Why Pigs Are Haram?

Is pig holy in Islam?

Image source, Reuters Image caption, Muslim teachers attend a Chinese calligraphy event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to mark the Year of the Pig Communities around the world are gearing up to celebrate the lunar new year, which this time ushers in the Year of the Pig.

New Year celebrations usually mean the animal is depicted everywhere – in decorations, toys, gifts and advertising. But the pig, the last animal on the Chinese zodiac calendar, is considered unclean by Muslims and a sin to consume. So does this cause problems for people celebrating lunar new year in Muslim-majority countries in South East Asia? Like most Chinese-Malaysian families, the lunar new year is serious business for the Chow family, who live in the sleepy town of Batu Pahat in Johor, Malaysia.

This year is particularly significant because Chow Yoon Kee, his wife Stella and their daughter were all born in pig years. “We will display lots of lucky pig ornaments at home and of course, have our relatives, friends, workers and neighbours over to visit, no matter what race or religion.

• Celebrations are for all,” said Mr Chow, a floor manager at a local biscuit factory.
• He isn’t worried about his celebrations offending fellow residents as he believes there is no sign of new year controversy.
• There was a lot of fuss last year,” he recalls, when it was the Year of the Dog, also seen as impure animals by some Muslims.

Image source, AFP Image caption, Malaysian authorities trod cautiously last year, being careful not to overdo the canine decorations Malaysia is multicultural but the official religion is Islam, and there have been increasing reports of intolerance towards activities and actions considered insulting to Muslims.

1. So many shops and merchants avoided using images of dogs in fear of offending Muslim communities.
2. But Mr Chow feels local authorities have overlooked the feelings of the Chinese community, who actually celebrate the holiday.
3. Malaysia is a country made up of many races, it isn’t just Malay Muslims.
4. We have Chinese and Indian communities too, as well as other religions like Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism so we should be respecting each other’s beliefs and celebrations.” But he adds that “the spirit of censorship” did not seem to carry on into the pig year.

Image source, AFP Image caption, That’s some pig! Celebrations are under way in Chinatown, Singapore Each animal of the Chinese zodiac is believed to have its own unique traits and qualities. Those born in the year of the pig are said to be intelligent, compassionate and loyal.

Does it matter if one’s zodiac animal isn’t welcome? “There’s absolutely no reason to worry,” said Kuala Lumpur-based Feng Shui consultant Joey Yap. He told the BBC there didn’t seem to be any sensitivities around celebrations in Malaysia this year, compared to last. Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Red decorations galore in Jakarta’s Chinatown “Pigs will be fine,” he said, adding that whether you display objects or not “does not affect one’s personal luck”.

“Colours, emblems; they all aren’t important. In reality, one’s luck all boils down to one’s actions, so embrace positivity,” he said.

Why you shouldn’t eat pork?

Pork: Is It Good for You? Though you may have heard it called “the other white meat,” pork is considered red meat. It’s consumed worldwide, though it is against the laws of some religions — including Islam and Judaism — to eat pork. As a red meat, pork has a reputation for being unhealthy.

Calories: 297Protein: 25.7 gramsFat: 20.8 gramsCarbohydrates: 0 gramsFiber: 0 gramsSugar: 0 grams

Pork is a good source of:

ProteinNiacinVitamins B6 and B12

Pork is also a good source of vitamins and minerals like phosphorus, selenium, and thiamine. Pork is actually richer in thiamine, a B vitamin required for a range of bodily functions, than other red meats like beef and lamb. Vitamins B6 and B12, also found abundantly in pork, are essential for blood cell formation and brain function.

• Pork is also an excellent source of iron — the heme-iron found in red meats is absorbed very easily by the human digestive system.
• The selenium in pork is essential for proper thyroid function.
• A six-ounce pork chop has more than 100% of the recommended daily allowance of selenium.
• Pork is a rich source of certain vitamins and minerals your body needs to function, like iron and zinc.

It’s also an excellent source of high-quality protein. Minimally processed, lean, fully-cooked pork eaten in moderation can provide certain benefits when added to your diet. Research has found a number of potential health benefits associated with eating pork: Muscle Maintenance The high-quality proteins in pork are complete amino acids and therefore perfect building blocks for creating new muscle.

As we age, we lose muscle mass, which can lead to conditions like sarcopenia — extreme muscle degeneration. Eating high quality protein like that found in pork — as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise — can help slow or reverse sarcopenia. It can also help maintain the healthy muscle tissue you already have.

Increased Muscle Performance Pork contains the amino acid beta-alanine, which helps your body form a compound called carnosine. Carnosine is important for muscle function. Studies have shown that high doses of beta-alanine supplements taken for 4–10 weeks lead to a 40–80% increase in carnosine levels in participant’s muscles.

1. High levels of carnosine have also been linked to lower fatigue and higher muscle performance in humans.
2. Can Be High in Sodium and Saturated Fats While pork is rich in several important vitamins and nutrients, it can also be high in sodium and saturated fats, two things that should be avoided as part of a healthy diet.

If you’re on a low sodium diet due to concerns over your heart health and/or avoiding saturated fats, you should consume the leanest, least-processed varieties of pork you can find. Certain cured pork products like bacon contain sulfates or sulfites, chemical preservatives which you should consume in small quantities or avoid altogether.

Look for salt-cured or uncured options instead. Keep in mind that the way you prepare pork will impact its fat content. Instead of frying, opt for grilling, roasting, baking, or broiling. It’s best to avoid fat-heavy pork products like bacon. Opt instead for leaner varieties that are minimally processed and higher in protein.

Can Contain Parasites Eating undercooked or raw pork can result in parasitic infections. Taenia solium, or pork tapeworm, is an intestinal parasite. Most of the time it’s harmless, but it can occasionally cause a disease called cysticercosis, which leads to epilepsy.

Eating raw or undercooked pork can also result in trichinosis, an infection of parasitic roundworms called Trichinella, While trichinosis symptoms are usually mild, they can become serious — even fatal — especially in older adults. To avoid parasitic infection, always cook pork thoroughly. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer to ensure the meat has become hot enough to kill parasites and bacteria before serving.

: Pork: Is It Good for You?

Why don’t Muslims eat pig?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The pig is considered an unclean animal as food in Judaism and Islam, and parts of Christianity, Pork is a food taboo among Jews, Muslims, and some Christian denominations, Swine were prohibited in ancient Syria and Phoenicia, and the pig and its flesh represented a taboo observed, Strabo noted, at Comana in Pontus,

A lost poem of Hermesianax, reported centuries later by the traveller Pausanias, reported an etiological myth of Attis destroyed by a supernatural boar to account for the fact that “in consequence of these events the Galatians who inhabit Pessinous do not touch pork”. In Abrahamic religions, eating pig flesh is clearly forbidden by Jewish ( kashrut ), Islamic ( halal ) and Adventist ( kosher animals ) dietary laws.

Although Christianity is also an Abrahamic religion, most of its adherents do not follow these aspects of Mosaic law and do consume its meat. However, Seventh-day Adventists consider pork taboo, along with other foods forbidden by Jewish law. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Church do not permit pork consumption.

Is it wise to eat pork?

Pork fat – Pork contains varying amounts of fat. The proportion of fat in pork usually ranges from 10–16% ( 2 ) but can be much higher depending on the level of trimming and other factors. Clarified pig fat — called lard — is sometimes used as a cooking fat.

Like other types of red meat, pork is mainly composed of saturated fats and unsaturated fats — present in approximately equal amounts. For example, a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of cooked, ground pork packs about 7.7 grams of saturated, 9.3 grams of monounsaturated, and 1.9 grams of polyunsaturated fat ( 1 ).

The fatty acid composition of pork is slightly different from the meat of ruminant animals, such as beef and lamb. It’s low in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and slightly richer in unsaturated fats ( 3 ). SUMMARY High-quality protein is the main nutritional component of pork, making it useful for muscle growth and maintenance.

Thiamine. Unlike other types of red meat, such as beef and lamb, pork is particularly rich in thiamine — one of the B vitamins that plays an essential role in various bodily functions ( 4 ). Selenium. Pork is rich in selenium. The best sources of this essential mineral are animal-derived foods, such as meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy products ( 5 ). Zinc. An important mineral, abundant in pork, zinc is essential for a healthy brain and immune system. Vitamin B12. Almost exclusively found in foods of animal origin, vitamin B12 is important for blood formation and brain function. Deficiency in this vitamin may cause anemia and damage to neurons. Vitamin B6. A group of several related vitamins, vitamin B6 is important for the formation of red blood cells. Niacin. One of the B vitamins, niacin — or vitamin B3 — serves a variety of functions in your body and is important for growth and metabolism. Phosphorus. Abundant and common in most foods, phosphorus is usually a large component of people’s diets. It’s essential for body growth and maintenance. Iron. Pork contains less iron than lamb or beef. However, the absorption of meat iron (heme-iron) from your digestive tract is very efficient, and pork can be considered an outstanding source of iron.

Pork contains good amounts of many other vitamins and minerals. Additionally, processed, cured pork products, such as ham and bacon, contain high amounts of salt (sodium). SUMMARY Pork is an excellent source of many vitamins and minerals, including thiamine, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin, phosphorus, and iron.

Creatine. Abundant in meat, creatine functions as an energy source for your muscles. It’s a popular supplement among bodybuilders suggested to improve muscle growth and maintenance ( 6, 7 ). Taurine. Found in fish and meat, taurine is an antioxidant amino acid formed by your body. Dietary intake of taurine may be beneficial for heart and muscle function ( 8, 9, 10 ). Glutathione. This is an antioxidant, present in high amounts in meat but also produced by your body. Though it’s an essential antioxidant, the role of glutathione as a nutrient is unclear ( 11, 12 ). Cholesterol. A sterol found in meat and other animal-derived foods, such as dairy products and eggs. Moderate intake of cholesterol does not affect cholesterol levels in most people ( 13 ).

SUMMARY Pork contains a number of bioactive meat compounds, such as creatine, taurine, and glutathione, that may benefit health in various ways. Pork is high in various healthy vitamins and minerals, as well as high-quality protein. Adequately cooked pork can make an excellent part of a healthy diet.

Is it health to eat pork?

Healthy facts about pork you probably don’t know Pork cuts such as trimmed pork fillet and pork loin medallions are low in saturated fat. But that’s not all. Take a look at the facts below to find out how eating lean pork contributes to good health and well-being, as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle:

Pork is naturally rich in protein, Protein contributes to the maintenance and growth in muscle mass, and is needed for normal growth and development of children’s bones. Pork is a source of zinc, selenium and vitamins B12 and B6 that help the immune system to work normally. Pork is a source of vitamins B12, B6, Niacin and Riboflavin – B vitamins that help reduce tiredness and fatigue as part of a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle.

Want to know more about pork and nutrition? Head over to our LovePork website to explore recipe collections, how-to information and further advice on pork and healthy eating. : Healthy facts about pork you probably don’t know

Why do we eat pigs but not dogs?

In the west, people generally don’t. Dogs over here are kept for companionship or to do specific jobs. As a result, people tend to see them as friends and/or co-workers. Eating them would feel wrong.

Did Jesus ever eat pork?

Column #206 This is not about religion. It’s a review of what people ate in biblical times. Just the same though, I wonder, are there as many religions as there are diets? Everyone believes in something even if they believe there is nothing to believe in. Scholars say the Bible’s 66 books were written between 1500 BC and 45 AD.

AD stands for “anno Domini” which is Latin for “in the year of the Lord.” There is no zero year.) This period is the focus of this column. Computer searches using “King James Bible Online” provide the number of times a keyword is mentioned in the Bible. Of course, sometimes a word is mentioned more than once in a sentence.

The searches below indicate to me that domesticated animals played a significant role in the lives of people living in the biblical period. For diversity, I researched four cities with populations above 100,000 that were prominent in the years between 1500 BC and 45 AD. Historians tell us that 3,500 years ago (1500 BC) Babylonians (Iraq) ate melons, plums, prunes and dates. Barley was their primary grain for flat breads and beer.

The vegetables they preferred included peas, lettuces, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, turnips, chickpeas, garlic, shallots, cress, leeks, lentils, and beets. They did not drink wine. Their primary meats were pork, poultry, beef, fish, mutton, and goat. For both the rich and poor citizens in Avaris (Egypt) the main crops were wheat for bread and barley for beer.

The rich also had wine made from grapes, pomegranates, and plums. A variety of vegetables were available including onions, leeks, garlic, beans, lettuce, lentils, cabbages, radishes, and turnips. The daily diet of the upper class Egyptians was rich in beef, goat, mutton, fish (perch, catfish, mullet), or poultry (goose, pigeon, duck, heron, crane).

1. Lower class Egyptians ate mostly grains, vegetables, some fruit, fish, poultry, and reserved the more expensive meats for special occasions.
2. While large cities were developing around the Mediterranean, they were also developing in China.
3. Most notable was Yinxu in eastern China near the modern city of Anyang.

There the main staple was rice in the southern regions and millet and sorghum in colder climes. Soybeans were also grown and became more prevalent as time went by. Cucumbers were always a favorite. Wine and tea were the preferred drinks. Pork was the most commonly consumed meat in China although the Chinese also ate beef, mutton, chicken, duck, pigeon, etc.

These latter meats were primarily a food enjoyed by the upper class. Starting around 2500 BC the Chinese had started raising wheat which was not native to China. So wheat was also becoming a part of the diet. Many people do not realize that the Romans invaded England in 55 BC. By 43 AD the Roman conquest of Britain was well underway and their control persisted until 410 AD.

The Roman conquest of the Mediterranean region peaked in 117 AD. During this time Rome had well-established trade routes with the Ivory Coast in Africa and also India which indirectly linked to trade as far away as eastern China. Back home in Rome the diet remained quite traditional other than for the upper class.

Was it the forerunner of the Mediterranean Diet? In Italy a favorite food for all classes was flat, round loaves of bread made from wheat. Barley was popular as a cereal. Grubs were raised as food as were vegetables such as dried peas, sweet peas, lupine beans, lentils and fava beans. Nuts, including walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and chestnuts, were common.

Wine, diluted with water, was the favorite drink. Bread was often dipped in wine to soften it and then eaten with olives, cheese, grapes, pears, figs, and a wide variety of old world vegetables. The lower class ate seafood and poultry. Fish was more common than meat.

1. Aquaculture was sophisticated, with large-scale industries devoted to oyster farming.
2. The Romans also engaged in snail farming.
3. Olive oil was the preferred oil.
4. Along with the many aforementioned foods upper class Romans could afford eggs, cheese, honey, milk, fruit, and butcher’s meat.
5. The most popular meat was pork, especially sausages.

Beef was uncommon in ancient Rome, yet more common in ancient Greece. Jesus was a Jew and Jews ate a variety of meats except for what they considered unclean animals (pork, snake, shellfish, etc.). Jesus was not an exception. In Luke 22:7-8, which discusses The Last Supper, it says: “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.'” The world Jesus lived in was nothing like the world of the nomadic hunter-gatherer. Farming and animal husbandry practices were quite sophisticated. Genetic improvement by selective breeding had been in use for over 5,000 years! Selective breeding was even discussed in Genesis 30 and 31 which was written by Moses in the 6th or 5th century BC.

In John 15 there are parables about pruning vines for greater yields indicating an almost universal understanding of the technique. For certain, by 1 AD the growing of vegetables, grain, and fruit was so successful those crops were the poor man’s food while meats were a luxury.

1. Agricultural progress had inverted the diet of the nomadic hunter-gatherer.
2. Obviously, 3,500 years ago agricultural practices were far advanced over the crude beginnings that had commenced about 10,000 years earlier.
3. Advancements may not have been rapid but over the course of those 10,000 years it was significant.

It’s also obvious that after agriculture became the norm the human diet consisted of more carbohydrates and less meat. In spite of that meat remained a staple in many regions and was almost universally considered the best food. Before farming, meat was the primary food for more than two million years. In just a few thousands years following the invention of agriculture, humans dramatically changed the chemical composition of their diet. They replaced their wild-caught meats, which were zero glycemic, nutrient dense and diverse, with low ratios of Omega-6 to Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs), with high glycemic foods that had differing nutrient densities and diversities, and very high EFA ratios.

1. In the past 150 years Americans ramped up the biblical era diet with vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils, sugar, and the feeding of grain to livestock.
2. Our bodies are still the same as the bodies of the nomadic hunter-gatherers of 300,000 years ago.
3. Therefore we require the same chemistry in our diet as was available in the distant past.

But with the direction agriculture has taken, the chemistry of the combined foods enjoyed by most folks today does not jive with nutritional needs. This is the reason for so many modern chronic diseases. Modern agriculture is fully capable of replicating the foods of the nomadic hunter-gatherer in great quantities at affordable prices.

• But the consumer has to change age-old habits and vote with their dollars for those foods to be produced.
• To your health.
• Ted Slanker Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999.
• He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being.

His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online. Don’t miss these links for additional reading: Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Health and Disease and Growth and Development by Dr. Artemis Simopoulos King James Bible Online Yes, Jesus Would Eat Meat & You Can, Too by Amanda Radke from Beef Magazine History of the Domestication of Animals from History World Animal Sacrifice from Wikipedia List of Largest Cities Throughout History from Wikipedia Ancient Civilizations/Babylonians from Wikijunior Universal Truths & Facts About the Bible from BibleResources.Org Roman Conquest of Britain from Wikipedia The Romans in Britain 43 AD to 410 AD by Mandy Barrow Ancient Roman Cuisine from Wikipedia History of the Mediterranean Region from Wikipedia Selective Breeding from Wikipedia AD 31 from Wikipedia

Is Cheese is haram in Islam?

There is no prohibition on cheese. However, often in the process of cheese making, animal rennet is used. For that reason, the cheese in question may be made not halal due to the addition of animal products sourced from non-halal sources.

Is Doritos is halal?

Are Doritos® Halal? – None of our Doritos® are Halal certified products. To better understand the ingredients and nutritionals of Doritos®, please reference the ingredients on the back of our Doritos® bags. We recommend visiting PepsiCo Product facts to check out ingredient labels if you do not have the product in front of you. On PepsiCo Product Facts, you are able to filter by brand to find the product you want to learn more about. Click on the Doritos® that you are interested in and see the corresponding nutrition label and ingredient statement for more information.

Is marshmallow halal or haram?

Foods like jellybeans, marshmallows, and other gelatin-based foods also typically contain pork byproducts and are not considered Halal. Even products like vanilla extract and toothpaste can contain alcohol! Muslims will generally not eat meat that has also come in contact with pork.

Why is dog haram in Islam?

Dogs in ancient Islamic culture Dogs in Islam, as they are in Rabbinic Judaism, are conventionally thought of as ritually impure. This idea taps into a long tradition that considers even the mere sight of a dog during prayer to have the power to nullify a pious Muslim’s supplications.

Similar to many other mistakenly viewed aspects of Islamic history, today both most Muslims and non-Muslims think that Islam and dogs don’t mix. There is, however, quite a different unknown strand of thinking about dogs in Islam, a long history of positive interactions between Muslims and dogs that goes back to the religion’s very beginnings.

According to several authoritative accounts of his life and teachings, the Prophet Muhammad himself prayed in the presence of dogs. Many of his cousins and companions, the world’s first Muslims, raised young puppies. In the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, the second holiest site in the world for Muslims after the Kaaba, dogs were regularly seen frolicking about during the Prophet’s life and for centuries after as well.

1. It’s no surprise that the first Muslims had so many dogs.
2. Most of them kept large flocks of sheep and goats, and dogs helped to manage and protect these other animals, preventing them from running away and scaring off would-be thieves and predators.
3. Sheep and goats were these early Muslims’ food and capital, and dogs helped to protect these investments.

Canines were also crucial companions during hunting expeditions. Long before Islam, dogs were depicted in stone carvings from ancient Egypt and Iraq running alongside their human owners. Muslims continued this use of dogs. As Islam spread throughout the Middle East and the world, it moved from being a religion of nomadic peoples to one centered in cities.

Many of the world’s largest cities in the millennium between 700 and 1700 were Muslim cities. As they did in the countryside, in cities too dogs played vital roles. They of course continued to protect property and shoo away intruders, but in cities dogs served an even more important function—they ate garbage.

From Damascus and Baghdad to Cairo and Istanbul, urban authorities supported dog populations as consumers of waste to keep city streets clean. Muslim leaders built watering troughs for dogs, many mosques threw out food for them, and butchers used them to keep away rats and other vermin.

• Humans who committed violence against urban canines were often punished.
• Muslim cities were much cleaner and more pleasant places with dogs than without them.
• All of this meant that Muslims throughout the world were in regular daily contact with the many dogs in their midst.
• They recognized how useful canines were as guards and cleaning agents and, we can only presume, developed quite intimate relationships with them built around regular contact and the kind of affection bred from codependence.

Given this history, where then did the idea that Islam is only hostile to dogs come from? The short answer is disease. About two hundred years ago, ideas about contagion began to change. Still very far from what we would today recognize as germ theory, people in the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere started to notice a correlation between outbreaks of plague, cholera, and malaria and the physical proximity of victims to places like cemeteries, garbage heaps, and swampy lakes.

• City planners and governments throughout the Middle East therefore started to excise these sources of disease from the increasingly crowded districts in which their people lived.
• As they collected and then pushed garbage outside city walls, they also unwittingly removed the dogs that ate this trash.
• Dogs used to keep streets clean.

Now humans did. The historic connections between dogs and trash did not serve the animal well. Not only was there simply less garbage to eat in cities, but the garbage that did remain was now seen as a threat to public hygiene and soon too were its canine consumers.

• Indeed, in just a few decades in the early nineteenth century, dogs came to be seen as both economically useless and hazardous to public health.
• The results? Several large-scale dog eradication campaigns, far fewer dogs in Middle Eastern cities, and a change in attitude toward the animal.
• No longer useful and productive urban residents, dogs were now seen as dangerous, disease-ridden, and expendable.

This relatively recent sea change in Muslim attitudes towards dogs explains the dominant view of the animal today. While of course opinions vary and the elite in many Muslim countries keep dogs as status symbols, the majority of Muslims see dogs as dirty, impure, sometimes even evil.

1. As with so much in the Islamic past today, the history of dogs is thus misunderstood by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
2. Most don’t know and many would likely not be open to the idea that dogs were treasured by the Prophet and millions of Muslims after him.
3. For those of us—Muslims or otherwise—whose most regular interaction with a living nonhuman animal is with a dog, the story of dogs in Islam offers another lesson as well.

Humans did not always keep dogs for affection, love, or cuteness. For most of history, they were not pets. They were laborers, economic necessities, hunters, and street cleaners. Apart from dogs that sniff drugs, aid the blind, or chase criminals, very few of us today experience dogs as anything other than that joy that licks our face in the morning.

However, throughout history they’ve been much more. Knowing this past not only gives us a fuller picture of the most ubiquitous nonhuman animal we welcome in our midst, but it also helps us to understand how our histories with other animals have shaped our current world. Featured image credit: Edit -1-24 by Dane.

CC-BY-2.0 via, : Dogs in ancient Islamic culture

Why can’t Muslims touch pork?

Target shifts Muslims who won’t ring up pork Muslim cashiers at some local Target stores who object to ringing up products that contain pork are being shifted to other positions where they don’t need to, the discount retailer said Saturday. The Star Tribune reported this past week that some Muslim cashiers at local Targets had declined to scan pork products such as bacon because doing so would conflict with their religious beliefs.

1. They would ask other cashiers to ring up such purchases, or sometimes customers would scan those items themselves, the newspaper reported.
2. Minneapolis-based Target Corp.
3. Has now offered its local Muslim cashiers who object to handling pork the option of wearing gloves while cashiering, shifting to other positions or transferring to other nearby stores.

“We are confident that this is a reasonable solution for our guests and team members,” Target spokeswoman Paula Thornton-Greear said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press on Saturday. Greear said it was a localized problem and that it would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

It is not an issue in most of our stores in the Twin Cities,” she said in separate comments via e-mail. “There is also no indication that this is an issue in the Minnesota market overall or nationwide.” Islam teaches that pigs are unclean and eating pork is a sin, and some Muslims feel selling or handling pork is also forbidden because it would make them complicit in the sins of others.

Collision of work and faith As the local Muslim population grows, fueled by immigration from East African countries such as Somalia, efforts by Muslims to live by the rules of their faith often come into conflict with the realities of the American workplace.

Disputes over how employers should accommodate prayer times surface from time to time, and there’s an ongoing dispute involving cab drivers who serve Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport—many of whom are Muslim—who refuse to take passengers who are carrying alcohol. The Metropolitan Airports Commission is expected to vote in April on a proposal that would hand out 30-day license suspensions to cabbies who refuse service for any reason, with a second refusal leading to a two-year revocation.

Suhara Robla, who works at the SuperTarget in St. Louis Park, told the Star Tribune that more than a dozen Muslim cashiers were asked Thursday to do other jobs. “They told all of us who don’t touch pork to go to the sales floor,” she told the newspaper.

1. They really didn’t say why.
2. They just said it was a new policy.” Worker walks over issue Muse Dahir told the AP this past week he quit his job at the Sam’s Club in Bloomington after he was transferred from another position to cashiering and was ordered to ring up pork purchases.
3. Several times on his first day as a cashier, Dahir said, said customers brought pork products to his register.

He asked them to take their goods to another register, and a customer complained to management. “They told me, you have to check this,” Dahir said. “I told them, I can’t do this. You want me to do something that’s against my religion.” Dahir said a manager told him that was part of the job, so “I just put down my uniform and I left.” He said it doesn’t matter if the pork product is packaged.

• Even if you just sell it to someone, you break a promise to Allah,” he said.
• Jama Omar, a clerk at Otanga Grocery in Minneapolis, told the AP his store caters mostly to East African immigrants and doesn’t carry pork products, so it’s not an issue for him personally.
• But Omar also said Muslims shouldn’t expect special treatment.

“If it causes a big problem for your employer, they have to make the decision that’s best for them,” Omar said. “It’s not something to go on strike or file a civil suit. Go somewhere else that will accept your beliefs. There’s millions of jobs.” : Target shifts Muslims who won’t ring up pork

Why do Muslims not wear gold?

Islam is simple, so keep it simple. Swasa(9K) still contains gold and therefore we should refrain from using it. Even if the ring has 1% of gold in it, it still contains gold and cannot be used.

What religion was Jesus?

Jesus’ identity cannot be understood apart from his Jewishness. Harold W. Attridge: The Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament Yale Divinity School What was the dominant religious influence on ? Jesus was certainly subject to the influence of the traditions of Israel, there’s no doubt about that. But in what form those traditions came to him in Galilee at the beginning of the first century is somewhat unclear.

• He certainly would have known of the Temple in Jerusalem, and probably, as traditions report., would have gone up to Jerusalem for the major pilgrimage festivals.
• He would have known of the rituals of the Temple, their atoning ignificance.
• He would have celebrated Passover, I suspect, with his family, and would have known of the hopes embedded in Passover for divine deliverance.

He probably was aware of the growing Pharisaic movement which preached a notion of purity that was available to all Jews, not simply those who were officiating at the Temple cult. He certainly would have known Jewish scripture, And we can see in some of his parables how he plays on images from scripture.

• For instance, the great Cedar of Lebanon from Ezekial probably plays a role in his description of the mustard seed, which becomes a tree, and there’s probably an element of parody there.
• So his relationship with the scriptural heritage is a complex one, but it certainly is an important one in his formation.

Shaye I.D. Cohen: Samuel Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies Brown University Was Jesus Jewish and, if he was, how would that have influenced his experiences as a young man growing up in Galilee? Was Jesus a Jew? Of course, Jesus was a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews.

• He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues.
• He preached from Jewish text, from the Bible.
• He celebrated the Jewish festivals.
• He went on pilgrimage to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem where he was under the authority of priests.
• He lived, was born, lived, died, taught as a Jew.

This is obvious to any casual reader of the gospel text. What’s striking is not so much that he was a Jew but that the gospels make no pretense that he wasn’t. The gospels have no sense yet that Jesus was anything other than a Jew. The gospels don’t even have a sense that he came to found a new religion, an idea completely foreign to all the gospel text, and completely foreign to Paul.

That is an idea which comes about only later. So, to say that he was a Jew is saying a truism, is simply stating an idea that is so obvious on the face of it, one wonders it even needs to be said. But, of course, it does need to be said because we all know what happens later in the story, where it turns out that Christianity becomes something other than Judaism and as a result, Jesus in retrospect is seen not as a Jew, but as something else, as a founder of Christianity.

But, of course, he was a Jew. Paula Fredriksen: William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of the Appreciation of Scripture, Boston University Was Jesus Jewish? Why is it so important to us and why would it have colored his perceptions? What astonishes me when I read the stories about Jesus in the New Testament, is how completely embedded he is in this first century.

1. Jewish world of religious practice and piety.
2. We tend to get distracted by the major plot line of the gospels, because we’re waiting for the story to develop up to the crucifixion.
3. But, within that story, and the stories that are told by the evangelists that fills in the gap between the Galilee and Jerusalem, Jesus presented continuously as going into the synagogue on the Sabbath.

He is presented as going up to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage holidays, specifically in John, for any number of pilgrimage holidays, and in the synoptic gospels, most importantly, for Passover. Jerusalem at Passover is not the sort of place you’d want to be in unless you were really committed to doing an awful lot of ritual activity with tremendous historical resonance.

1. Hat we’ve learned from the gospel stories is not that Jesus was not Jewish.
2. Quite the opposite.
3. He’s completely embedded in the Judaism of his time.
4. What we learn from the gospels is that he’s not a member of one of the groups whose identifying characteristics Josephus gave to us.
5. He’s not a Sadducee.
6. He’s not a Pharisee.

He’s always arguing with the Pharisees. He’s not an Essene. He’s not an insurrectionist. And the fact that he’s arguing with other people who may be members of these other groups just simply signifies that he’s a Jew, because that’s what these Jews all did with each other – argue with each other all the time.

Why are pigs seen as unclean?

As useful and tasty as they are, swine have not been universally adored. iStockphoto hide caption toggle caption iStockphoto As useful and tasty as they are, swine have not been universally adored. iStockphoto In 1849 an American farmer watched a sow give birth and was moved to record a diary entry: “Pigs! Pigs! Pork! Pork! Pork!” The writer’s enthusiasm — dug up by historical geographer Sam Bowers Hilliard for Hog Meat and Hoecake, his examination of Southern foodways — is understandable.

Swine reproduce far more quickly than cows and sheep, thanks to brief gestation periods and large litters, and pork only improves when cured with salt and smoke. If your goal is to produce a great deal of meat and then store it at room temperature — crucial before refrigerators came along — the pig is the animal for you.

Enormously useful as they are, swine have not been universally adored. The history of pigs is a tale of love and loathing. As long as pigs have existed, people have weighed their hunger for meat against worries about how the animals lived and what they ate. Pigs and people have similar digestive systems and similar diets: Both are omnivores who thrive on meat, roots and seeds. It was food that first brought them together. About 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in Anatolia — now Turkey — settled down into villages. As Europe’s forests were felled to grow crops, pigs took up residence in towns, as in this 1559 sketch “Fair at Hoboken” by Breugel the Elder. The pig’s scavenging habits — which included the occasional human corpse — was one factor in a decline in the reputation of pigs and pork in the late Middle Ages. As Europe’s forests were felled to grow crops, pigs took up residence in towns, as in this 1559 sketch “Fair at Hoboken” by Breugel the Elder. The pig’s scavenging habits — which included the occasional human corpse — was one factor in a decline in the reputation of pigs and pork in the late Middle Ages.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder/via Wikimedia The Koran followed suit in the seventh century AD: “forbidden to you is, the flesh of swine.” Today a quarter of the world’s population — 14 million Jews and 1.6 billion Muslims — must avoid pork. The rules strike many as arbitrary, and there has been no shortage of attempts to expose the supposedly hidden truth.

The mostly popular explanation — that the ban protected against trichinosis — is almost certainly untrue (there’s no evidence the parasite existed in ancient Palestine, and other meats could be equally dangerous). Some scholars point to the unsuitability of pigs for desert conditions, or the fact that pigs and humans might compete for food. This Chinese sculpture, dating to about 200 AD, depicts an outhouse perched over a pigsty. All over the world pigs ate human waste, carrion, and rotting garbage, a dietary habit that made them quite useful—they cleaned the streets and transformed filth into meat—but also turned them into pariahs.

via Wikimedia hide caption toggle caption via Wikimedia All of these theories hold a piece of the truth, but the best explanation lies in Leviticus. The approved animals “chew the cud,” which is another way of saying they are ruminants that eat grass. Pigs “cheweth not the cud” because they possess simple guts, unable to digest cellulose.

They eat calorie-dense foods, not only nuts and grains but also less salubrious items such as carrion, human corpses and feces. 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.

1. Just across the Mediterranean, however, the Romans loved swine with a passion matched by few people before or since.
2. Romans sacrificed pigs to their gods and created an elaborate pork-based cuisine, including some dishes—such as roast udder of lactating sow—that could make even a gentile shudder.
3. What accounts for these differing views? In the Near East, an arid land, most pigs lived as urban scavengers.

The Italian Peninsula, by contrast, boasted vast oak forests, and Rome imported wheat by the shipload. Rather than eating garbage in the streets, Roman pigs spent their days dining on acorns and grain. The reputation of pork depends upon the life of the pig.

• In early medieval Europe, when most pigs foraged in the woods, pork was the preferred meat of the nobility.
• By 1300 most forests had been felled, and pigs became scavengers.
• In a medieval British text, a woman explains that she won’t serve pork because pigs “eat human shit in the streets.” Pigs also dined on human flesh, which was available because executed prisoners, among others, were left unburied.

In Shakespeare’s Richard III, the title character is described as a “foul swine” who “Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough / In your embowell’d bosoms.” An Irish religious text noted, “Cows feed only on grass and the leaves of trees, but swine eat things clean and unclean.” Pigs today eat a wholesome diet of corn and soybeans, but people have new reasons to avoid pork. The most intelligent of farm animals, swine raised in the confined feeding operations that now dominate the industry endure the most inhumane conditions. They stand on slatted concrete floors, trampling their waste into gutters below. A hog facility in Duplin County, N.C. discharges waste into a manure lagoon, April 2015. Courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance A hog facility in Duplin County, N.C. discharges waste into a manure lagoon, April 2015. Courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance Critiques of such practices, once the concern mostly of animals rights groups, have gone mainstream. This year the restaurant chain Chipotle kept carnitas off the menu at some locations because it couldn’t find enough pork raised according to its stricter welfare standards.

Other chains, including McDonald’s, still serve conventional pork but have pressured pork suppliers to change their ways. As a result the largest pork producers have vowed to phase out gestation crates. Smaller producers have taken larger steps, adopting methods that would look familiar to ancient Romans: Their pigs roam on pasture or gobble acorns in the woods.

That’s the kind of agriculture that might prompt not disgust but enthusiastic cries of, “Pork! Pork! Pork!” Mark Essig is the author, most recently, of Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig, He holds a Ph.D. in history from Cornell University and lives in Asheville, N.C.

Why do Jamaicans not eat pork?

What Snoop Lion Needs To Know About The Rastafarian Diet There’s a reason why Snoop Dogg was spotted hanging at Jamaican restaurant Miss Lily’s in NYC last night (on Instagram, naturally). Born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. but known to most by his stage name, Snoop Dogg has recently undergone what he likes to describe as a “spiritual reincarnation.” Last February, Snoop spent a few weeks in Jamaica to record his new LP, appropriately titled Reincarnation (it’ll come out on next spring).

• Along with the new album, Snoop has adopted the title of “Snoop Lion,” a name given to him by Rastafarian priests during his stay.
• It got us thinking: Snoop, the man who boasted about “sippin on gin and juice,” was caught sneaking out for chicken & waffles on his reality TV show, and once sent Food Republic’s own editorial director Richard Martin on an In-N-Out run (double-doubles with cheese, hold the onions, plus fries and shakes) will now have to change his diet — if he sticks to this Rastafarian conversion.

(We imagine the weed-as-sacrament part will be no problem.)

1. Rastafarian people refer to their most sacred foods as Ital or I-tal.
2. The goal of Ital is to increase what Rastafarians call “Livity” or “Life Energy.”
3. Food consumed by Rastas should be natural, pure and from the earth. This means no foods that are chemically modified or that contain artificial additives.
4. Some Rastas avoid sodium and salt, especially salt with artificially added iodine.
5. Many adhere to strict vegan or vegetarian diets. Meat is considered dead and therefore works against Livity and the elevation of Life Energy.
6. Most Rastas avoid eating pork as well as shellfish, as they are considered to be meat derived from scavengers.
7. Many Rastas denounce the use of cigarettes as well as alcohol due to their harmful effects on one’s health.
8. Most Rastas do encourage the use of cannabis due to the induced “prayer-like” state it brings about.

• A new documentary about Snoop Lion at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Check out the trailer here:
• And for a listen to his first reggae track as Snoop Lion, check out “La La La.”

: What Snoop Lion Needs To Know About The Rastafarian Diet

What does Islam think about pigs?

Unlike popular belief, pigs are not considered bad at all they are only considered haram (forbidden) for consumption. In fact the holy books – The Quaran, the Bible and the Torah forbid the consumption of swine as it is harmful to human body. So Muslims only follow their book and don’t eat pigs.

In which religion pig is sacred?

Religion, Belief, and Customs – All Hindu informants referred to pigs as deities. They considered pigs to be sacred animals to be raised and worshiped. According to pig raisers, in the Hindu religion, slaughtering pigs is considered the best offering to satisfy God while performing religious rituals ( puja ).

• Slaughtering is also believed to help prevent future unwanted events, such as sickness and death of family members or livestock.
• All informants (both Hindu and Christians) reported that slaughtering a pig during weddings, births, and funerals was a tradition.
• To Hindu informants, slaughtering in ceremonies also satisfied deities that could otherwise bring misfortune.

All informants said that serving pork at ceremonial feasts brought honor and increased the social prestige of the host in the community. One pig raiser said, “We are Hindu. We do not eat beef. We slaughter pigs for our social and religious occasions.” Informants mentioned that it was difficult to afford buying pigs for such occasions, thus owning pigs made these sacrifices financially easier.

What is the role of pig in Islam?

Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you’. Shayn M. Muslims don’t eat pork because pigs are considered unclean. But Jews don’t eat it because pigs don’t chew food, and at the same time they also have cloven hooves.

Are pigs considered holy?

Religion – Varaha, the boar avatar of Vishnu, killing a demon. Gouache on paper, Chamba, c.1740 Pig meat has come to be seen as unacceptable to some world religions. In Islam and Judaism the consumption of pork is forbidden. Many Hindus are lacto-vegetarian, avoiding all kinds of meat.

• In Buddhism, the pig symbolises delusion ( Sanskrit : moha ), one of the three poisons ( Sanskrit : triviṣa ).
• As with Hindus, many Buddhists are vegetarian, and some sutras of the Buddha state that meat should not be eaten; monks in the Mahayana traditions are forbidden to eat meat of any kind.
• Pigs have in contrast been sacred in several religions, including the Druids of Ireland, whose priests were called “swine”.

One of the animals sacred to the Roman goddess Diana was the boar; she sent the Calydonian boar to destroy the land. In Hinduism, the boar-headed Varaha is venerated as an avatar of the god Vishnu, The sow was sacred to the Egyptian goddess Isis and used in sacrifice to Osiris,