Buddha

Haha, thanks.

__________________
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite
All of which are american dreams

Lecter

Q: Why can't Muslims eat pork?

A: Because Muslims believe God commanded us not to eat pork.

It is really as simple as that.

There might be medical reasons behind that command, but still, it's not like Muslims had to wait for the invention of microscopes or whatever to follow certain commands.

It is still OK to look for the reasons behind all this, but whether or not we are advanced enough to find that reason, should not interfere with us following what we believe God has ordered us to do, since after all we believe him to be the all knowing, the all wise.

__________________
I'm only laughing on the outside / My smile is just skin deep / If you could see inside I'm really crying / You might join me for a weep.

tommi atkins

And thats pretty much it. The scribes of the hebrews looked at pigs in the same way as we look in the west at Cats. or Dogs. Now I wouldnt eat a cat. I have 5 of them and theyre fluffy freinds. A Dog? Yuk, cant stand em, nasty and yappy, wouldnt eat one though. They sniff their arses and lick their nads, well cows do similar and I eat burgers, but ...dont lets complicate things. Now the Chinese, they like eating dogs, same with lots of other oreintal countries. Are they wrong? Well, no, not really. It's up to them. A Cow is pretty lovely really, yet i munch a Ronnie McDonny evry day twice a day. It's just the culture.

So we have a animal that in the culture of the time and the place, the people wouldnt touch as foodstuff.
Thats fine and hunky dory. Now suddently in steps God himself!
The prophet can see him or hear his words! W00t! God is communicating with us!
And what do you know! He loves everything thats acceptable to us at our time! And the stuff we dont like...thats sinful....how bizzare.
Bloody good job we are not pig eaters eh? That pork sausage is the path to hell. God knows it and we knew it. There is no doubt, before god stepped in to confirm it, we were aware that having that Kebab that we hadnt chanted his name over whilst we ritually sacrificed it, was a bad, bad move. Because such things matter. A Lot.

Why do they matter. Well basically dont worry about it. They just do. And if in some future time, society changes and pork is actually quite tasty and if cooked properly (like any other meat), perfectly safe, then stick with what the Prophets told us, because they were really totally and truely in touch with the pig-phobic God.

In a similar fashion, if Spraying the brains of a adulterer or a apostate around the ground by application of hundreds of sharp rocks appears wrong in the future, just accept the wisdom of he that we cannot understand. Unchanging is his word.

Lecter

I understand that you don't believe that Muhammad was a prophet and all, I was just giving the reason as to why as Muslims we do not eat pork. Because it makes sense to us to follow an all knowing god rather than humans that make lots of mistakes.

The above statement is false.

If you compare the rules we have in our religion with the traditions and beliefs of the time and place of its revelation you'd find out they are most often in contradiction.

Please read into that before making other such statements.

__________________
I'm only laughing on the outside / My smile is just skin deep / If you could see inside I'm really crying / You might join me for a weep.

tommi atkins

The Monotheism was in contradiction. The non jewish and christian Arabs followed hundreds of gods. That was a brave step for the prophet to take. Indeed he had a great deal of beleif and/or guts.

It would be interesting to make a list of what Islam demanded with what was not already required, such as circumambulating, throwing stones at the devil, venerating the black rock, stoning heretics, seperating booty at a rate of 5:1 infantry/leader.

Admittadly that would take us wildly off thread, which i instigated, and for that i put my hands up.

At the final count, muslims dont eat pork because "allah" says so. And no more explaination is required or indeed thoughts about the matter acceptable.

Regards and indeed respect.

Lecter

I can give you a very long list. But just to stay on topic Arabs used to eat pork, and it was considered as the norm. Islam, in contradiction with what was socially acceptable, forbade the eating of pork.

Again, I can give you a list of things other than monotheism.

__________________
I'm only laughing on the outside / My smile is just skin deep / If you could see inside I'm really crying / You might join me for a weep.

tommi atkins

When you have the time that would be great. And thanks.

I dont deny that Mohammed stuck his neck out with islam. Quite literally. It's not surprising in what he was teaching that monothists and polythists alike were against certain aspects of his teachings.More the Monotheists than the polys, which may have a bearing on the relative punishments and hostility of gods word to these seperate groups. The montheists merely had to accept a different version of their own scripture and accept a pro-arab version. Polytheists were stuffed seven ways to hell.

Prophethood is a risky trade, and many fall by the wayside. Some succeed.

SirArthur

"Do not eat because an hallucinating guy told us not to" sounds like a brainless zombie answer to the question! The reason comes however due to the geographic background of Muslims and Jews (which doesn't eat pork as well).

The pig is an animal that requires too much water, not only to drink but also to prevent its skin to get dry and water was always an huge issue on Middle East. Not to mention that pigs and dogs (also forbidden in Islam) are the only animals which competes directly with humans for food, on dry regions food is hard to grow and abundance never happened in Middle East.

So in the end this ban on pork and dogs came out not of "Allah's command" or any other of Muhammad's stock of imaginary friends, but by surviving needs of the people on the region where he lived.

And nor by sickness or bacterial purposes by the way, since Mo's was far from be a doctor or a pharmacist and even came out with a funny one on the subject, he claims that when a fly gets in your water you should dip it because on one wing it has the illness and on the other the cure (for that illness) - Sounds stupid, but also shows how important water was (and actually still is) for the people of the Deserts.

Another fair example is the ban on alcohol, since alcohol makes people more thirsty.

__________________
We can never have an idea of what we can achieve. All we can do is follow an interrogation and see where it may lead us to.

Tomasz

Cool, just hope that God won't command you not to eat at all

__________________
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts - Sherlock Holmes