Scientific proof...?

Question

As a muslim being constantly asked on here "why do we not eat pork", In a variety of mocking, ridicule or genuine curious questions. God says we have not too eat it, its not good for our health so we dont. Today the World Cancer Recearch Fund published a report which stated that meats such as Bacon, ham and salami carries such a high risk of bowl cancer that they should be avoided ALTOGETHER scientists have warned.
Proof enough yet? Just asking?

I'm not judging anyone, eat what you like no skin of my nose. Just thought those who are always asking for scientific proof that they would be interested to see it.
The point i was trying to make was in Islam God does not ask us do anything that is not of our benifit. Dont smoke, dont drink alcohol, dont eat pork......All proven by science not good for your body. Proof that God knew at the time of the revelations we as humans did not? I'll leave that for you to decide. Thank you all for your answers, Peace to you all.

Magpie not the report i saw on Sky news last night it stated "bacon, ham and salami" if it had said any other meat i would have printed other meat. No "cherry picking" here sorry.
I only printed what the recearch stated you dont like it then too bad, but that is what it said.

Answer 1

Food and drink have direct effect on our health. That is why Islam has prescribed regulations about our food and drink. It lays great emphasis on our physical as well as moral health, because both of these are equally important for a healthy society. The abstention from eating pork is one of the steps taken by Islam to practise hygiene and to attain purity of soul.

Islam, for the cultivation of inner faculties, insists upon the cleanliness of body and the purification of soul through Salaat (prayers) Zikr (remembrance of Allah) and other devotional duties. Islam teaches us how to attain the virtues and how to give up bad habits because both good and bad grow in the man according to his upbringing, education and environment.

A human being has natural desires: food, sleep and sex being the three primary ones. He has also natural emotions: sorrow, happiness, love, fear, disgust and avarice etc. Islam doesn't recommend the complete abrogation of these impulses but offers a method of controlling them through religious education and discipline.

The prohibition of eating pork in Islam is relevant in this context. There is a saying in English that "a man becomes what he eats." According to physicians and medical experts, pork is a harmful diet. Consumption of swine-flesh creates lowliness in character and destroys moral and spiritual faculties in a man.

Body and Soul

The life of a man is a compound of body and soul. 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. 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.

The Holy Qur'an has prohibited the swine-flesh, hence the Muslims would not dare touch it. The Bible has also forbidden swine-flesh, but Christians disregarded this order and started consuming it. The Europeans proclaim that pork is a very powerful diet, rich in protein. Some of them further argue that since there is a great scarcity of food-stuffs in the world and swines are available in abundant quantity, they should be consumed in diet to overcome the food shortage. If this argument is true, why don't nations use dog's meat, as dogs too, are available in plenty? These nations perhaps hate the mention of dog's meat in the same way as the Muslims shun pork.

Another wrong notion about swine-flesh is that its consumption lengthens life-span, although this is a pure myth and absurdity. On the contrary, people, who abstain from pork and liquor, have a longer span of life. The Muslims in Central Asia bear a testimony to this truth.

However, in the consumption of flesh Muslims are required to be selective and distinguish between Halaal (Lawful) and Haraam (Unlawful). This step leads automatically to the deeper understanding of the need for the cultivation of a pure human nature. As blood is virtually our life-stream and whatever we consume ultimately affects the blood system, it is, therefore, necessary to exercise choice in the selection of our food and drink as per the requirements of the Shariah.

There are certain foods and drinks specified by Allah, and His Messenger Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as forbidden. The prohibition of these foods and drinks is not by any means an arbitrary action or an unwarranted decree of Allah. It is the first and foremost a divine intervention in the best interest of man and for his own benefit.

Reliable medical doctors and social scientists are able to realize how those foods and drinks forbidden by Islam are harmful and destructive to the human spirit and morality as well as to the physique and moral fibre of man and to verify the benefits of Islamic legislations on the subjects.

The prohibition is based on the aim of the purification of one's nature, because food, when consumed, doesn't merely enter the stomach and intestines and become excreta. It is absorbed and metabolized into the system and circulated to all parts of the human body, including the brain, and this in no small way affects man's nature.

The pig is naturally lazy and indulgent in sex, 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. Amongst all animal flesh, pork is the favoured cradle of harmful germs. Pork also serves as a carrier of diseases to mankind. It is for this reason that its flesh is not suitable for consumption.

Some people have argued that the "modern pig" reared in farms is given only clean foods, therefore, its flesh should be consumable. The answer is that you may feed the pig on 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 Reports

Dr. E. Kazim. M.D. in his article "Medical aspects of forbidden foods in Islam" (July 1981 issue of Muslim Journal has described diseases carried or caused by the flesh of the swine. He writes:

The pig is a scavenger. It is an omnivorous animal. It eats everything. There are many disease carried from swine to man, particularly parasite infestations. Lately extensive research has been focused on senility-old age is characterized by hardening of inner lining of the blood vessels of the heart, brain etc. a process called atherosclerosis. When a clot forms, it results in coronary thrombosis or a heart attack, cerebral thrombosis or stroke.

Different dietary factors are responsible for atherosclerosis. Gross atheroma may be produced in rabbit by feeding it with cholesterol, but when you add lard (derived from hog fat) to the cholesterol, the incidence of atheroma is increased and thus you would produce coronary thrombosis, and myocardial infraction.

Besides, lard contains 2800 units of vitamin D per 100 grams and no vitamin A at all. Lately vitamin D has been held responsible for atheroma, by causing increased absorption of calcium in the blood vessels. In human beings, serum cholesterol is not dependent on the intake of cholesterol in the diet, but depends upon the proportion of animal fats in the diet, which elevate the beta-lipo protein level in the blood. Animal fats contain saturated fatty acids and these saturated fatty acids have been found to be as one of the causes of atheroma in man. Medium fat bacon contains 25% proteins and 55% fat."

According to medical research, the fat content in pork is more than any other meat (beef, mutton etc.) and it takes longer to digest. Dr. M Jaffer in an article in the Islamic Review (London) of January 1997 issue has listed 16 kinds of harmful germs, which have been discovered in pork in modern researches and the diseases, which could be caused by them. The number of patients suffering from tapeworm disease is the highest in the world among pork eating nations. Other diseases attributed to pigs are caused by tri-chinelia spirates and intestinal worms occupy first place among such nations too.

Dr. Glen Shepherd wrote the following on the dangers of eating pork in Washington Post (31 May 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 caters".

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."

After reading the statement of Dr. Shepherd, one can realize 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.

Muslims follow the divine law which is much higher than the medical advice. The Glorious Qur'an says,

"So eat of the lawful and good food which Allah has provided for you, and thank the bounty of your Lord if it is Him you serve. He has forbidden for you only carrion and blood and swine-flesh and that which has been immolated in the name of any other than Allah; but he who is driven thereto, neither craving nor transgressing, Lo! then Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." (Chapter 16:114-115)

The above is the order from the Creator of the universe and Supreme Law-Giver. All Muslims are under the obligation to obey it. This is a plain and straightforward answer to those, who usually ask why Muslims abstain from eating pork. Nevertheless, there is no sin, if a Muslims is forced by famine or starvation to eat pork in order to save his life.

Answer 2

God wrote Leviticus chapter 11 as a disease prevention and high nutrition diet for the modern human digestive system. All the diseases it prevents are not yet known to human scientists. The pig is only one of many other species of animals with a simple stomach digestive system that is very unhealthy for humans to eat as a food product no matter how you raise them or how you cook them. God's knowledge of the classification of every land animal by their internal digestive system which no human on Earth had at that time or today proves that a scientific minded "Intelligent Designer" exists to have written this advanced diet based on their scientific knowledge and was not written by creative human Jewish scribes. There is a lot more scientific knowledge to this subject than I can explain at this time.

Answer 3

as a Muslim,I am quite interested with this Injeel verse given by the answerer above:

actually in the beginning, humans didn't eat animals.
"Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree tht has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
Genesis 1:29

it wasnt until after the flood that animals were afraid of us and we were allowed to eat meat.
"The fear and dread of you will fall upon the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I have given you the green plants. I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it."
Genesis 9: 2-4


I think this is one of the original verses of Injeel that left in the Bible...

I would like to give a star for your question.. ;p

Answer 4

well i seen the exact same story here in america and it said processed meats and red meat

the meats it mentioned were steak lamb pork and such processed meats as sausage and lunch meats your just using your fable to prove a point

too much red meat can cause colon cancer did you know that? red meat such as beef can stay in your colon for up to two weeks

Answer 5

Those are processed meat. Same applies to Turkey bacon and sausage. If you really read the article is was not about pork. It was about diets high in all meat and especially processed meat.

Answer 6

You are cherry picking results.

The report says ALL red meats (including goat, which is a staple of the Muslim diet) and ALL processed meats (which would include even halaal luncheon meats). It does not single out pork as being any worse than beef or lamb.

Answer 7

actually in the beginning, humans didn't eat animals.
"Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree tht has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
Genesis 1:29

it wasnt until after the flood that animals were afraid of us and we were allowed to eat meat.
"The fear and dread of you will fall upon the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I have given you the green plants. I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it."
Genesis 9: 2-4

Answer 8

Back in the day, when the Jewish people were told to avoid pork,,,,they had no way to refrigerate their food...Pork, goes bad,,,it can kill you....lamb will make you sick,,but pork can kill you....that was the reason for that dietary restriction...Everything God does is for our own good....when we understand it....but if you feel that eating pork is wrong,,and bad for you,,,don't eat it..we should all eat less meat and more veggies and fruit....

Answer 9

I didn't need that proof...God said it and that's good enough for me. Personally, I don't follow all of God's dietary recommendations...but then I don't follow the government's food pyramid either!

I admire you (and others) that can stick to a strict diet...be it God's diet or Jenny Craig's diet! I think God would know more about what's good and bad for the human body than Jenny Craig! Ignore people who have a problem with your decision to follow his instructions...if they want to pollute their body with pork or anything else, that's their problem!

Answer 10

Gosh - you mean Allah really predicted 21st-century meat-processing techniques? How clever of him.

One thing bothers me - why prohibit the stuff so many centuries before the techniques were introduced?

Unless the rules were - as most people feel - to prevent Trichinosis among people who were not very hygienic. But in that case, why do people still follow them now when the meat is free of parasitic worms?

I have a feeling this is just ancient food safety given a divine stamp of authority, still followed robotically despite being redundant.

CD

Answer 11

Many people have lived long lives eating pork and never getting cancer, why would a god who condemns such action allow that?