Islamic Law Regarding Pork
Supplement
QUESTION:
This logic seems to me very convincing.
ANSWER:
Well, if you are really convinced of this reasoning, then you should see to it that all legislatures are abolished, and all courts are closed. Thus there would be no criminals, because there would be no law to transgress!
QUESTION:
I don't think any Christian government would be pleased with this suggestion. Let us forget it. But tell me how St. Paul abrogated the Law?
ANSWER:
He claimed that,
"I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." {Rom., 14:14)
QUESTION:
Well, I think it settles the matter nicely.
ANSWER:
No. On the contrary, it creates more problems than it solves. You see, if that is what Jesus Christ had intended to be the tenent of Christianity, why did he not declare so when he was with his disciples in this world?
Why did he advocate the theory of unchangeability of Mosaic Law? Did St. Paul want the people to believe that Jesus Christ was not sincere in his pronouncements when he was with the people?
We Muslims cannot believe it. As for the Christians, action speaks louder than words.
QUESTION:
I must admit that you have got a very strong point here. I now agree that according to the Original Christianity, pork was and will remain forbidden. But, frankly speaking, I do not find anything wrong with pork.
ANSWER:
I hope that you are not one of those who think that aping the Western culture is the proof of enlightenment.
In directing the dietary principles of the children of Israel and, thereafter of the Muslims, God meant these rules to be a source of continued benefit to mankind. The transfer of certain disease, as modern medical research has substantiated, would be adequate justification for this ancient law.
QUESTION:
But this "transfer of diseases" is not the unique feature of pork. Even beef and mutton contain
some germs of diseases.
ANSWER:
Well, why limit your argument to beef and mutton? We know that even vegetables contain infectious germs. But the fact remains that pork reigns supreme in the greater content of germs among all meats that are known to human-beings. The more we read about it the more we dread it.
QUESTION:
Can you name some of those germs to which you have just referred
ANSWER:
The following list shows germs or parasites that are found in pork. Many of them are contagious, others are fatal. This proves once more that the more science advances, the more Islam is proved to be correct in so many respects.
The present day science of parasitology lists a protozoan ciliate, the pork tapeworm, and the trichina roundworm as causing important diseases that the pig shares with man.
QUESTION:
Well, I do not understand these Latin words. Please explain them in simple language.
ANSWER:
In fact, I had not used their full Latin names. For example, protozoan ciliate is called by the doctors "Balantidium Coli." It is a "parasite, harbouring in the large intestine" and is "the largest protozoan affecting man ."
QUESTION:
What has this "Balantidium Coli" to do with pigs and how does it affect human-beings?
ANSWER:
It is normal inhabitant of the pigs' bowels. It is excreted by its faeces and finding the external environment unsuitable for itself, develops a shell round it which is called a "cyst."
The cyst contains living parasites that communicate with man's diet thus enter his bowels, was found by Dr. Malmston (1857) and Stein (1862).
Dr. E. A. Widmer writes in his article Pork, Man and Disease (Good Health, vol.69, no.1):
"The protozoan ciliate, known technically as Balantidium Coli, is extremely common in swine. Recent surveys in various countries reveal an incidence range of 21 to 100 per-cent. This organism is much less common in man. The general incidence of one per-cent reported in Puerto Rico is representative of the incidence in many countries. When found in man serious clinical symptoms may result. Current evidence points strongly to the pig as the chief source of human infection." (Emphasis mine)
QUESTION:
And what are those "serious clinical symptoms" which are caused by this germ?
ANSWER:
It creates uncurable dysentry. Dysentry is a disease very familiar to the public. The symptoms of this disease are horribly acute and may end fatally. Unfortunately there is no specific cure for dysentry caused by Balantidium Coli up-to-date. According to Dr. Chandler in his book, Animal Parasites and Human Disease, "it is only in pig-raising countries and where there is too close an association between man and this animal that this disease is common." (page 7) (Emphasis mine)
QUESTION:
What are other germs which are transferred from pig to man?
ANSWER:
There are many more. For example, there is the "Trichinella Spiralis" (Trichina Worms) .
Dr. Glen Shephered wrote an article on the dangers of eating pork in the 31st May, 1952 issue of the Washington Post; and the following information's are taken from that article:
"One in six people in the United States of America and Canada have worms in their muscles - Trichinosis - from eating pork infected with Trichina or Trichinelly. Many people so infected have no symptoms. Most of those who do have, recover slowly. Some die. Some are reduced to permanent invalids. All were careless pork eaters." He continued:
"No one is immune from this disease and there is no cure. Neither antibiotics nor drugs or- vaccines affect these tiny deadly worms. Preventing infection is the real answer.
"Fully grown Trichina worms are about 1/8 inch long and about 1/400 inch broad. They remain alive for about forty years, curled up in lemon shaped, invisible tiny capsules between muscle fibres. When you eat infected meat, these dormant worm capsules are digested, but their live contents grow into full size worms each of which has about 1,500 offsprings. They get into your blood one to three weeks after you eat their parents. Because many organs can be invaded by the worms, symptoms can resemble those of fifty other diseases. This makes diagnosis difficult." (Emphasis mine)