𝟓 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐄𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐠𝐬

Mohamad Mostafa Nassar

Twitter@NassarMohamadMR

As you’d expect, you would never once see a pig in Saudi Arabia. However, it does exist, but only in children’s comic books and cartoons. The breeding, raising, carrying, selling, buying, cooking, and eating of this filthy animal is completely prohibited (Haram) to people in the kingdom and any one of the 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.

So I doubt I’ll ever see one.

But, if you ask most Muslims why the animal is not permissible, they usually won’t give you a clear answer.

They often reply that Islam prohibits Muslims eating pork and that dealing with the animal in Saudi Arabia is punishable by the Islamic Sharia law.

And of course, they are right, so they don’t!

5 Special Reasons Why Muslims Don’t Eat Pigs

Allah Exalted He, Orders Muslims NOT To Eat The Pig
The Pig Is A Filthy Beast
Pigs Are Full Of Diseases
Human Beings Cannot Easily Digest Pig
Pigs Are Useless To The Human Race

The following article explains why in Islam the pig is prohibited for consumption, how filthy the pig actually is, and which types of meat are truly permissible for Muslims to eat.

Why Pork is prohibited (Haram) in Islam?

1. Allah Exalted He Orders Muslims Not To Eat The Pig

The Holy Quran mentions that eating the pig is an abomination or filth (رِجۡسٌ) and for this reason, Muslims should not eat it.

But, it does not say why.

Rather, Allah Exalted He only tells believers that eating the pig (pork) is prohibited (Haram) and that we should refrain from eating it.

**Where In The Quran Does It State NOT To Eat The Pig?**

Muslims point to four verses in the Holy Quran that specifically prohibit them from consuming pig meat.

They are:

1. The Cow (Al-Baqarah)	2:173
2. The Spread Table (Al-Ma’idah)	5:3
3. The Cattle (Al-An’am)	6:145
4. The Bee (Al-Nahl)	16:115

You can click on the number links in the above table to hear the verses in Arabic and read their Arabic, English or Spanish translations.

Muslims Can’t Consume Carrion (Road Kill), Blood, The Pig (Pork) Nor Food Dedicated To Other Than Allah Exalted He.

Each of the four verses prohibits Muslims from eating carrion, (Al-Maytah), drinking (flowing) blood, eating pig meat, or any other animal that has been dedicated to other than Allah (SWT).

The Surah entitled The Spread Table (Al-Ma’idah 5:3) also specifies prohibitions concerning the manner of the slaughter of the animals.

In addition to the pig, animal blood and carrion, (Al-Maytah) any other animal killed in the following ways are unlawful for consumption:

Animals that have been:

Strangled or suffocated
Beaten
Toppled or pushed
Gored (by other animals)
Partially eaten (by other animals)

What Does Each of The 4 Surahs Specify In Prohibiting The Consumption Of Pig?

1. The Cow (Al-Baqarah)	(2:173)	No eating carrion, (roadkill) blood, pig nor animals dedicated to other than Allah.
2. The Spread Table (Al-Ma’idah)	(5:3)	No eating carrion, blood, pig nor animals dedicated to other than Allah. Also: Strangled or suffocated Beaten Toppled or pushed Gored (by other animals) Partially eaten (by other animals)
3. The Cattle (Al-An’am)	(6:145)	No eating carrion, (flowing) blood, pig nor animals dedicated to other than Allah.
4. The Bee (Al-Nahl)	(16:115)	No eating carrion, blood, pig nor animals dedicated to other than Allah.

The proverbial saying ‘You are what you eat’ is the notion that to be fit and healthy you need to eat good food.

Warning the following video shows Pigs eat their own shit, no matter how many times you give them clean food.

Why Is Eating The Pig Unlawful For Muslims?

Pigs Have More Than 70 Diseases Including, Parasites, Worms And Swine Influenza

The pig is a dirty, disease-ridden animal that truly harms the human body. It eats anything and rolls in mud and its own filth.

Pig meat contains high levels of nasty fat and cholesterol. Eating it can lead to obesity, rectum, colon, and prostate cancers. It also results in scabies, allergies, and stomach ulcers.

Tapeworm Infections

Tapeworm In The Eyes Courtesy Dr Srikanth Shetty

People can easily get infected by tapeworm, lungworm, and microbes in the lungs when they eat pork.

Inside our bodies, tapeworms can grow up to 4 to 10 meters long in the human intestines and emerge from out of the rectum of the infected person.

In our bodies, tapeworms mate, then multiply and spread throughout to the tissues, eyes, heart, and brain.

Untreated, this will cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, hysteria, and eventually insanity.

Round Worm (Trichinosis) Infections

From the pig, the trichinosis parasite spreads to the human body by eating undercooked pork meat. The roundworm eggs in the meat are not destroyed even at high temperatures.

When people consume pork infected with eggs of the roundworm, they hatch in your intestines into hairlike nematode worms.

After a few days, they begin to breed and multiply, enter the bloodstream, and travel from the gut to other parts of the body.

Roundworm cysts can form in the muscle tissue, the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain tissue.

Infections cause exhaustion, anemia, and problems with the nerves.

Infections of the cerebral membrane and brain cause massive cranial pressure and lead to headaches, epilepsy, paralysis, and madness.

Why Does Islam Consider Carrion, Blood, the Pig, And Animals Dedicated To Other Than Allah Be Unlawful?

Allah (SWT) bans Muslims from eating these foods for two main reasons; physical and spiritual health.

Physical Health

Consuming any of the above four food types can cause health problems since they contain many diseases that are very difficult to control.

Spiritual Health

Also, eating pig meat can corrupt the moral or emotional nature of human beings.

Muslims believe that people take on the appearance and characteristics of the pig after having eaten it.

These include being promiscuous, indecent behavior, and having a lack of honor.

Allah Exalted He does not sanction (accept) the animals that Muslims slaughter without having pronounced the name of Allah Exalted He over them.

The same is true if they have not let the blood drain out of the dead animal after slaughter.

**Why Is Eating Carrion Or Dead Animals (Al-Maytah) Unlawful?**

Giraffe Killed In Africa Courtesy The African Wildlife Foundation AWF

Muslims are not allowed to consume animals that have died naturally, from sickness, or in an accident. Due to the manner of death, the meat is harmful to the human body.

The blood remains in the body of the animal, and the flesh subsequently becomes infected with harmful bacteria.

However, Muslims can eat dead fish and locusts. They are permissible.

Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him said of sea-water;

هُوَ الطَّهُورُ مَاؤُهُ الْحِلُّ مَيْتَتُهُ

The water (sea or fresh) is pure (for ablution), and its dead animals are permissible (Halal) to eat!
Prophet Mohammed (SAW) – Saheeh Sunan al-Tirmidhī 69

When we lift fish out of the water, they die, naturally. They are permissible to eat (Halal).

If fish or other animals die inside the water, and they float to the surface, they are impermissible to eat. (Haram)

Why Is Drinking Blood Of Animals Unlawful?

The Quran does not mention why Muslims should not drink blood. It only states that it is impermissible (Haram) to do so.

Medically, drinking blood in large amounts is very toxic to the human body.

Is it Safe to drink Blood?

Blood has high levels of iron. Drinking it can cause hemochromatosis (iron overdose) that damages the liver, lowers blood pressure, dehydrates the body, and causes disorder of the nerves.

Blood quickly becomes infected by harmful bacteria, (pathogens) soon after the animals die or are slaughtered.

Why Are Animals That Have Been Strangled, Beaten, Toppled, Gored, Or Partially Eaten Unlawful In Islam?

What is Lawful Slaughter?

For the slaughter of an animal to be considered permissible (Halal), certain conditions must apply.

They cannot be fulfilled if an animal is strangled, beaten, toppled, gored, or partially eaten to death (by other animals).

The one doing the slaughtering must be an adult and sane.

He/she first should position the animal to face Mecca, then pronounce ‘Allah or In the Name of Allah- ‘This (slaughter) is from and to you’, (Bismillah, Allahuma Hatha Minka wah Lak) before cutting.

The knife should be very sharp. The slaughterer must cut across the throat in one or two swooping motions.

The cutting action should be strong enough to sever the trachea, the esophagus, the jugular vein, and blood vessels all at once.

Using this swift motion, some slaughterers like to cut and sever the head from the neck completely.

It is vital that the animal does not suffer, that it does not see the knife, nor should the other animals.

The cut severs the trachea, the esophagus, the jugular vein, and blood vessels

After the cut, the animal will fall unconscious and die within a few seconds because of cerebral hypoxia and not blood loss.

The animal feels no pain because the structures at the front of the neck are severed completely. They include the trachea, the esophagus, the carotid arteries, and the jugular veins.

When cut well with speed and precision, the severed parts do not get stimulated (not felt). The effect is an instant and total loss of consciousness and no pain at all.

Also, any blood flowing to the brain stops immediately and the blood flowing away from the brain leaves it quickly.

With the cut, consciousness ceases immediately, and the animal experiences no pain or feelings.

Unlike the conventional (non-Muslim/Kosher) method where there is a delay between stunning the animal and the actual killing, no gap exists using the Islamic way.

It is a vastly more kind and compassionate form of meat production.

In all of these cases where animals were strangled, beaten, pushed, gored, or partially eaten, the slaughterer has not satisfied the proper conditions even if he/she has pronounced the name of Allah Exlted He over the dead animal.

So, eating meat of this kind is completely prohibited to Muslims.

2. The Pig Is A Filthy Beast

Sammy The Pig At The Asheville Humane Society, USA

My kids love the cartoon Peppa Pig series starring the lovable pig children Peppa and her brother George and their mummy and daddy.

It depicts a wholesome, fun-loving pig family who talks and snorts in perfect British English and follows them on their daily adventures.

I, too, chuckle as I watch the cartoon. In truth, the pig is nothing of the sort.

Pig Habits

Pigs Love To Eat Everything Including Fecal Matter

They are omnivorous, which means they willingly eat both plants and meat. You can give them anything, and they will eat it.

In the wild, they will eat calorie-rich foods, leaves, roots, nuts, and grains.

They’ll also gobble any type of kitchen vegetable waste, food leftovers, scraps, rotten meat, old cakes, sweets, and chocolate.

Sickeningly, pigs will also eat rodents, reptiles, roadkill, human corpses, and feces, even their own.

Muslims consider pigs to be filthy because they greedily consume unclean filth.

Pigs Sleep A Lot When They Are Not Eating

When they are not eating slop, pigs get exhausted and sleep 9 hrs to 11 hrs per day.

At night, they sleep 7 hrs and nap for 2-4 hours during the day.

They are so fat, they can’t sleep straight on the ground, so they prop themselves up against large objects or bundle together in tightly formed sleeping groups.

Pigs Don’t Sweat

In English, people say, ‘I am sweating like a pig’. The truth is that pigs do not sweat.

When people sweat or perspire, water evaporates off the skin and this action cools the body.

Since pigs do not sweat, they can only get cool by rolling and tumbling in their own diseased feces.

3. Pigs Are Full Of Diseases

Wild or Domestic Pigs Have More Than 70 Known Diseases

They have so many. For pig farmers, the main ones include skin infections or (greasy pig), intestinal parasites, respiratory diseases, dysentery, mastitis (infected teats), and parvovirus (PPV) or reproductive diseases.

To keep the pigs clean and healthy, breeders use a copious amount of vaccines and antibiotics.

They must also maintain a warm, dry and hygienic pen environment for them to live.

Pigs Spread Terrible Diseases To Human Beings

Human Can Get Zoonotic (Easily Spreadable) Diseases From Pigs

Pigs have so many diseases that humans can easily get infected by touching, petting them, or eating pork. Children are especially fond of playing with pigs.

For example, in the UK, many people buy micro-pigs as Christmas gifts to use as pets.

The government has urged these consumers to use strict hygiene measures to stop zoonotic diseases from spreading to the human population from their pets.

It warns that such pigs can spread a skin condition called Erysipeloid and a bacterium called Streptococcus Suis.

These bacteria can cause meningitis and deafness.

Kinds Of Zoonotic Diseases From Pigs

X-Ray results show hundreds of worms in the body of a Thai woman who ate raw pork Courtesy: World of Buzz

Pigs have diseases that do not necessarily manifest in the pigs themselves. However, when they spread to human beings, they are devastating.

Here is a more comprehensive list of diseases that humans can get from pigs.

Disease	Definition	How It Spreads To Humans
Dermatophytosis Or Ringworm	A highly contagious parasitical fungal skin infection causing scaly circular areas of hair loss.	Touching & skin-to-skin contact with pigs & dogs Highly contagious! Fungus not worms
Trichinosis Or Roundworm	Parasites on domestic pigs and wild boars.	Eating undercooked pig meat. The Trichinella cyst dissolves in your gut exposing the parasite. The larvae penetrate the wall of the small intestine, where they mature into adult worms and mate. They travel in the blood throughout your body and lodge in muscles, tissues, and the brain. Causes diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.
Erysipelas	A bacterial infection in pigs causing local skin lesions (openings) in humans.	Via skin abrasions and the organism is present in pig feces and urine. Strains can result in mild or severe disease.
Leptospirosis	A bacterial infection in pigs causing serious reproductive problems in pigs but NOT in humans.	Direct contact with urine, blood, or pig tissue via the skin, mouth, or nose. Infections cause fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea eventually leading to kidney/ liver failure or meningitis.
Streptococcosis	A highly contagious respiratory pathogen in pigs. Also in genitals and digestive tracts causing septicemia and meningitis, endocarditis, pneumonia, and arthritis in animals.	Close skin-to-skin contact causing septicemia, septic shock, meningitis, and other less common infections. Commonly found in pig workers in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong from eating raw pig meat.
Campylobacterosis	A protozoal disease causing diarrhea in pigs but sometimes no symptoms at all. Can cause severe allergic reactions in humans.	Skin-to-skin contact and eating tissue or ingesting fecal material from infected animals. Causes persistent abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea, and vomiting.
Salmonellosis	A protozoal disease causing diarrhea in pigs but sometimes no symptoms at all. Can cause severe allergic reactions in humans.	Skin-to-skin contact and eating tissue or ingesting fecal material from infected animals. Causes persistent abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea, and vomiting.
Cryptosporidiosis	A very hardy protozoal disease that lives in the intestines of pigs and humans causing diarrhea. Can cause severe allergic reactions in humans.	Touching, accidental swallowing, or eating any one of the millions of crypto organisms (oocysts) that occur in the feces of pigs and other animals. Causes persistent abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea and vomiting, weight loss, and fever for up to two weeks.
Giardiasis	A protozoal disease and one of the most prevalent and widespread intestinal parasites in humans. Can cause severe allergic reactions in humans.	Skin-to-skin contact and eating fecal tissue of infected animals, and via water or food. Causes persistent abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea, and vomiting.
Balantidiasis	A protozoal disease that highly infects pigs but rarely transmits to humans. Occurs in tropical countries like Brazil, New Guinea and Iran	Eating tissue or ingesting fecal material from infected animals and drinking infected water. Symptoms can be mild to severe and cause persistent abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea, and vomiting.
Pathogenic E. Coli	A protozoal disease embedded in pig pens that cannot be treated or eradicated.	Skin-to-skin contact and eating tissue or ingesting fecal material from infected animals. Causes persistent abdominal cramps, watery diarrhea, and vomiting.
Influenza	H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 influenza viruses spread in pigs. Only the variant viruses spread to humans.	Respiratory and skin-to-skin contamination though pig to human infections are not common. Causes fever, cough, body aches, headaches, fatigue, and runny or stuffy nose. There may also be vomiting or diarrhea.

4. Human Beings Cannot Easily Digest Pig

Pig meat is very high in fat and cholesterol. Our bodies cannot easily digest this filthy meat.

There is some evidence that the pork you eat stays in the body for a long time, up to two months.

People cannot easily process or digest pig fat to use as energy. Often, it stays in the human body where converts to human fat.

When you eat pig fat, it will also cause obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and intestinal cancer.

Pork meat eaters suffer from chronic digestive disturbances and routinely have pimples, boils, and cysts on their skins.

The Parasitic infestations listed above can cause mental disorders, pneumonia, bleeding of the lungs, madness, and death.

As a result, patients can become blind and deaf.

The nitrates added to pork and related products during production convert into nitrosamines and result in hepatic cell tumors.

Overall, eating the pig is seriously dangerous to human health and our moral outlook.

When we eat pork, we take on both the appearance and characteristics of the pig. They are promiscuous, behave indecently, and lack honor.

5. Pigs Are Useless To The Human Race

Pigs do not benefit human beings in ways that cows, sheep, goats, camels do.

We cannot use the pig for plowing or for carrying people or for heavy loads.

Their principal use is for meat and making pig lard. Secondary, by-products include leather, glue, fertilizer, and a variety of medicines.

There are some exceptions. In France, people train pigs to sniff out black truffles, a food delicacy.

We also use them to clear up garbage and animal dung which they will readily gobble up.

Worst of all, they harbor vermin like rats and mice, parasites, and dangerous bacteria.

Why billions of people won’t eat pork (or why we don’t know)

Can Muslims Eat Any Other Part Of The Pig Apart From Its Meat? No! The Quranic prohibitions cover the meat, tissues, bones, skin, and every (other) part of the pig.

Can Muslims Eat Pork If They Are Starving? Yes! Three surahs in the Quran give express permission for Muslims to eat pork under three circumstances. 1. By necessity 2. Unintentionally 3. Not sustained

For example, in circumstances of extreme hunger where only pig meat is available, Muslims are permitted to consume it.

What Is Wrong With The Pig, Anyway?

It can’t sweat
It cools off by rolling in mud and feces
It gets dirtier in higher temperatures
It has worms (trichinosis and tapeworm)
It has many diseases
It needs fields and rivers
It does not produce milk (for humans)
It does not produce skins
It cannot be used for plowing
It cannot carry loads
It eats anything the same as humans

Are There Any Other Animals Which (Like The Pig) Are Also Prohibited? Yes! In general, they include carnivorous animals such as cats, dogs, rats, mice, felines, foxes, birds of prey, etc.

Which Kind Of Animals Are Permissible For Muslims To Eat? They are usually herbivorous animals. They include cattle, sheep, cows, goats, camels, deer chickens, geese, other fowl, rabbits, and birds. Also, Muslims can catch and eat most creatures from the sea, river, or lakes. They are permissible provided the fishermen lift the fish out of the water and allow them to die. Also, we can eat them if they are washed up to shore and left to die on the beach.

Can Muslims Eat The Flesh Of Animals Not Slaughtered In The Islamic Fashion!

No! The following is a list of prohibited animals for consumption if they have died by being:

Strangled
Beaten To Death
Pushed To Their Death
Gored
Killed and eaten By Wild Animals
Killed on the road

Read Surat Al Ma’idah 5:3 to view the prohibition.

Can Muslims Eat Animals That Are Caught By Hunting Dogs? Yes! You should pronounce the name of Allah (SWT) ‘Allah or In the Name of Allah- This (slaughter) is from and to you’, (Bismillah, Allahuma Hatha Minka wah Lak) before you set off the hunting dogs on the chase. Even if the dogs kill the game, Muslims can still cook and eat the animal flesh. However, if other unknown dogs join the hunt and kill the game, it is no longer permissible.

Can Muslims Eat Animals Killed By Bullets And Arrows? Yes! However, the bullet or the arrow should pierce and enter through the skin and lodge in the flesh of the animal. It should also be the cause of its death. If bullets or arrows deflect off the body but kills it anyway, (impact death) then Muslims are no longer permitted to eat the flesh of this animal.

34 Bible Verses about pork

Pastor Pastor say the Bible Prohibts eating ANY Pig Products

Deuteronomy 14:8

The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

Leviticus 11:7

and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you.

Isaiah 66:17

“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, Following one in the center,

Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice, Will come to an end altogether,” declares the Lord.

Isaiah 65:4

Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots.

Leviticus 11:12

Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you.

Leviticus 11:35

Everything, moreover, on which part of their carcass may fall becomes unclean; an oven or a stove shall be smashed; they are unclean and shall continue as unclean to you.

Leviticus 11:8

You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

1 Corinthians 10:27

If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake.

Leviticus 11:3

Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

Matthew 8:32

And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters.

Deuteronomy 14:21

“You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Acts 10:14

But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.”

Matthew 7:6

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Leviticus 11:9

‘These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.

Proverbs 11:22

As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

2 Peter 2:22

It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Romans 14:21

It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.

Romans 14:20

Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.

Matthew 8:31

The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.”

Colossians 2:21

“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”

Romans 14:3

The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

Luke 8:33

And the demons came out of the man and entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Leviticus 5:2

Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty.

Romans 14:2

One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.

Exodus 12:9

Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.

1 Timothy 4:4

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude.

Isaiah 66:16

For the Lord will execute judgment by fire And by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many.

1 Corinthians 8:13

Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so, he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.

Matthew 8:30

Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them.

Isaiah 66:3

“But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck.

He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations,

Mark 5:9

And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

Acts 10:15

Again, a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

Acts 10:11

and he *saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,