1976-February-6

Bilalian News

A Growth Note:
"Appetites Unchecked By Knowledge"

W.D. Muhammad

172. O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him ye worship.

173. He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful.

Holy Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation Sura 2, Verses 172 - 173
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In selecting what kinds of food to eat, many people worry about destroying life, but you cannot even breathe without killing other living organisms. Every time that you take in a breath of air, you are inhaling and killing small microbes that also are gradually killing you. The whole physical world of human beings is one big body that feeds itself by returning to itself. The only individuality that we have is in our mental, spiritual or moral makeup.

We have to be careful of unknowledgeable ideas about eating and about taking life. There are some people who do not want to eat meat. They only want to consume vegetables. If you eat bad vegetables, you will still be subject to have bad skin and physical ailments. If you eat the best of vegetables you will be healthy. The same idea applies if you eat the best of meats or the best of all foods. The Holy Quran says to eat from all the good things that "We" have given you. If we have been given some good meats, why not eat some good meats? I am not trying to change any vegetarians into eaters of meat, but I just want all of us to look at things with a clear view - having eyes which are unobstructed by ignorance.

When you eat vegetables, you are still killing something and taking life. You have some fanatics who think that because they eat vegetables they are not killing anything. The vegetable that is eaten was living more peacefully than any animal you might eat, so you are taking a more peaceful life when you eat vegetables. The man who goes out and kills the pretty, innocent-looking deer is looked upon as more cruel than the man who kills a wolf, a tiger or a lion. It follows then that those who kill the harmless vegetable should be looked upon as more cruel than those who kill animals. Eating only vegetables is a foolish notion or idea based on part truth. If you follow such an idea, you go wrong.

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118. So eat of (meats) on which Allah’s name hath been pronounced, if ye have faith in His signs.

119. Why should ye not eat of (meats) on which Allah’s name hath been pronounced, when He hath explained to you in detail what is forbidden to you - except under compulsion of necessity? But many do mislead (men) by their appetites unchecked by knowledge. Thy Lord knoweth best those who transgress.

Holy Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation – Sura 6, verses 118-119
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Do not use the Holy Quran instruction that you should eat from all of the good things that have been given to you as a reason or a justification to eat pork. If there was nothing to test us, there would not be any way for us to prove ourselves. Out of all the things that are permitted by God, something has to be taken out in order that we can prove our obedience to God. In everything there is something that is forbidden. In the food allowed to the Muslims, the pork is forbidden. There are other forbidden foods, but mainly it is pork that is forbidden. Muslims eat only the food that is "halal" (permissible) by the Holy Quran.