Forbidden
Foods

You know, the Qur'an only forbids four kinds of food,

carrion,

blood,

pig,

and anything that has been killed as an offering to something other than God.

Now the first three are clearly forbidden because they are impure or harmful.

Carrion is any creature that is found already dead,

which is an obvious source of possible disease,

as the reason for its death is unkown

and may be equally deadly to anyone who eats it.

Cutting a live animal,

draining some of its blood and drinking it,

is still something that can be seen in certain tribes today,

and that blood carries much in it that is harmful to the one who drinks it,

as well as being cruel to the animal.

But people in Europe are more likely to eat blood from slaughtered animals

mixed with grain and fat in what are called blood sausages,

the most common in Scotland being Black Pudding.

Pigs would seem to have a closeness to humans

that lets them share diseases in a way that other animals don't.

Indeed, human flesh is known as 'long pig' to certain South Pacific cannibals,

who say that we have a similar taste,

perhaps supporting a Muslim tradition

that pigs were in origin a degraded form of human.

As for forbidding what has been killed as an offering to other than God,

many people have made animal sacrifice an act of worship,

and Islam abolished these pagan ceremonies,

saying that no name except that of the One God be spoken when killing animals.

But apart from these four things,

it is said that Muhammad told those around him not to eat some other kinds of food,

such as wild animals or birds that tear their prey apart,

but some jurists such as Imam Malik think such food may be detestable but is not Haram.

So when we think of creatures, we know that they live on land or in water,

and those that live in water and cannot live outside it

are all considered Halal.

Land animals are of two kinds, wild and domesticated,

and as a general rule,

for their meat to be considered pure their deaths should be

of a kind that allows the flow of blood from their bodies,

as opposed to strangling, smothering or clubbing them to death.

There is a recommended way to kill herd animals,

but game may be taken by trained hunting beasts,

or weapons that pierce the flesh.

Hunting for nothing except sport is condemned, however,

and Muhammad,

who was a shepherd in his youth,

often instructed those who followed him to be kind to animals.

So certain foods are indeed forbidden by God in the Qur'an,

but God knows that there can be occasions when

there is nothing else for a Muslim to eat,

and says that when that happens

Muslims are allowed to eat a forbidden food

enough to take away their need

and save themselves from death.

This is repeated at four places in the Qur'an

after each mention of forbidden foods.

And truly Allah is Ever Forgiving and Ever Merciful.