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Submitted by VasuMurti on December 7, 2008 - 1:56pm.
by Vasu Murti das "...but to hunt...is forbidden you, so long as ye are on the pilgrimage. Be mindful of your duty to Allah, unto Whom you will all be gathered." ---Koran, surah 5, verse 96
Islam teaches that in Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed, no creature can be slaughtered and that perfect harmony should exist between all living beings. Muslim pilgrims approach Mecca wearing a shroud ("ihram"). From the moment they wear this religious cloth, absolutely no killing is allowed. Mosquitos, lice, grasshoppers, and other living creatures must also be protected. If a pilgrim sees an insect on the ground, he will motion to stop his comrades from accidentally stepping on it. Islam teaches respect for animals and nature; the Islamic tradition has much to say about humanity's relationship with the animal world. "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself." ---the Prophet Mohammed "There is not an animal on the earth, nor a flying creature flying on two wings, but they are all peoples like unto you." ---Koran, surah 6, verse 38 The Koran (Majeed 55:10-12) teaches that God assigned the earth "to all living creatures," and humanity is ordered not to "spread corruption on earth, after it has been put in order." (Majeed 7:56) "Seest thou not that it is God whose praises are celebrated by all beings in heaven and on earth, and by the birds with extended wings?" asks the Koran. "Each one knows its prayer and psalm. And God is aware of what they do." (Majeed 24:41) The Koran calls the pagan practice of slitting the ears of animals "devilish acts." Mohammed is recorded as having told his followers, "it behooves you to treat the animals gently." (Majeed 4:118-19, 5:103) About Mohammed, the English Arabic scholar, David Margoliouth (1858-1940), has written: "His humanity extended itself to the lower creation. He forbade the employment of towing birds as targets for marksmen and remonstrated those who ill-treated their camels. When some of his followers had set fire to an anthill, he compelled them to extinguish it. Acts of cruelty were swept away by him." In one popular tradition ("Hadith"), Mohammed is said to have rebuked his followers for failing to show compassion. "But we do show compassion," they responded, "to our wives, children and relatives." The Prophet insisted, "It is not this to which I refer. I am speaking of universal mercy." According to tradition (Hadith Mishkat 3:1392), Mohammed taught that "all creatures are like a family of God; and He loves the most those who are the most beneficent to His family." Providing food and drink for animals, Mohammed explained, "are among those virtuous gestures which draw us one step nearer to God," and "everyone who shows clemency, even towards a mere bird under the knife, will find God's clemency towards him on Doomsday." Awakening from rest one afternoon, Mohammed found a small, sick cat sound asleep on the fringe of his cloak. The Prophet cut off his garment, allowing the cat to sleep undisturbed. "Is this a man who would advocate the unnecessary slaughter of harmless beasts?" asks writer Steven Rosen. "Show sympathy to others," taught Mohammed, "especially to those who are weaker than you." Islamic scholar Dr. M. Hafiz Syed records the following traditions from the life and teachings of Mohammed: The Prophet passed by certain people who were shooting arrows at a ram and hated that, saying, "Maim not the brute beasts." The Prophet, seen wiping the face of his horse with his wrapper, said, "At night I received a reprimand from God in regard to my horse." A man once robbed some eggs from the nest of a bird, whereuponthe Prophet had them restored to the nest. "Fear God in these dumb animals," said the Prophet, "and ride them when they are fit to be ridden—and get off them when they are tired." "Verily, are there rewards for our doing good to quadrupeds and giving them water to drink?" asked the disciples. And the Prophet answered, "There are rewards for benefitting every animal having a moist liver." [i.e., everyone alive!] The Prophet spoke of the rewards and punishments one would receive depending on one's treatment of animals. He once told his companions he had a vision of a woman being punished in hell because she had starved a cat to death. "A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being," taught Mohammed, "while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being." On another occasion, the Prophet is recorded as having said, "He who takes pity even on a sparrow and spares its life, God will be merciful to him on the Day of Judgement...There is no man who kills even a sparrow, or anything smaller, without a justifiable cause, but God will question him about it." Again, Mohammed is said to have taught that, "one who kills even a sparrow or anything smaller without a justifiable reason will be answerable to Allah." Muslim literature even records the Prophet forbidding the use of animal skins. Mohammed took pity on beasts of burden. He forbade the beating of animals, as well as branding, striking, or painting them on the face. When the Prophet encountered a donkey that had been branded on the face, he exclaimed, "May Allah condemn the one who branded it." According to Mohammed, some animals were better than their riders. "Verily, there exist among the ridden ones some who are indeed better than their riders, and who praise their Lord more worthily." According to Islamic scholar B.A. Masri, "All kinds of animal fights are strictly forbidden in Islam." Mohammed forbade using living creatures as targets, and went so far as to condemn putting animals in cages, calling it "a great sin for man to imprison those animals which are in his power." Mohammed even classified the unnecessary slaughter of animals as one of the seven deadly sins. "Avoid the seven abominations," he said, then referring to a verse from the Koran, "And kill not a living creature, which Allah has made sancrosanct, except for a justifiable reason." Dr. Masri writes that: "According to the spirit and overall teachings of Islam, causing avoidable pain and suffering to the defenseless and innocent creatures of God is not justifiable under any circumstances." On the issue of animal experimentation, Dr. Masri points out that: "Many of the experiments that are being done on animals in the name of scientific research and education are not really necessary and are sheer cruelty. Such experiments are a contradiction in terms of the Islamic teachings...According to Islam, all life is sancrosant and has a right to protection and preservation." Like the Bible, the Koran also describes God's blessings to mankind as essentially vegetarian, in verses similar to Genesis 1:29: "Therewith He causes crops to grow for you, and the olive and the date-palm and grapes and all kinds of fruit. Lo! Herein is indeed a portent for people who reflect." ---Koran, surah 16, verse 11 "A token unto them is the dead earth. We revive it, and We bring forth from it grain—so that they will eat thereof. And We have placed therein gardens of the date-palm and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein. That they may not eat of the fruit thereof and their hands created it not. Will they not, then, give thanks?" ---Koran, surah 36, verses 33-35 "Let man reflect on the food he eats: how We poured out the rain abundantly, and split the earth into fissures, and how We then made the grains to grow, and vines and reeds, olives and palms and gardens and fruits and pastures—an enjoyment for you and your cattle to delight in. "It is God who sends down water out of the sky, and with it quickens the earth after it is dead. Surely, in that is a sign for people who have ears to hear. In cattle, too, there is a lesson for you: We give you to drink of what is in their bellies, between filth and blood—pure milk, sweet to those who drink. "And We give you the fruits of the palms and the vines from which you derive sweet-tasting liquid and fair provision. Indeed, this is a sign for men of understanding. "And your Lord inspires the bees, saying, 'Build your homes in the mountains, in the trees and in the thatch of roots, then feed on every kind of fruit and follow the ways of your Lord, so easy to go upon.' Then there comes forth out of their bellies a liquid of various colors wherein is healing for men. Truly, this is a sign for people who reflect."
Dr. M. Hafiz Syed writes that the Prophet taught worshippers who eat animal flesh to wash out their mouths before going to pray. It is a Muslim custom to clean one's mouth before prayer, but many biographers record Mohammed giving this instruction only in regards to meat, and not to any other kind of food. Mohammed's earliest biographers wrote that he preferred vegetarian foods. The Prophet enjoyed milk diluted with water, yogurt with butter or nuts, and cucumbers with dates. His favorite fruits, which he would often subsist on for weeks at a time, were pomegranates, grapes and figs. He liked soaked, crushed dates as a morning drink. The Prophet was especially fond of honey. He would eat it mixed with vinegar. Mohammed is quoted as having said that in a home where there is honey and vinegar, there will be the blessings of the Lord. He enjoyed a preparation known as "hees," made from butter, dates and yogurt. "Where there is an abundance of vegetables," said the Prophet, "hosts of angels will descend on that place." Mohammed did not directly forbid the killing of animals for food, but he taught that such killing should be done as humanely as possible. "If you must kill," he conceded, "kill without torture." The laws governing the "humane slaughter" of animals for food in Islam are similar to those found in Judaism.
The Koran clearly evokes compassion and mercy towards animals. Islamic mystics, such as the Sufis, regard vegetarianism as a high spiritual ideal. One contemporary Sufi master explains, "If you understand the 'qurban' (ritual slaughter and Islamic dietary laws) from within with wisdom, its purpose is to reduce this killing. But if you look at it from outside, it is meant to supply desire with food, to supply the craving of the base desires..." As in the Jewish tradition, animal life partakes of the sacred, and the ritual and humane slaughter of animals is regarded as a divine concession to human lust and brutality. The Koran (22:37) also teaches the futility of animal sacrifice as a means of worship. "Their flesh will never reach Allah, nor yet their blood—but your devotion and piety will reach Him." The death of the Prophet Mohammed put flesh-eating in its proper perspective. It is said a non-Muslim woman invited Mohammed and his companions to a meal and served them poisoned meat. By the gift of prophecy, Mohammed knew the flesh was poisoned. He alone ate it, and ordered his companions not to do so. Although Mohammed was not in the habit of eating foods prepared by non-Muslims, on this occasion he did. Struck down by the poisoned meat, he was ill for nearly two years before dying in 632 AD. Some scholars believe Mohammed deliberately ate the poisoned meat to teach his followers the moral wrong of flesh-eating, recalling passages from the biblical Book of Numbers (11:4-34). The traditional understanding of the Islamic dietary laws is that Muslims are meant to eat wholesome foods. The Koran (surah 7, verse 157) teaches that "He [Mohammed] makes lawful to them the good things of life and he forbids them the bad things." Al-Ghazzali (1058-1111), one of Islam's most distinguished philosophers, wrote in his book Ihya Ulum ul-Din: "Eating the meat of a cow causes disease ('marz'), its milk is health ('safa') and its clarified butter ('ghee') is medicine ('dava'). Compassionate eating leads to compassionate living." Islamic compassion should extend to animals. Rabi'a al Adawiyya was born in 717 AD in Basra, in what is now known as Iraq. During childhood, her parents died, and she was sold into slavery. Rabi'a was a Sufi, a member of a mystical sect that preaches total love of God and total union with Him. After her release from slavery, she went to the desert for prayer and meditation. She returned to Basra, leading a life of voluntary poverty and simplicity. She refused gifts of money and riches as well as many offers of marriage. Her life was marked by acts of kindness towards humans and animals alike. When she was in the mountains, the animals gathered around her: deer, gazelles, mountain goats, and wild donkeys. In her presence, they were trusting and fearless. Once, when another Sufi teacher, Hasan-al-Basri approached her, the animals ran away. He asked her why the animals gathered around her, but ran from him. Rabi'a responded by asking him what he had eaten. "Onions fried in fat," he replied. "You eat their fat!" exclaimed Rabi'a. "Why should they not flee from you?" "Share thy water with the early birds "Freeing an insect is kinder "Both deserve living, for their lives are precious These are the teachings of Abu l'Ala, a blind poet, born in Syria in 973 AD. He originally planned to live as a vegetarian ascetic, but his fame spread, and disciples and students all came to him. He was surrounded by people who wanted to learn from him. He used his eloquence with words to speak on behalf of the oppressed. Abu l'Ala called for religious equality, urging Jews, Christians and Muslims to respect one another's faiths and to act with good will towards one another. He opposed tyranny, and taught that rulers and princes are servants of the people. "My heart bleeds for the cruelty toward The poor burro, who stubbornly endures But also gets whipped for resting because of the excessive burden on his back." Abu l'Ala was a vegetarian out of compassion for animals. "Neither eat the sea creatures," he taught, "for this is cruel. Nor seek nor desire thy food from the painful slaughtering of animals." Abu l'Ala also objected to the use of fur, leather, milk, honey and eggs, because they involve abusing or taking things from animals. The Koran teaches compassion and mercy. Each of its 114 chapters, except one, begin, "Allah is merciful and compassionate." The name of God used most often in the Koran is "al-Rahim," which means "the All-Compassionate." Mohammed taught love and respect for nature, compassion for animals and condemned the needless suffering and death of other living creatures. Vegetarianism and animal rights are consistent with Islam.
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reply from a muslim friend of mine
Submitted by sukanta kumar ghosh (not verified) on December 12, 2008 - 5:48pm.harekrisna,,,i forwarded this mail to a muslim friend of mine and she has replied like this...what can be the answer of her reply?
hi brother
whatever u send is not fully right :) islam never says to be vegeterian, rather its said in quran that whatever foods ae made 'halal' by allah, not taking those is disregarding him :)
but yes ofcourse our prophet said to be kind with animal. and uring pilgrim no killing, but the very next day of 'haj' u have qurbani eid, which is known as bakri eid, and all muslims including each and every haji (the people who r in the pilgrim, in the photo) slaughter animal by the name of Allah in mecca itself :).
take care.
(long) reply from vasu murti prabhu, re. islam & vegetarianism
Submitted by Gauranga Prasad Das on December 16, 2008 - 9:42am.Mohammed taught that Jews and Christians have been worshipping Allah under a different name. The Koran recognizes Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus and other biblical personalities as genuine prophets through whom God spoke. Whereas the Jewish people are said to be descended from Abraham through Isaac, Mohammed’s family lineage is traced to Abraham through the patriarch’s grandson Kedar, son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13).
If we want to understand the role of vegetarianism in Islam, we must first understand the biblical basis for vegetarianism. According to the Bible, God intended the entire human race to follow a vegetarian diet.
"And God said: 'Behold! I have given you
every plant-yielding seed which is upon the
face of all the earth, and every tree, in which
is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed; you shall
have them for food.’”
—Genesis 1:29
Paradise is vegetarian. Rashi (Rabbi Solomon von Isaac, 1030-1105), the famous Jewish Bible commentator, taught that "God did not permit Adam and his wife to kill a creature and to eat its flesh. Only every green herb shall they all eat together." Ibn Ezra and other Jewish biblical commentators agree.
According to the Talmud (compilations of rabbinical dialogue and commentary on the Bible), "Adam and many generations that followed him were strict flesh-abstainers; flesh-foods were rejected as repulsive for human consumption." Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), Judaism’s greatest and most influential theologian thus far, taught that meat was prohibited because living creatures possess a degree of spiritual superiority, resembling the souls of rational beings.
Although man was made in God’s image and given dominion over all creation (Genesis 1:26-28), these verses do not justify humans killing animals and then devouring them, because God immediately proclaims He created the plants for human consumption. (Genesis 1:29) In a letter to Pope John Paul II, challenging him on the issue of animal experimentation, Dr. Michael Fox of the Humane Society has argued that the word "dominion” is derived from the original Hebrew word "rahe” which refers to compassionate stewardship, instead of power and control. Parents have dominion over their children; they do not have a license to kill, torment or abuse them. The Talmud (Shabbat 119; Sanhedrin 7) interprets "dominion” to mean animals may only be used for labor.
Man was made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26) and told to be vegetarian (Genesis 1:29). "And God saw all that He had made and saw that it was very good." (Genesis 1:31) Complete and perfect harmony. Everything in the beginning was the way God wanted it. Vegetarianism was part of God’s initial plan for the world.
"It appears that the first intention of the Maker was to have men live on a strictly vegetarian diet," writes Rabbi Simon Glazer, in his 1971 Guide to Judaism. "The very earliest periods of Jewish history are marked with humanitarian conduct towards the lower animal kingdom...It is clearly established that the ancient Hebrews knew, and perhaps were the first among men to know, that animals feel and suffer pain."
After the Flood, God revised His commandment against flesh-eating. Human beings, since eating of the forbidden fruit, seemed incapable of obedience on this issue. One Jewish writer comments, "Only after man had proven unfit for the high moral standard set at the beginning, was meat made a part of the humans’ diet." Others claim flesh-eating was permitted to prevent cannibalism. We read:
"The fear of you and the dread of you shall be
upon every beast of the earth...Into your hand
they are delivered...Only you shall not eat the
flesh with its life, that is, its blood."
—Genesis 9:2-4
This commandment against consuming blood is repeatedly given throughout both the Old and New Testaments: Genesis 9:3; Leviticus 17:10-12, 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16,23,25, 15:23; Acts 15:19-20,29. The Bible identifies blood with life itself: "...for the blood is the life..." (Deuteronomy 12:23). The blood of a slain animal, which symbolizes the essence of life, must be returned to the Giver of Life. This commandment against consuming blood was first given to Noah, who was not Jewish; it was intended for all mankind. (Acts 21:25)
Rabbi Samuel Dresner makes this observation: "The removal of blood...is one of the most powerful means of making us constantly aware of the concession and compromise which the whole act of eating meat, in reality, is...it teaches us reverence for life." According to Dresner: "...the eating of meat is itself a sort of compromise...
"Man ideally should not eat meat, for to eat meat a life must be taken, an animal must be put to death." Rabbi Milgrom regards the commandment against blood as a law that permits man to "indulge in his lust for meat and not be brutalized in the process."
There is considerable evidence within the Bible suggesting God’s plan is to restore His Kingdom on earth and return mankind to vegetarianism. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the Chief Rabbi of prestate Israel, wrote: "It is inconceivable that the Creator who had planned a world of harmony and a perfect way for man to live should, many thousands of years later, find that this plan was wrong."
Rabbi Kook believed the concession to eat meat (Genesis 9:3) was never intended to be a permanent condition. In his essay, "A Vision of Peace and Vegetarianism," he asked: "...how can it be that such a noble and enlightened moral position (Genesis 1:29) should pass away after it once has been brought into existence?"
In his essay, "The Dietary Prohibitions of the Hebrews," Jean Soler finds in the Bible at least two times when an attempt was made to try the Israelites out on a vegetarian diet. During the period of exodus from Egypt, the Hebrews lived entirely on manna. They had large flocks which they brought with them, but never touched.
The Israelites were told that manna "is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat." (Exodus 16:5) For forty years in the desert, the Israelites lived on manna (Nehemiah 9:15,21). The apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon (16:20) calls manna the food of the angels. Manna is described as a vegetable food, like "coriander seed” (Numbers 11:7), tasting like wafers and honey (Exodus 16:31).
On two separate occasions, however, the men rebelled against Moses because they wanted meat. The meat-hungry Hebrews lamented, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots." God ended this first "experiment in vegetarianism” through the miracle of the quails.
A second "experiment in vegetarianism” is suggested in the Book of Numbers, when the Hebrews lament once again, "O that we had meat to eat." (Numbers 11:4) God repeated the miracle of the quails, but this time with a vengeance: "And while the flesh was between their teeth, before it was even chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and He struck them down with a great plague." (Numbers 11:33)
The site where the deaths took place was named "The Graves of Lust." (Numbers 11:34; Deuteronomy 12:20) The quail meat was called "basar ta’avah," or "meat of lust." The Talmud (Chulin 84a) comments that: "The Torah teaches a lesson in moral conduct, that man shall not eat meat unless he has a special craving for it, and shall eat it only occasionally and sparingly." Here, according to Soler, as in the story of the Flood, "meat is given a negative connotation. It is a concession God makes to man’s imperfection."
Rabbi Kook taught that because humans had an insatiable desire to kill animals and eat their flesh, they could not yet be returned to a moral standard which called for vegetarianism. Kook regarded Deuteronomy 12:15,20 ("Thou mayest slaughter and eat... after all the desire of thy soul,") as poetically misleading. He translated this Torah verse as: "because you lust after eating meat...then you may slaughter and eat."
In his book Judaism and Vegetarianism, Dr. Richard H. Schwartz notes that God’s blessings to man throughout the Bible are almost entirely vegetarian: products of the soil, seeds, sun and rain.
"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation
Neither shall they learn war any more
"But they shall sit every man under his vine
And under his fig tree
And none shall make them afraid
For the Lord of hosts has spoken."
—Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3-4
God’s desire is to extend His spirit of divine peace to mankind and the animal kingdom. A reconciliation. To return the world to a vegetarian paradise, so all His creatures may again live together in perfect peace:
"Then I will make a covenant on behalf of Israel with
the wild beasts, the birds of the air, and the things that
creep on the earth, and I will break the bow and sword
and weapon of war and sweep them off the earth, so
that all living creatures may lie down without fear."
—Hosea 2:18
It is important to note that God plans to make His covenant with the animals themselves. This is not the first time God deals directly with animals—He made a similar covenant after the Flood:
"I now make My covenant with you and with your
descendants after you, and with every living creature
that is with you, all birds and cattle, all the wild
animals with you on earth, all that have come out
of the ark. I will make My covenant with you:
never again shall living creatures be destroyed
by the waters of the Flood..."
—Genesis 9:9-11
The future Kingdom of Peace is described clearly by Isaiah:
"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid
and the calf and the lion and the fatling together
And a little child shall lead them.
"The cow and the bear shall feed
their young shall lie down together
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The suckling child shall play over the hole of the asp
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den
"They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain
For all the earth shall be in full knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea."
—Isaiah 11:6-9
The prophet Ezekiel speaks similarly:
"I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid
the country of ravenous beasts, that they may dwell
securely in the desert and sleep in the forests.
"I will place them about My hill, sending rain in due
seasons, rain that shall be a blessing to them. The
trees of the field shall bear their fruits, and the land
its crops, and they shall dwell securely on their own
soil...
"They shall no longer be despoiled by the nations or
devoured by beasts of the earth, but shall dwell secure
with no one to frighten them. I will prepare for them
peaceful fields for planting...Thus, they shall know
that I, the Lord, am their God, and they are My
people, the house of Israel, says the Lord God."
—Ezekiel 34:25-30
The Bible thus begins and ends in a Kingdom where slaughter is unknown, and identifies the one annointed by God to bring about this Kingdom as "Mashiach," or the Messiah. Humanity’s very beginning in Paradise, and destiny in the age of the Messiah are vividly depicted as vegetarian. "In that future state," taught Rabbi Kook, "people’s lives will no longer be supported at the expense of the animals." Isaiah (65:25) repeats his prophecy again. This is God’s plan.
In his excellent A Guide to the Misled, Rabbi Shmuel Golding explains the orthodox Jewish position concerning animal sacrifices: "When G-d gave our ancestors permission to make sacrifices to Him, it was a concession, just as when he allowed us to have a king (I Samuel 8), but He gave us a whole set of rules and regulations concerning sacrifice that, when followed, would be superior to and distinct from the sacrificial system of the heathens."
A Midrash (teaching based on Jewish values and tradition) states: "In the Messianic era, all offerings will cease, except the thanksgiving offering, which will continue forever." God makes it known throughout the Bible that He values acts of love, justice and mercy more than bloody rituals:
"Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and
not rather that the voice of the Lord should be
obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifice:
and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams."
—I Kings 15:22
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto Me? Saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt
of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I
delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs,
or of he-goats.
"When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine
eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I
will not hear, for your hands are full of blood."
—Isaiah 1:11,15
"Add whole-offerings to sacrifices and eat the flesh if
you will. But when I brought your forefathers out of
Egypt, I gave them no commands about sacrifices. I
not a word about them.
"The children of Judah have done evil in My sight...they
have set abominations in the House which is called by
My name, to pollute it."
—Jeremiah 7;21-22,30
"Loyalty is My desire, not sacrifice. Not burnt offerings,
but the knowledge of God."
—Hosea 6:6
"As for sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice flesh and eat it. But
in these the Lord has no delight."
—Hosea 8:13
"I hate, I spurn your pilgrim feasts, I do not delight in
your sacred ceremonies. When you present your
sacrifices and offerings, I will not accept them, nor
look on the buffaloes of your shared offerings...
"But let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as
a mighty stream. O house of Israel, did you offer Me
victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness?"
—Amos 5:21-25
"With what shall I come before the Lord and bow
before Him? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
with baby calves? Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil?
"Shall I give Him my firstborn for my transgression?
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has
shown you, o man, what is good. And what does
the Lord require you to do, but justice, love, kindness,
and to walk humbly with thy God?"
—Micah 6:6-8
"God, the Lord God, has spoken and summoned
the world from the rising to the setting sun...
"‘Shall I not find fault with your sacrifices, though
your burnt offerings are before Me always?
"’I will not take a calf from your house, nor a he-goat
from your folds. For all the animals of the forest are
Mine, and the cattle in thousands on My hills.
"’If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the earth
and its fullness are Mine. Shall I eat the flesh of
bullocks or drink the blood of goats?
"Offer the sacrifice of praise to God, and pay your vows
to the Most High.’”
—Psalm 50:1-14
"Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not desired...
Let my prayer be prepared as an incense offering
before Thee, the lifting of my hands as the evening
sacrifice."
—Psalm 40:6, 141:2
"To practice righteousness and justice is more acceptable
to the Lord than sacrifice."
—Proverbs 21:3
"Guard your steps when you go to the House of God:
to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice
fools, for they do not know they are doing evil."
—Ecclesiastes 5:1
Rabbi Zalman Schachter makes no apologies for past injustices inflicted upon animals in the name of religion. Much of the Bible was spoken to primitive tribes, wandering through the desert. "Our forefathers were a pastoral people," he writes. "Raising animals for food was their way of life. Not only did they eat meat, they drank water and wine from leather flasks, they lived in tents and wore clothes made from skins and sewed together with bones and sinews. They read from a Torah written on parchment, used a ram’s horn as a shofar, and said their morning prayers with leather tefellin." He adds, "Are we ashamed to recall that Abraham had two wives because in today’s Western world he would be called a bigamist? Vegetarianism is a response to today’s world...Meat-eating, like polygamy, fit into an earlier stage of human history."
The Bible calls for compassion towards animals and exalts vegetarianism as a moral and spiritual ideal. The healing powers of a vegetarian diet are not ignored. We have the example of Daniel, who lived as a vegetarian, and refused to eat the meat (or drink the wine) that King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his servant to give him while he was imprisoned in Babylon. We read in Daniel 1:8-15: "he would not defile himself with...the King’s meat... but (lived on) beans, lentils and pulse." After ten days, Daniel and his companions looked healthier and stronger than those who ate the king’s food.
But it is Isaiah, who consistently denounces the slaughter and bloodshed of humans and animals. He declares that God does not hear the prayers of animal-killers (1:15), repeating this again: "But your iniquities have separated you and your God. And your sins have hid His face from you, so that He does not hear. For your hands are stained with blood...their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed innocent blood...they know not the ways of peace."
Elsewhere, we read, "You have not honored Me with your sacrifices...rather you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities." (43:23-24) Isaiah laments that in a time of repentance he saw "joy and merrymaking, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine, as you thought, ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’” (22:13) Isaiah equates the killing of animals with murder: "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrificeth a lamb is as if he cut off a dog’s neck..." (66:3) On two separate occasions (11:6-9, 65:25), he speaks of a future world, where "the lion shall eat straw like the ox," and the whole earth is returned to a vegetarian paradise.
With the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, the sacrificial system of the Hebrews came to an end. Since the killing of animals outside of sacrifice was forbidden (Leviticus 17:3-4), many Jews gave up meat-eating altogether. Meat consumption virtually died out at the time. In the Talmud (Tracte Babba Bathra 60b), Rabbi Yishmael is quoted as saying, "From the day that the holy Temple was destroyed, it would have been right to have imposed upon ourselves the law prohibiting the eating of flesh."
A complicated set of dietary laws and ritual slaughter evolved to replace the sacrificial system as a means of atonement for killing God’s innocent creatures. The process of slaughter is strictly regulated. The procedures are described in the Talmud. The slaughterers must be specially-trained, God-fearing, observant Jews. The knife used in killing the animals must be sharper than a razor, with no indentation.
The killing involves cutting the esophagus and the trachea, severing the jugular vein and carotid arteries. This is intended to cause virtually instantaneous unconsciousness. The only pain the animal is intended to experience is the cutting of its skin—a pain minimized by the sharpness of the knife. "Humane slaughter," an oxymoron, is the intention behind such ritual killing.
In "Kashruth and Civil Kosher Law Enforcement," Sol Friedman explains the meaning behind ritual slaughter: "In Judaism, the act of animal slaying is not viewed as a step in the business of meat-preparation. It is a deed charged with religious import. It is felt that the flame of animal life partakes of the sacred, and may be extinguished only by the sanction of religion, and only at the hands of one of its sensitive and reverential servants."
In their book, The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism, Dennis Prager and Rabbi Telushkin explain: "Keeping kosher is Judaism’s compromise with its ideal vegetarianism. Ideally, according to Judaism, man would confine his eating to fruits and vegetables and not kill animals for food."
Along with the concession to eat meat, many laws and restrictions were given. Rabbi Kook taught that the reprimand implied by these regulations is an elaborate apparatus designed to keep alive a sense of reverence for life, with the aim of eventually leading people away from their meat-eating habit. This idea is echoed by Jewish Bible commentator Solomon Efraim Lunchitz, author of K’lee Yakar:
"What was the necessity for the entire procedure of ritual slaughter? For the sake of self-discipline. It is far more appropriate for man not to eat meat; only if he has a strong desire for meat does the Torah permit it, and even this only after the trouble and inconvenience necessary to satisfy his desire. Perhaps because of the bother and annoyance of the whole procedure, he will be restrained from such a strong and uncontrollable desire for meat."
A similar statement was made by a modern rabbi, Pinchas Peli:
"Accordingly, the laws of kashrut come to teach us that a Jew’s first preference should be a vegetarian meal. If however, one cannot control a craving for meat, it should be kosher meat which would serve as a reminder that the animal being eaten is a creature of God, that the death of such a creature cannot be taken lightly, that hunting for sport is forbidden, that we cannot treat any living thing callously, and that we are responsible for what happens to other beings (human or animal) even if we did not personally come into contact with them."
In the face of cultural assimilation, Rabbi Robert Gordis does not believe the dietary laws will be maintained by Jews today in their present form. He suggests that vegetarianism, a logical conclusion of Jewish teaching, would effectively protect the kosher tradition: "Vegetarianism offers an ideal mode for preserving the religious and ethical values which kashrut was designed to concretize in human life."
In his 1987 book, Food For the Spirit: Vegetarianism and the World Religions, writer Steven Rosen makes a well-reasoned case for Jewish vegetarianism, concluding:
"...even if one considers the process of koshering to be legitimate, it is an obvious burden placed upon the Jewish people, perhaps in the hope that they will give up flesh-foods altogether. If eating meat is such a detailed, long, and drawn-out process, why not give it up entirely?"
Mohammed, similarly, did not directly forbid the killing of animals for food, but he taught that such killing should be done as humanely as possible. "If you must kill," he conceded, "kill without torture." The laws governing the "humane slaughter” of animals for food in Islam are similar to those found in Judaism. The knife must be "razor sharp," to cause as little pain to the animal as possible. The knife should not be sharpened in the presence of the animal about to be killed. An animal must not be slaughtered in the presence of other animals. In order to prevent harm to an animal that may still be alive, it is forbidden to skin or slice an animal carcass until it is cold, i.e., when rigor mortis has set in.
The Koran clearly evokes compassion and mercy towards animals. Islamic mystics, such as the Sufis, regard vegetarianism as a high spiritual ideal. One contemporary Sufi master, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, explains, "If you understand the ‘qurban’ (ritual slaughter and Islamic dietary laws) from within with wisdom, its purpose is to reduce this killing. But if you look at it from outside, it is meant to supply desire with food, to supply the craving of the base desires..."
Writer Steven Rosen observes: "Vegetarians have no problem with Koranic dietary laws. Scriptural food laws, then, appear to be a deliberate burden upon meat-eating believers. They, and not their vegetarian brothers, must observe very strict dietary laws that serve only to curtail a flesh-eating regimen."
Rosen states further, "As in Judaism, sacrificial animal slaughter is a detailed process for Muslims. And the whole procedure…is meant to minimize the killing of animals."
The death of the Prophet Mohammed put flesh-eating in its proper perspective. It is said a non-Muslim woman invited Mohammed and his companions to a meal and served them poisoned meat. By the gift of prophecy, Mohammed knew the flesh was poisoned. He alone ate it, and ordered his companions not to do so.
Although Mohammed was not in the habit of eating foods prepared by non-Muslims, on this occasion he did. Struck down by the poisoned meat, he was ill for nearly two years before dying in 632 AD. Some scholars believe Mohammed deliberately ate the poisoned meat to teach his followers to moral wrong of flesh-eating, recalling verses 11:4-34 from the biblical Book of Numbers (see above).
Thus, the Abrahamic faiths uphold vegetarianism as a moral ideal.
comment on the last reply
Submitted by Non-registered Visitor (not verified) on July 19, 2009 - 4:57am.i dont understand how is this page is suppose to be about vegetarianism in islam while most of what u have quoted from the bible and other holly books ?
prophet mMuhammed peace up on him would have forbidden eaten meat unless its necessary just like he has forbidden eating pork unless u were starvin to death and u have nothin else to eat.
prophet Muhammed PUOH didn't eat alone the poised meat .. he did eat it wit a companion who died because of it .. and he said the Jewish woman killed me .. not eating the meat !
i appreciate that lots of what u have quoted in de main article is cloth to the truth based on our Islamic perspective but im afraid that not all of it is.
thanks i have enjoyed reading this article
Vegetarianism is at minimum completely consistent with Islam
Submitted by Non-registered Visitor (not verified) on August 20, 2010 - 3:56am.Hello and Salams to other Muslim readers
I commend you for the good research you have done on Islam and Vegetarianism. A quick correction, one for you and two for the previous comment.
When you refer to revelations from the The Koran as you did here
"surah 7, verse 157) teaches that "He [Mohammed] makes lawful to them the good things of life and he forbids them the bad things." ,
it is God/Allah who is making things lawful, not Mohamed, PBUH. In Islam the commands within the Quran are from God, not from Mohamed, PBUH. He is a prophet, a messenger and is to be considered as equal to all other Prophets before him, PBUH, but not comparable to God, as none are.
In reply to...the reply above,the person above states and questions you
"i dont understand how is this page is suppose to be about vegetarianism in islam while most of what u have quoted from the bible and other holly books ?
Firstly, you wrote from the Quran, from Hadiths, from various Islamic sources, which include other holy books. Some portions of the Quran are nearly word per word what is in the Torah and the same applies to many of the sayings of Prophet Mohamed PBUH. Much of what he said is from Torah or Talmud.
Secondly, the Quran states that we are to recognize other holy books.
Another comment from the reply above...
"prophet mMuhammed peace up on him would have forbidden eaten meat unless its necessary just like he has forbidden eating pork unless u were starvin to death and u have nothin else to eat."
This comment is mixing up some beliefs, plus adding a personal belief which may or may not be true.
Firstly about mixing up beliefs.
Prophet Mohamed PBUH was not charged with the duty to make the rules, Allah/God did that by providing the Quran and other holy books to help guide us, though in Islam we are born pure and with inherent knowledge of right and wrong. God is God, period. None are comparable.
Secondly his stating that Mohamed, would have said something is forbidden. Even if we assume the writer means Allah would have stated something is forbidden,this is the writer's opinion only. We dont' know all of Allah's ways, but many people presume this. Additionally, this shows a lack of knowledge of how the Quran is written in many styles.
The Quran utilizes many styles and reading it is tremendously moving. At times the style draws us closer and closer to understanding the right thing to do,step by step, without being told like naughty children "do this, don't do that". Some of the lessons are in the form of questions; some of the lessons place barriers in the way of continuing to do things according to the status quo or exploitive, only to learn, we can never meet those barriers, so we must stop certain conduct if we wish to please Allah.
Since the Quran is not a mere list of "do's" and "don'ts", your approach to interpreting the Quran is consistent with the duties of a good Muslim. Thank you, Jazakallah! We are to read the Quran in context, in the totality of the various messages within the Quran, and where there is some information not presented we have a duty to explore which includes reading other holy books.
The Quran directs that the correct interpretation is the "best" interpretation.
Good Job, I say!