Someone asked me on MSN.
“Why are people so afraid of pigs?’
To my understanding, if what I remembered from sitting in during ugama class, the ustazah explained that in the Koran, Nabi Muhammed saw a pack of pigs bathing in their own shits. So, naturally, pigs don’t have very nice images. Pigs = shits. And hence, it is forbidden in Islam. I may be wrong and will appreciate some better explanations.
Meanwhile, in the Bible, when Jesus drove out a pack of demons from a possessed man, the demons ran into a herd of pigs and the pigs ran down the cliff and die.
So, there you go. Bad images of pigs.
Now you know…..
*reminder : I don’t tolerate funny comments over here. Be respectful or just keep quiet.*
Hmm…the pigs were sacrificed for the men possessed. Quite noble, I must say 🙂
actually lilian ,
there’s nothing wrong with pig. In fact, pig is just another creatures from Allah. I am a Muslim and I’m not hate pig. I even respect pig as other’s animals.
actually, there’s many “confusing” from some Muslims about this matter. Muslim haram to eat pig but at the same time Muslim also can’t stop others people to eat it.
this pig is just a business and economy matters. i’m not sure why they make this as a propaganda because there’s many things that Muslims should take care of like mabuk, anak luar nikah and all such things.
frankly, the only thing that I want to know is “how government” manage it such as how to handle the “hygiene” and others cleanliness procedures.
what about buffalo? they bath in mud..that’s where the term mandi kerbau comes from, i think..
kesian the pig… it was never written anywhere it was to be hated to the point of extinction…
curious to know… alcohol also haram… judi also haram… why is that better tolerated? So tolerated to the point of sitting on the BOD even?
aiyo..many of those umno members ah real hypocrites la… see in the Sun.. MCA guy reveal that some UMNO guy proposing to intro hi tech pig farming from Germany to Malaysia….probably for reward la i think….after that when change of govt he protes against pig farming… haah… if u ask me these type of Muslim give bad name to the religion la….
wannna make money from pig industry but at the other hand pretend to be religious and object to pigs what la… at least Jews we know they all wanna make money.n they do not pretend otherwise la.. hahah … Jews even temple also wanna make money n gamble lol..until Jesus came along heehee
actually, if I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t just because Prophet Muhammad saw the pigs running around happily in the mud (although I’m pretty sure it’s an ewwww! factor, hehe).
If I’m not mistaken (and please correct me, someone, if I’m wrong), God has decreed (decreed? heh.) that Muslims should not eat, touch, rear or have anything to do with pigs because
a) they’re dirty – wallow in mud all day, true, like kerbau, but kerbau herbivores, right? and pigs are… omnivores? so if they did their ‘business’ in the mud, pun, the level of, er, ‘toxicness’ is different.
b) I don’t think it was actually explained in the Qur’an (or maybe I just don’t remember) but it is said to be harmful to your health. At the time, they were afraid of helath issues like tapeworm, and communicable diseases, and pigs were one of the carriers…
But I don’t think the text says that just because you’re not allowed to consume pork, you’re supposed to ban everyone else – who is allowed by whatever faith they profess – from consuming pork, too.
just my 2 cents.
they even change the name for guinea pigs to guinea pegs. =/
A lot of “wayang” is going on to divert people attention to many real issues like corruption,crime rate and cost of living.
Pig issue is just another wayang…
Very sad that people get distracted easily and forget all the issues that we want them to tackle immediately…
People, please don’t forget the changes we voted so strongly for… God help us all.
My apologies, corrected version:
A lot of “wayang” is going on to divert people attention from many real issues like corruption,crime rate and cost of living.
Erm, so it’s the shit and mud and the diseases that’s the culprit of it being banned from the religion?
What if they were rear in a clean environment? Like nowadays? Chickens are rear in the same environment as the pigs today, so, you get my point.
Just my 2 cents also.
I’ve asked a Muslim friend a somewhat similar question before.
According to him, there are many parts of the internal organs of the pig that is almost identical to the parts of the human. Hence, in Islam, eating a pig is similar to eating a human being. That is why Muslims are not allowed to consume pork.
IMHO, all the stories of Muslims not allowed to touch pigs and encouraged to hate the poor animal came about because the people deciphering the Quran has either misread the contents or created it to suit their own propaganda.
Did you know that research has now shown that pigs are the cleanest animal on earth?
PIG meat are not healthy. Kill ur health faster than Chicken. but still i dunno why we like to eat.Support VEGE! IF u wan la…no harm trying it for ur entire life. 😛
The only thing I am afraid of the pig is that if there is not enough to go around.
Siew Bak, BKT, Char Siew, Pork ribs, Tauhu bak ………
huh?.. dun like pig still eat pork?
[annna]
guinea peg only in my campus la. and it wasn’t the muslims who did it. :p
[aunty!! :D]
pigs are actually very clean!! it’s the owners @ pig farmers who don’t bath their pigs that’s why they are deemed ‘dirty’. watch “Charlotte’s Web”! :p
Hi Lilian,
What you heard from the ustazah may not be totally correct.
Islaam means ‘submission’ or a ‘total surrender of oneself to God.’
We know and believe the Quran to be God’s Word, and all that is contained in it is for the good of Muslims, and mankind.
Muslims do not consume pork because we are forbidden to do so, and in our submission to the decree of Allaah. The Quran states (intepretation of the meaning):
“Say (O Muhammad): I find not in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be Maytah (a dead animal) or blood poured forth (by slaughtering or the like), or the flesh of swine (pork); for that surely, is impure or impious (unlawful) meat (of an animal) which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allaah (or has been slaughtered for idols, or on which Allaah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering)”
[al-An’aam 6:145]
That is the utmost reason why we do not consume pork.
Secondly, science today has proven many disadvantages of consuming pork.
Although many may say, nowadays pigs are cleaner, they eat clean stuff, etc etc… but the crux of the matter as to why Muslims do not consume pork is because Allaah has decreed it in His Book. And we believe that He knows what is best for us, His creation. And the Quran has been revealed as a reminder and a guidance to mankind, until the end of time.
We have not been asked to hate the pigs, just to not consume pork.
If anyone is interested to read more:
http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=12558&ln=eng&txt=pigs
And Allaah knows best.
Interesting insight from Rayhana on why Muslims are forbidden from consuming pork in which [al-An’aam 6:145] bears reference.
From my reading, the closing part of the sentence which read “for that surely, is impure or impious (unlawful) meat (of an animal) which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allaah (or has been slaughtered for idols, or on which Allaah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering)” would mean that it is impure BECAUSE it was slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allaah. It is not impure on its own. Any meat which was slaughtered and offered for sacrifice for others than one’s God is deemed impure and I can understand that. It seems from my reading that the Muslims read the 1st part but does not tie it up with the 2nd part. I may be wrong in my interpretation and I stand corrected.
To all the Muslims readers : Thanks for all the input to enlighten us. We are lucky to hear all the reasons or we are always in the dark with all the wrong things we heard.
Rayhana – Thanks for the explanation.
Alex – It is stated in the Holy Book that no one is to amend anything in it or it will incur the wrath of God. So, clean or not, it won’t change a thing now because given a chance to live on their own, I guess pigs are dirty.
And who asked why alcohol and gambling were not allowed as well. Even in Christianity, Christians are not to consume alcohol until they lost control of their own mind/drunk but they are allowed to take it as a social drink while forbidden in Islam. As for gambling, God says He will provide what we need so, we are not supposed to try out luck. (hehehe, I do it for sport, you see?) Again, it is totally forbidden in Islam.
Wei! You sports toto ah?
>>silveraven: Read them from ur blog. Hahaha..
I’ve read a very interesting article on this before of a research done by an Iranian scholar.
He was interested on why dogs are some sort of a forbidden animal in Quran and so he did his research on this issue. He found out that it was because of a disease outbreak happened in the middle east region many many years ago.
Muslims were very advanced in medicine during those times and they found out that dogs and pigs caused the outbreak. Because you see, both pigs and dogs do not discriminate on what they eat. They eat practically everything from dead animals to garbage. Therefore, in Quran, the Muslims are warned to be extremely careful when dealing with these animals and it insisted them of maintaining a certain level of hygiene after contacting these animals.
Yes, that means a Muslim can touch dogs and pigs.
So, the Iranian dude adopted two dogs to prove his point and said that people who think these animals are dirty are people who do not understand Quran well.
It is just in Malaysia where Muslims are extra-super-paranoid sensitive when it comes to pigs and dogs. I have an Iranian colleague who do not mind going to a Chinese restaurant to take her lunch, as long as she doesn’t consume pork. You see what i mean…
Chairman Mao used to say that to know the taste of the plums, one has to eat plums.
well ?
Hey, rabbits, fish, monkeys and loads of other animals also consume (even their own) filth.
I remember going on a fishing trip to a lake in the mid 90s. Not sure if it was Kenyir. Anyway the people from restaurant over the lake told us they’ll cook what ever we catch and they’ll only charge us for the cooking. So we were happily fishing near the restaurant when we observed ‘something’ dropping from the restaurant’s toilet into the lake. We also observed all the fish swimming to the area and having a feast. Needless to say, we had chicken and veg for lunch that day. 🙁
Hi,
I want to say that Pig is a dirty and Ugly animal. In Islam it is forbiden to eat.