ISLAM & THE MUSLIMS

Blessing or Burden?

YOU be the Judge

By LTC Daniel Marvin USASF (ret)

PART FIFTEEN

Chapter Five – The Table

In chapter 5 and paragraph four of the Koran, Muhammad specifies the

proper diet for all Muslims, telling them “You are allowed the flesh of

cattle other than what is hereinafter recited, except game, which is not

allowed you while ye are on pilgrimage.” Muhammad is very specific

regarding what is not to be eaten by his people, telling them “That which

dieth of itself, and blood, and swine’s flesh, and all that hath been

sacrificed under the invocation of any other name than that of God, and

the strangled, and the killed by a blow, or by a fall, or by goring, and

that which hath been eaten by beasts of prey, unless ye make it clean by

giving the death stroke yourselves, and that which hath been sacrificed

[pagan ritual]on the blocks of stone, is forbidden you: and to make

division of the slain by consulting the arrows [drawing lots],is impiety

in you.” To emphasize the importance of the dietary regimen, Muhammad,

in that same paragraph, warns his followers, “Woe this day on those who

forsake your religion! And fear them not, but fear Me.”

Muhammad spells out diet restrictions that are in effect when on the

pilgrimage journey to and from the Caaba [the House of God] in Mecca]

that all Muslims must take in their lifetime unless physically

handicapped. “O believers! kill no game while you are on pilgrimage.”

To assure their bodies sufficient food along the way, he tells them, ‘It

is lawful for you to fish in the sea, and to eat fish, as provision for

you and for those who travel; but it is unlawful for you to hunt by land

while ye are still on pilgrimage: fear ye God, therefore, before whom ye

shall be assembled.

Further details are laid down in Hadith, such as “The name of Allah must

be mentioned when an animal is slaughtered.” Such details as use of a

sharp knife to cut the jugular vein of the throat, etc. provide

sufficient instruction for all Muslims to follow Islamic law. In Part

Sixteen I will cover those significant parts of Chapter Five that relate

to the treatment of “infidels” [non-Muslims] and tell of Muhammad’s

no-nonsense discussion of who Jesus is and what he thinks of the concept

of the “Holy Trinity.”

You be the judge of it all.

Edited by Jeanne Calabretta