Meat From Christians and Jews
In Surah 5:5 of the Quran, it is written: "The food of the People of the Book is lawful for you as your food is lawful for them."
However, overwhelming majority of the scholars from the Muslim world agree that this verse speaks about the Christians of Prophet Muhammad's time and say that Christian methods of slaughtering and consumption has drastically changed over time as the diet played lesser importance in the daily practice of Christians. They also point to Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 8 in the Bible which says that "Thou shall not eat of the swine nor shall you touch its dead carcasses." Matthew 15:11, though, notes, "What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” In this passage, Christ downplays the importance of dietary law and instead impeaches the incongruence in faith between the Pharisees' overt religious practice and their lack of true commitment to God. Pork and pork related products, which are forbidden in Islam, are consumed by Christians and used widely in food and food products. Kosher meats, which are consumed by Jews, are permissible if no Halal meat is available. This is due to the similarity between both methods of slaughtering and the similar principles of Kosher meat which are still observed by the orthodox Jews today.
Read more about this topic: Halal
Famous quotes containing the words meat, christians and/or jews:
“They said they were an-hungry; sighed forth proverbs—
That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat,
That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not
Corn for the rich men only.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Jews do not like the country, yes thank you, christians donot all like the city. Yes and thank you. There are no differences between the city and the country and very likely every one can be daily daily and by that timely.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The Jews generally give value. They make you pay; but they deliver the goods. In my experience the men who want something for nothing are invariably Christians.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)