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(continued from last week)
WHAT we must understand is that the prohibition of some foods and drinks by The Almighty is not by any means an arbitrary action or an unwarranted decree.
Nor is it meant to deprive us of some goodness or make life difficult for us. It is first and foremost a Divine intervention in man’s best interest.
The reasons behind the Divine intervention are numerous and are of a nature intellectual and spiritual, moral and mental, physical and economic.
And the sole purpose is to show man how to develop himself according to an upright course in order to be a healthy unit in the structure of the family, society and humanity at large.
Effect of food and drink
Medical doctors and social scientists are able to realise how those foods and drinks forbidden by The Almighty are harmful and destructive to the human spirit and morality as well as to the physique and moral fibre of man.
The prohibition is based on the aim of the purification of one’s nature, because food doesn’t merely enter the stomach and intestines and become excreta. It is absorbed and metabolised and circulated to all parts of the human body, including the brain, and this in no small way affects man’s nature.
In short we must constantly remind ourselves that “you are what you eat”.
In folklore, eating pig meat is said to contribute to lack of morality and shame, plus greed for wealth, laziness, indulgence, dirtiness and gluttony.
We insult a person by calling him/her a “pig” when they demonstrate these characteristics.
The pig is naturally lazy and sexually indulgent; it is dirty, greedy and gluttonous. It dislikes sunlight and lacks the spirit and will to “fight.”
It eats almost anything, be it human excreta or anything foul and unwholesome. Among all animal flesh, pork is the favoured cradle of harmful germs.
Pork also serves as a fertile carrier of diseases to mankind. It is for this reason that its flesh is unfit for consumption.
Some people have argued that the modern pig reared in farms is given only clean foods, therefore, its flesh can be consumed.
Well, you may feed the pig clean, wholesome food, but you can’t change its nature. It is still a pig. A pig is not a plant and you cannot change it by bud-grafting.
Medical perspective
Dr Glen Shepherd wrote the following on the dangers of eating pork in the Washington Post of May 31, 1952.
“One in six people in USA and Canada have germs in their muscles – trichinosis 8, from eating pork infected with trichina worms. Many people so infected have no symptoms. Most of those, who do have, recover slowly. Some die; some are reduced to permanent invalids. All were careless pork eaters”.
He continued, “No one is immune from the disease and there is no cure. Neither antibiotics nor drugs or vaccines affect these tiny deadly worms. Preventing infection is the real answer.”
From Dr Shepherd’s statement, one can realise that there is no real guarantee of safety when eating pork that one would not be affected by trichina worm. That is why modern doctors advise three prohibitions during illness: no liquor, no pork and no smoking.
Dr M Jaffer, in a journal published in January 1997, listed 16 kinds of harmful germs discovered in pork by modern research and listed the diseases they could cause.
The number of patients suffering from tapeworm disease is the highest in the world among pork-eaters. Other diseases attributed to pigs are also at the forefront.
Another report explains that pig’s bodies contain many toxins, worms and latent diseases. Modern veterinarians say pigs are far more predisposed to these illnesses than other animals, probably because pigs like to scavenge and will eat anything – including dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta (including their own), garbage, and other pigs.
Indeed there is a worry and concern about bird flu, but influenza is one of the most common illnesses pigs share with humans.
This illness is harboured in pigs’ lungs during summer and tends to affect pigs and humans in cooler months.
Sausage contains bits of pigs’ lungs, so those who eat pork sausage tend to suffer more during influenza epidemics.
Pig meat also contains excessive quantities of histamine and imidazole compounds, which can lead to itching and inflammation; strong growth hormone, which promotes inflammation and spurts of growth; sulphur-containing mesenchymal mucus, which leads to swelling and deposits of mucus in tendons and cartilage, resulting in arthritis, rheumatism, and so forth.
Sulphur helps cause firm human tendons and ligaments to be replaced by the pig’s soft mesenchymal tissues, and degeneration of human cartilage. Eating pork can also lead to gallstones and obesity, probably due to its high cholesterol and saturated fat content.
(to be continued)
For further information on Islam or a free copy of the Holy Qur’aan, please contact:
Majlisul Ulama Zimbabwe, Council of Islamic Scholars
Publications Department
PO Box W93, Waterfalls, Harare
Tel: 04-614078/614004, Fax: 04-614003
e-mail: [email protected].
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