Dietary Laws: The World Religions

The word religion is used to describe a group of people who share common beliefs in same god. It is not important that to be in a particular religion believing in god is essential. In a religion there are a set of rules, customs, traditions, practices and beliefs through which there are some differences in religions (Richards 9).

Religion is derived from a Latin word religio which further comes from a word ligere that means to bind. It also binds together the groups of individuals and guides them to the path of purity and divinity by enacting of these religious rites and ceremonies. Different kinds of religions believe in either one god which is known as monotheism or numerous kind of gods which is called as polytheism. Every religion has its different pattern of making its own convictions. Religion involves a holy respect in name of god and sacred power (Voorst 7).

A few major religions are Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism. Religion is said to be a system of morality and is mainly based on beliefs of the people through obedience towards the divine being (Voorst 5).

Islam is a word which has Arabic origin meaning “peace” and the individual who believes and is devoted towards Allah is called Muslim (Richards 151). The food which is permitted to the Muslims is known as Halal whereas the food which is prohibited is called Haram. Drinking wine is allowed but other alcoholic drinks or even any food which is cooked including alcohol as an ingredient is not allowed (Gwynn 222-226). Smoking is still debatable as it is popular in Arabic parts of world of Muslim and is demanded to be forbidden. There is a belief that what is haram is not good for the body and deteriorates it (Voorst 325). The sheep is the most favoured animal and lamb is an animal which is used in rituals for sacrificing purposes. The Muslim year focuses on slaughtering of animals like cow, sheep and goat in a festival of sacrifice called Arabic Id-ul-Adhha which is making place for the slaughterer for the next life. Also, the meat which is obtained from slaughtered animals is donated to the poor (Kershaw 4).

The most common word signs that can be observed on the butcher shops is Halal which clearly illustrates meat that is sold with traditional laws of Islam as according to Qur’an (holy book of Muslims). The classification of food on the basis of laws of Islam is Halal which is the food whose intake is allowed, Mushbooh that is uncertain category of food and Haram which are forbidden to consume. Gwynne mentioned the sayings of Qur’an “O you who believe! eat of the good things that We have provided you with, and give thanks to Allah if Him it is that you serve” (223). All the flora and fauna of earth is provided in abundance by the god. Sea food is halal for Muslims, however they eschew crustaceans like lobsters, prawn and oysters. Moreover, animals which belongs to amphibian class is Haram because it neither lives on land or water. Pork and its products are strictly forbidden as they are considered as filthy animals. The consumption of animals which die naturally or are predated by any other animal is also considered as Haram. The blood cannot be consumed by a Muslim because blood is considered as source of its own life and is rightful possession of Allah. Alcohol or any other type of intoxicant is not permitted in Islamic practices. Also, along with ban on intoxication, gambling is not permitted and is elucidated as “Satan’s works” according to Qur’an. The intoxicated products including coffee, mouthwash and medicines and also some narcotic substances. The problem with alcohol is not directly linked but is indirectly linked to the person’s behaviour after consuming it (Gwynne 222-226).

Judaism is monotheistic religion which claims that there is just one god. For the past two millenniums the Jews were called as “outsiders” in other religious communities (Richards 44, 45). Judaism has Hebrew Bible which consists of twenty-four books which are further separated into three sections that is Torah (the Pentateuch), Neviim (the Prophets) and Ketuvim (the writings). There were some rabbinical writings called Babylonian Talmud and Palestinian Talmud. The lives of Jews were rarely secure because the Christ church taught its followers that Christ-killers (Hinnells 11).

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Judaism can be called as “kitchen religion” because of connection between food and spiritual freedom. The rules and regulations in Judaism related to food is kosher derived from kashrut (Gwynne 218).

The meaning of kosher is proper. Whether the food can be ingested or not and the preparation of the food depends upon the Jewish laws. The inspection of food is done by the rabbis however, they do not bless the food. The illicit food is called as treifah which means torn. The sorting of kosher and treifah is mentioned in the Torah. Eating of pork is strictly not allowed in Jewish religion. There are other restrictions for the animals like only those animals can consumed which are living on the land and should have divided hoof and the ones who can chew the provender. Kosher is the meat from deer, sheep, cattle, goat, fishes with fins and scales and domestic fowls. The meat from animals like pig, rabbits, horses, crustaceans, scavenger birds, eggs with blood spots and also organs, eggs, milk and fat of forbidden animals is to be called terifah. The approach by which the animal is killed also matters. If natural death, predation or hunting sport then it is considered as terifah. Kosher is considered only when the animal is brought to dead by minimal pain and suffering of the animal by using methods like no burrs in knife, no chopping and making quick cut across the throat. (Gwynne 218-220).

The carnivorous animals were proscribed but the herbivores were approved. The forbidden food if swallowed could cause indigestion (Grant 303). The latest techniques for instance electric shock, using of stunning or anaesthesia is refused as consciousness of animal is required for the butcher or consumer that a life is taken. Inspection of disease is also done. Blood is prohibited to be consumed by the individual who’s going to eat the meat so hanging of the dead matter is preferred for complete removal of blood from the body. (Gwynne 218-220).

The fruit trees are not cropped in the initial first three years and the first fruits that are ripened a special ceremony is celebrated (Stefon and Cohen). The different festivals are linked to the type of food consumed in the festival. The festival known as Hanukkah is distinguished by the products fried in oil and doughnuts, Purim festival has a lot of wine and pastry and dumplings, Shavuot which involves dairy products such as ice cream and cheesecake etc. The feast of Pesah that is Passover involves unleavened bread only for eight days (Gwynne 220-222). There is a misbelief that Kosher food is only for the Jews but most of the sales of Kosher food in the year 2009 was of the non- Jews (Voorst 257).

The similarity between the Jewish and Islam religion in terms of dietary laws is that both restricts consumption of pork and blood. The blood is for the creator only so it cannot be consumed by an individual. (Gwynne 224). The contrasting feature between both the religions is that the Jewish could drink wine, but the Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol. (Stefon and Cohen).

Christianity is most widespread religion of world and is practised almost in each and every continent of the world. There are various sorts of Christianity but has a common innovation from the teachings of Jesus. The Bible is Holy book of Christians which further contains sixty-six books and is furthermore divided into old and new testaments (Richards 124,129). The word ‘Christos’ itself means ‘Messiah’ which is Greek translation of the latter word in Hebrew. First individuals who were called as Christians were originally Jews (Hinnells 55). The role of food is essential in Christianity as the food and dining are the fundamentals to the tales of ‘Last Supper’ where Jesus predicted his own death (Stefon and Cohen).

The performing of Christian ritual is the Eucharist which involves informal assemblies and magnificent ceremonies. In the core of worship, one discovers food and drinks. Therefore, bread and wine are prepared in advance in some churches. The Christians do fast during season of lent that is forty days before Easter Sunday. In addition to this they do stay away from particular kinds of meat and sweets. In general, there are no such strict laws in Christianity related to food.

Works Cited

1. Gwynne, Paul. World of Religions in Practice. Blackwell, 2009.
2. Hinnells, John R. A New Handbook of Living Religions. Penguin, 1998.
3. Kershaw, Roger. “Faith, Fanaticism and Food in Islam.” Contemporary Review, no. 1632, 2002, p. 1. EBSCOhost, 0search.ebscohost.com.orca.douglascollege.ca/login.aspx? direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.82513924&site=eds-live&scope=site.
4. Richards, Chris. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of WORLD RELIGIONS. Element, 1997
5. Robert M. Grant. “Dietary Laws among Pythagoreans, Jews, and Christians.” The Harvard Theological Review, vol. 73, no. 1/2, 1980, p. 299. EBSCOhost, 0-search.ebscohost.com.orca.douglascollege.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.1509493&site=eds-live&scope=site.
6. Stefon, Matt and Cohen, Yehudi A. Encyclopedia Britannica. May 30, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/dietary-law/Rules-and-customs-in-world-religions
7. Voorst, Van. Relg: World: introduction to world religions. Boston, MA. Cengage Learning/4 LTR Press, 2017