Ever since the beginning of Mankind man has been instructed to follow specific guidelines by his Almighty Creator. Those who followed or tried their best in carrying out those instructions were termed as successful whereas those who didn’t were doomed.

Among these guidelines was included a specific dietary code which slightly varied from prophet to prophet. The Islamic dietary code in its fullest form was revealed as a whole in its entirety in the Holy Qur’an and the personal example and sayings of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was given as a means to interpret those Qur’anic messages.

To begin to understand why should Muslims eat Halal? Lets start by understanding the meaning of Halal itself. “Halal” is an Arabic term which means lawful or permissible, in our case, in this context it means lawful or permissible food. If this question had to be answered in just one sentence, it will be simply because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’la ordered us to do so. If you are a firm believer in Allah, his message and his messenger, you will simply follow it without questioning, doubting, or complaining. For as Imam Ghazali said “When faith enters reason departs.”

In Qur’an Allah very explicitly explains why should Muslims eat “Halal” and restrain from eating “Haram.” Allah Almighty in the Qur’an instructs the believers: “O you who believe! Eat of the good things that we have provided for you, and be thankful to Allah if it is He alone whom ye worship. Indeed, what He has forbidden to you is the flesh of the dead animals and blood and the flesh of the swine and which has been sacrificed to any one other than Allah. But if one is compelled by the necessity, neither craving (it) nor transgressing, there is no sin on him; indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (2: 172-173). From this passage we understand that Allah permits us to eat what is wholesome and beneficial for our both physical and spiritual health.

Similarly there is one more verse which provides further details: “Forbidden to you are the flesh of the dead animals and blood and flesh and blood of dead animals and that which has been dedicated to anyone other than Allah, and that which has been killed by strangling or by beating or by falling or by being gored and that which has been eaten by a wild beast except that which you make lawful by slaughtering, and that which has been sacrificed to idols…….” (5:4(5:3)).

Renowned Muslim scholar Yusuf Al Qardawi provides a good explanation to the prohibition of these categories of food and the wisdom behind it. The summary of which is:

  1. The meat and flesh of the dead animals is prohibited because eating it is contrary to civilized human behavior. If the animal dies, it is possible that it might have died by eating a poisonous plant or some other chronic disease. Hence, eating it will be probably harmful.
  2. flowing blood is prohibited because drinking of blood is repugnant to human decency and that it may likewise be injurious to health.
  3. Eating of pork is prohibited because pigs like to eat filth and other human and animal waste, and the mere sight of which is disgusting. Medical research has shown that eating swine flesh is injurious to ones health in all climates since it carries a deadly parasite called Trichinia. A few years ago pigs were largely responsible for the brain fever epidemic in Hyderabad, India, because of which hundreds had perished or paralyzed.
  4. The food which is dedicated to any one other than Allah is prohibited because it is Allah who created Man and gave him power over the animal and permitting him to take its life for food on the condition that His name pronounced at the time of the slaughter. If one invokes any other name he has forfeited this permission and must be denied the use of this flesh.

In conclusion, Muslims should eat only Halal because by doing so they are obeying their Creator’s orders on one hand and benefiting themselves physically by eating what is wholesome and good and not eating what is harmful, and spiritually guarding themselves against all evil that comes out of eating Haram.

“O you who believe! Eat of the good things that we have provided for you, and be thankful to Allah if it is He alone whom ye worship. Indeed, what He has forbidden to you is the flesh of the dead animals and blood and the flesh of the swine and which has been sacrificed to any one other than Allah. But if one is compelled by the necessity, neither craving (it) nor transgressing, there is no sin on him; indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (2:172-173).