A Brief Look at Food
- philhoraia
- Nov 9, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 7, 2022
S 5:3 Forbidden to you have been dead animals and blood and pork and what has been permitted to other than Allah and the strangled and the fatally struck and that which has had a fatal fall and the gored and what the wild animal has eaten except what you have slaughtered and what has been sacrificed on the nusub and that you seek division by divining arrows. That is fisq. Today those who have disbelieved have despaired of your religion so do not fear them but fear me. Today I have completed your religion for you and perfected my grace upon you and have approved Islam for you as a religion. So he who has been forced by starvation not inclining to sin, Allah is a forgiver, merciful.
S 5:5 Today have the good things been permitted for you and the food of those who were given the Book is permitted for you and your food is permitted for them. And the muhsanat of the believers and the muhsanat of those who were given the Book before you when you have given them their wages, fortified, not musafihun or takers of paramours. And he who disbelieves the faith, his work has failed and he in the hereafter is of the losers.
In the first verse pork is forbidden; in the second it is effectively allowed.
S 22:30 That and he who magnifies the hurumat of Allah, it is better for him with his lord. And cattle have been made lawful for you except what is read to you. So avoid the rijs from the idols and avoid false speech.
What cattle are forbidden?
In non-Quranic ahadith we read about a certain species of lizard.
Narrated Thabit ibn Wadi'ah:
We were in an army with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). We got some lizards. I roasted one lizard and brought it to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and placed it before him. He took a stick and counted its fingers. He then said: A group from the children of Isra'il was transformed into an animal of the land, and I do not know which animal it was. He did not eat it nor did he forbid (its eating).
Ibn 'Umar reported:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was asked about the eating of (the flesh) of the lizard, whereupon he said: I am neither the eater of it nor its prohibitor.
But:
Narrated AbdurRahman ibn Shibl:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade to eat the flesh of lizard.
The lizard in question is the dabb, sometimes translated uromastix.
Elsewhere we read:
It was narrated that Jabir said:
"On the Day of Khaibar we ate the flesh of horses, and onagers, but the Prophet forbade us (from eating) donkeys."(sahih)
An onager is a wild donkey, and that was permitted, but the domestic donkey was not. All of the creatures named are of the Equidae, horse, family.
If these creatures are haram, why are they not forbidden in the Quran?
It was narrated that Bara'bin 'Azib said:
"The Messenger of Allah was asked about performing ablution after eating camel meat. He said: 'Perform ablution after eating it.'"
It was narrated that Usaid bin Hudair said:
"The Messenger of Allah said: 'Do not perform ablution after (drinking) sheep's milk, but perform ablution after (drinking) camel's milk.'"
Did the founder of Islam think that camel meat and milk rendered the consumer unclean who then required wudu?
In another hadith we read:
It was narrated that 'Abdullah bin Mughaffal Al-Muzani said:
"The Prophet said: 'Perform prayer in the sheep's resting-places and do not perform prayer in the camels' resting-places, for they were created from the devils."
Is this why wudu was required, because they were supposedly created from devils? Every year camels are sacrificed to Allah…
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "A group of Israelites were lost. Nobody knows what they did. But I do not see them except that they were cursed and changed into rats, for if you put the milk of a she-camel in front of a rat, it will not drink it, but if the milk of a sheep is put in front of it, it will drink it." I told this to Ka`b who asked me, "Did you hear it from the Prophet (ﷺ) ?" I said, "Yes." Ka`b asked me the same question several times.; I said to Ka`b. "Do I read the Torah? (i.e. I tell you this from the Prophet.)"
Is the name of Allah required? It’s obviously not required before slaughter as the Muslim may eat the food of the People of the Book (S 5:5). Regarding utterance of the abominable name, we read in S 22:28
To witness benefits for them and mention Allah’s name on known days over what we have provided them with of the beast of cattle. So eat of it and feed the miserable man, the poor man.
In a hadith we read:
It was narrated that ‘Aishah said:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was eating food with six of his Companions when a Bedouin came and ate it all in two bites. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘If he had said Bismillah, it would have sufficed you (all). When any one of you eats food, let him say Bismillah, and if he forgets to say Bismillah at the beginning, let him say Bismillah fi awwalihi wa akhirih (In the Name of Allah at the beginning and at the end).’”
Great