). Hence the permission is of wider import and embraces all grazing quadrupeds of the cattle type, i.e. which do not possess canine teeth, which feed on plants rather than animals.
This implies that the flesh of those animals which have canine teeth and are carnivorous is not permissible. This implication was elucidated by the Prophet (peace be on him) and is embodied in a tradition in which he prohibited those beasts which kill and eat other animals. Likewise, the Prophet (peace be on him) also prohibited birds with claws and those that feed on carrion. (Bukhari, Tirmidhi, ‘At’imah’, Muslim, ‘Sayd’, Nasa’i, ‘Sayd wa Dhaba’ih’, Ibn Majah.
Allah went on to elucidate: Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, the animal slaughtered in any name other than Allah’s, the animal which has either been strangled, killed by blows, has died of a fall, by goring or that devoured by a beast of prey – unless it be that which you yourselves might have slaughtered while it was still alive – and that which was slaughtered at the altars. . . . . . . . . . This day I have perfected for you your religion and have bestowed upon you My bounty in full measure and have been pleased to assign for you Islam as your religion. (Follow, then, the lawful and unlawful bounds enjoined upon you.) As for he who is driven by hunger, without being willfully inclined to sin, surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (Quran 5:3)
It is lawful to eat the flesh of an animal which may have suffered from any of the above-mentioned accidents providing it was still alive until slaughtered. This verse also makes it clear that the flesh of an animal becomes lawful only by slaughtering ritually, and that no other method of killing is valid. The preferred method is slitting the throat so that the blood is completely drained from the animal’s body.
The disadvantage of killing an animal by either guillotine or strangulation is that the greater part of the blood remains within the body, and at various places it sticks to the flesh and forms congealed lumps. If an animal is slaughtered by slitting the throat, on the other hand, the connection between mind and body remains intact for a short while, with the result that the blood is thoroughly drained out from all the veins and the flesh becomes fully cleansed of blood. We have just come across the injunction prohibiting the eating of blood. So only that flesh which has been purged of blood is declared lawful.
As regards the swine, its prohibition is not only in the Quran but dates back to the older religions. According to Leviticus 11:3, animals like cows, sheep, and deer that have divided hooves and chew their cud may be consumed. Pigs should not be eaten because they don’t chew their cud. The ban on the consumption of pork is repeated in Deuteronomy 14:8. In the old days, it was believed they ate calorie-dense foods, not only nuts and grains but also less salubrious items such as carrion, human corpses and feces. The pigs were unclean because they ate filth. The Jews were not alone in this prejudice. In the great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, priests and rulers avoided pork at all costs.
In Ayat 4 of the Surah, Allah said: They ask you what has been made lawful to them. Say: ‘All clean things have been made lawful to you, and such hunting animals as you teach, training them to hunt, teaching them the knowledge Allah has given you – you may eat what they catch for you – but invoke the name of Allah on it. Have fear of Allah (in violating His Law). Allah is swift in His reckoning.’
There is a certain subtlety in how the query is answered. Religious-minded people often fall into a prohibitionist mentality by tending to regard as unlawful everything not expressly declared as lawful. This makes them excessively fastidious and over-suspicious and inclined to ask for a complete list of all that is lawful and permitted. The Qur’an’s response to this question seems to be aimed, in the first place, at the reform of this mentality.
Henceforth, except for a few prohibitions, the lawful domain embraced virtually everything.
The lawfulness of things has been tied, however, to the stipulation of their being clean so that no one can argue for the lawfulness of things which are unclean. Therefore, everything is clean apart from those things which can be reckoned unclean either according to any of the principles embodied in the Law or which are repellent to man’s innate sense of good taste or which civilized human beings have generally found offensive to their natural feelings of cleanliness and decency.
Hence, Allah says: This day all good things have been made lawful to you. The food of the People of the Book is permitted to you, and your food is permitted to them. And permitted to you are chaste women, be they either from among the believers or from among those who have received the Book before you, provided you become their protectors in wedlock after paying them their bridal-due, rather than go around committing fornication and taking them as secret-companions. The work of he who refuses to follow the way of faith will go to waste, and he will be among the utter losers in the Hereafter. (Quran 5:5)
The food of the People of the Book includes the animals slaughtered by them. The rule that ‘our food is lawful to them and theirs lawful to us’ signifies that there need be no barriers between us and the People of the Book regarding food. We may eat with them, and they will eat with us. But this general proclamation of permission is preceded by a reiteration of the statement: ‘All good things have been made lawful to you.’
This indicates that if the People of the Book either do not observe those principles of cleanliness and purity which are considered obligatory by the Law or if their food includes prohibited items, then one should abstain from eating them.
Barka Juma’at and happy weekend.
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