RSS Feed (xml)
*written on Sept. 27, 2004 for my Creative Non-Fiction Class
(it's unedited so feel free to correct any grammatical lapse you might find. hehe)
It was a sunny afternoon probably two or three summers ago. Back then, my parents and I would usually hang out by the garden under the mango tree and have our little chitchat. I stretched my legs and rested them on the round table as I leaned comfortably against the rubber chair. Father sat next to me while Mother was busy spraying her orchids.
“What if,” began my father, “you were starving to death and you only had two choices for your meal: a stewed beef from a stolen cow or a cooked pork that is ‘legally’ yours, perhaps given by a neighbor. Now, which meal would you eat?”
I smiled at my father as I thought hard for an answer. I love it when he posts questions that require a lot of thinking on my part. It makes me feel as if we were both lawyers working for the same law firm and that I was his partner. “Well,” I said, “I’d rather eat the stewed beef.”
Father must have expected my answer. But of course, he and Mother raised me as a Muslim though I don’t exactly remember them lecturing me not to eat pork or anything that contains swine’s meat or blood. It must have been a common knowledge in the family as if each child was born with the restriction already instilled in his innocent brain. I was surprised to hear my father’s answer though.
“I would, possibly, eat the pork,” he said, flashing a knowing smile at me. “Eating a stolen food might cause me stomach aches. Now I wouldn’t want that to happen.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Yuck,” I said, “I can’t imagine myself eating pork. I’d rather starve.”
Some people, particularly Christians, think it’s hard to restrict oneself from eating pork. “Tubuan ka na ng pakpak niyan,[1]” my friends would say whenever I have to eat chicken meat for an entire week at the school canteen. But I have no complaints. Like what I said to my father, I would rather starve than eat pork even if it is the last choice I have.
Back in Cotabato, mealtime has never become an issue to me because restaurant owners as well as staff at the school canteen know which food to serve their customers. They clearly specify which food contains pork and which one doesn’t as a way of respect to those who don’t eat the meat. But things are different in Davao. Almost every canteen or cheap restaurant I go to have 80% pork in its menu. These people do serve chicken and beef but I fear that they might be using the same utensils or oil when cooking each meal. Even in well-known food chains, I have to do my inquiries. For instance, my friends and I happened to be hanging out in Matina Town Square and we could only afford to eat dinner at Taps. While my peers had already taken their orders, I, on the other hand, had my hesitations. I had to ask the waiter.
“Excuse me,” I said while the waiter in yellow uniform positioned his pad and pen, ready to take my order. “I have to ask. Do you use the same utensils in cooking your meals?”
“No, ma’am,” he said. His face was serious as he answered that I had to believe him.
“What about the oil? Do you use the same oil?”
“No, ma’am. We use them separately.”
“Are you willing to bet your soul on it?” I said lightheartedly, sending chuckles to a friend who sat beside me. I didn’t mean to give the waiter a hard time but I had to make sure. I feel that eating a chicken that is cooked with the same oil as used in cooking a pork meal is almost the same as eating pork per se.
The waiter just smiled and patiently took my order.
I came back two weeks later and did the same inquiry on another waitress. This time, I received a positive answer. The waitress confirmed that they use the same utensils in cooking every meal. Upon hearing this, I turned away and let out a curse. Then I had to contain myself. I was innocent, I thought. Allah will understand.
It’s a wonder to various individuals why Muslims don’t eat pork. I know a lot of people who respect my food restrictions but I doubt it if they knew the reasons behind this diet. I, for one, believe in two reasons behind this Islamic regulation. First, it is said so in Sura 16, Verse115 of the Holy Qur’an:
He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
(it's unedited so feel free to correct any grammatical lapse you might find. hehe)
It was a sunny afternoon probably two or three summers ago. Back then, my parents and I would usually hang out by the garden under the mango tree and have our little chitchat. I stretched my legs and rested them on the round table as I leaned comfortably against the rubber chair. Father sat next to me while Mother was busy spraying her orchids.
“What if,” began my father, “you were starving to death and you only had two choices for your meal: a stewed beef from a stolen cow or a cooked pork that is ‘legally’ yours, perhaps given by a neighbor. Now, which meal would you eat?”
I smiled at my father as I thought hard for an answer. I love it when he posts questions that require a lot of thinking on my part. It makes me feel as if we were both lawyers working for the same law firm and that I was his partner. “Well,” I said, “I’d rather eat the stewed beef.”
Father must have expected my answer. But of course, he and Mother raised me as a Muslim though I don’t exactly remember them lecturing me not to eat pork or anything that contains swine’s meat or blood. It must have been a common knowledge in the family as if each child was born with the restriction already instilled in his innocent brain. I was surprised to hear my father’s answer though.
“I would, possibly, eat the pork,” he said, flashing a knowing smile at me. “Eating a stolen food might cause me stomach aches. Now I wouldn’t want that to happen.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Yuck,” I said, “I can’t imagine myself eating pork. I’d rather starve.”
Some people, particularly Christians, think it’s hard to restrict oneself from eating pork. “Tubuan ka na ng pakpak niyan,[1]” my friends would say whenever I have to eat chicken meat for an entire week at the school canteen. But I have no complaints. Like what I said to my father, I would rather starve than eat pork even if it is the last choice I have.
Back in Cotabato, mealtime has never become an issue to me because restaurant owners as well as staff at the school canteen know which food to serve their customers. They clearly specify which food contains pork and which one doesn’t as a way of respect to those who don’t eat the meat. But things are different in Davao. Almost every canteen or cheap restaurant I go to have 80% pork in its menu. These people do serve chicken and beef but I fear that they might be using the same utensils or oil when cooking each meal. Even in well-known food chains, I have to do my inquiries. For instance, my friends and I happened to be hanging out in Matina Town Square and we could only afford to eat dinner at Taps. While my peers had already taken their orders, I, on the other hand, had my hesitations. I had to ask the waiter.
“Excuse me,” I said while the waiter in yellow uniform positioned his pad and pen, ready to take my order. “I have to ask. Do you use the same utensils in cooking your meals?”
“No, ma’am,” he said. His face was serious as he answered that I had to believe him.
“What about the oil? Do you use the same oil?”
“No, ma’am. We use them separately.”
“Are you willing to bet your soul on it?” I said lightheartedly, sending chuckles to a friend who sat beside me. I didn’t mean to give the waiter a hard time but I had to make sure. I feel that eating a chicken that is cooked with the same oil as used in cooking a pork meal is almost the same as eating pork per se.
The waiter just smiled and patiently took my order.
I came back two weeks later and did the same inquiry on another waitress. This time, I received a positive answer. The waitress confirmed that they use the same utensils in cooking every meal. Upon hearing this, I turned away and let out a curse. Then I had to contain myself. I was innocent, I thought. Allah will understand.
It’s a wonder to various individuals why Muslims don’t eat pork. I know a lot of people who respect my food restrictions but I doubt it if they knew the reasons behind this diet. I, for one, believe in two reasons behind this Islamic regulation. First, it is said so in Sura 16, Verse115 of the Holy Qur’an:
He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
I believe that Allah wouldn’t forbid Muslims from eating pork if it were not for their own benefit. I personally believe that eating pork is unhealthy to the body. Even when I was young, I witnessed how our neighbor’s pigs eat from dirt and I couldn’t imagine eating something that once fed from filth. My non-Muslim friends would defend that pigs are boiled and cleaned before they are cooked so it really is safe to eat them. Others would also point out that chickens and cows often eat from dirt as well. I wouldn’t argue on those points but the thing is, my abstention from eating pork is not just something out of religious belief for it has become something psychological.
I have never been tempted into eating pork no matter how juicy a pork barbeque would look like or how my companions would devour pork chops and lechon baboy while their lips become too glossy from eating. As long as I know that a food contains anything haraam[2], I will never be tempted to eat it regardless of the hunger I feel. It is as if my mind automatically rejects the idea.
It is only later when I learned the deeper reasons behind this Islamic regulation. Medical reports state how consumption of pork cause a number of diseases such as risks of high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke due to the high cholesterol contained in the pig’s meat, and other ailments carried by harmful germs like tapeworm diseases. Furthermore, Muslim scholars explain that consumption of pork affects an individual not just physically but also in moral and spiritual ways. As Rashid Shamsi puts it in his article, “Why Islam Forbids Pork,”
Anything, which is harmful for the body, hurts the soul as well. Consumption of swine-flesh reduces the feeling of shame and as such the standard of modesty. It creates lowliness in character and destroys moral and spiritual faculties in a man.
Backed up by physicians and medical experts, Shamsi explains that the process of eating doesn’t just end with the digestive system. What one eats is absorbed by the body system including the brain and this, according to Shamsi, “in no small way affects man’s nature.” He further explains that pigs are naturally lazy, indulgent in sex, dirty, greedy and gluttonous and these traits could be attained by pork-eaters. Shamsi proves this as he states the plight he witnessed among those who eat pork. According to him, “Those nations, which consume pork habitually, have a low standard of morality with the result that virginity, chastity and bashfulness are becoming a thing of the past in Europe today.” This statement may turn out to be disputable to some people for reasons that consumption of pork could not have been the primary cause of moral degradation in some countries. There’s no point on arguing with that because the point here is that aside from a person’s upbringing, education and environment, consumption of pork is a small factor that generally affects a person’s behavior.
As Resil B. Mojares’ writes in his article, “We are what we eat.” I definitely don’t want to be as lazy, sex indulgent, dirty, greedy and gluttonous as pigs. I most certainly wouldn’t want to get a risk of heart attack or catch a tapeworm disease. But then I see that my father has a point when he would rather eat pork than suffer from stomach pains or hunger. Indeed, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful if eating pork is the only way to save one’s life from starvation. But until then, ayoko pa rin ng pork.[3]
Reference:
Shamsi, Rashid. “Why Islam Forbids Pork.” The Muslim World League Journal. Internet.
Online. WWW. Address. http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=6031.
October 1999.
[1] You would grow wings.
[2] A thing forbidden in Islam
[3] I still don’t want [to eat] pork.
I have never been tempted into eating pork no matter how juicy a pork barbeque would look like or how my companions would devour pork chops and lechon baboy while their lips become too glossy from eating. As long as I know that a food contains anything haraam[2], I will never be tempted to eat it regardless of the hunger I feel. It is as if my mind automatically rejects the idea.
It is only later when I learned the deeper reasons behind this Islamic regulation. Medical reports state how consumption of pork cause a number of diseases such as risks of high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke due to the high cholesterol contained in the pig’s meat, and other ailments carried by harmful germs like tapeworm diseases. Furthermore, Muslim scholars explain that consumption of pork affects an individual not just physically but also in moral and spiritual ways. As Rashid Shamsi puts it in his article, “Why Islam Forbids Pork,”
Anything, which is harmful for the body, hurts the soul as well. Consumption of swine-flesh reduces the feeling of shame and as such the standard of modesty. It creates lowliness in character and destroys moral and spiritual faculties in a man.
Backed up by physicians and medical experts, Shamsi explains that the process of eating doesn’t just end with the digestive system. What one eats is absorbed by the body system including the brain and this, according to Shamsi, “in no small way affects man’s nature.” He further explains that pigs are naturally lazy, indulgent in sex, dirty, greedy and gluttonous and these traits could be attained by pork-eaters. Shamsi proves this as he states the plight he witnessed among those who eat pork. According to him, “Those nations, which consume pork habitually, have a low standard of morality with the result that virginity, chastity and bashfulness are becoming a thing of the past in Europe today.” This statement may turn out to be disputable to some people for reasons that consumption of pork could not have been the primary cause of moral degradation in some countries. There’s no point on arguing with that because the point here is that aside from a person’s upbringing, education and environment, consumption of pork is a small factor that generally affects a person’s behavior.
As Resil B. Mojares’ writes in his article, “We are what we eat.” I definitely don’t want to be as lazy, sex indulgent, dirty, greedy and gluttonous as pigs. I most certainly wouldn’t want to get a risk of heart attack or catch a tapeworm disease. But then I see that my father has a point when he would rather eat pork than suffer from stomach pains or hunger. Indeed, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful if eating pork is the only way to save one’s life from starvation. But until then, ayoko pa rin ng pork.[3]
Reference:
Shamsi, Rashid. “Why Islam Forbids Pork.” The Muslim World League Journal. Internet.
Online. WWW. Address. http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=6031.
October 1999.
[1] You would grow wings.
[2] A thing forbidden in Islam
[3] I still don’t want [to eat] pork.
