Thank You
-Author
In Buddhism, killing a living being is always considered to be a sin as we have no right to take some other living creature's life. But as I can see in other religions there are variations for this.
Muslims do believe in animal welfare "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself" (Wisdom of Prophet Mohammad; Muhammad Amin; The Lion Press, Lahore, Pakistan; 1945)
They have regulations in meat. But... He hath forbidden you only carrion and blood and swine flesh and that which hath been immolated to any other than Allah.. (Quran Chapter II , Verse 173) The prophet has forbidden flesh only if it is not a sacrifice for himself. Does that mean he always expect sacrifices from men?.NO. Obviously he can't be that much cruel to accept meat from billions of people per day!.
That sacrifice ritual is called HALAL ( correct me if i am wrong ). As I know the original ritual of killing an animal is, the killer should be on a plate which is heated to become red and kill the animal. That ritual make sense, as no one would do such a commitment to kill another. So, he meant not to kill ( in an implicit way ). But the time has changed, you wouldn't believe how the ritual carried out now. They use a red colored plate as the seat when killing animals. You really can't symbolize a ritual in that way. But they perform other ritual there. That is never show the weapon to the animal before being killed :).
The religion should sometimes be adapted to the current society , but not in a selfish manner like this. I don't think this post would hurt Muslims ( as I didn't criticize holy prophet ) . This is what I see as truth. Always open for debate.
(Published in All About Buddhism blog)
13 comments:
Very interesting post my friend. While I disagree with some of the aspects of Buddhism, such as the not eating meat part (plants are alive too are they not?), I feel Buddhism has many wonderful qualities, and it's notions of not being attached and the idea that change is constant are both appealing to me. If you like, take a look at my site which I just started. http://chrismetaphysical.blogspot.com. Take care.
Hello,
I would like to bring to your notice some factual errors in this post.
Firstly it says, "The prophet has forbidden flesh only if it is not a sacrifice for himself. Does that mean he always expect sacrifices from men?.NO. Obviously he can't be that much cruel to accept meat from billions of people per day!."
Correct me if I am wrong but this statement implies that Muslims kill animals as a sacrifice for Muhammad! This gives me the feeling that the writer of this post is ignorant of Islam. FYI - prophet Muhammad is just a human being like you and me. God ('Allah' in Arabic) choose Muhammad as a messenger (prophet) to mankind to guide them in the correct path for our benefit in this world and the hereafter.
And this path (Islam) allows us to kill animals for our benefit in this world and hereafter. In Islam killing a animal is not a sin provided you have a good reason. We our allowed to kill animals for 1) for Food, 2) as a sacrifice to God, 3) for protection (e.g. like killing a snake) I don't need to explain about killing animals for food or protection but I'll expound about sacrificing animals.
You may already know that Muslims sacrifice animals on occasions like Haj festival or when a new baby is born etc. If a animal is killed as a sacrifice that should only be in the name of God not for any human being or anything else. And also God is not in need of our sacrifices like this article tries to imply. A animal sacrifice is done only as an act of worship through which the person/s sacrificing the animal intends to seek God's pleasure and gain good deeds for them. (note: What matters here is the intention. You can eat the meat of the sacrificed animal just like you would if you had killed it for food but it is encouraged to be distributed among the poor and needy.)
And what is this rot about Halal procedure that a plate needs to be heated etc. etc. Halal means anything that is permissible for a Muslim to consume or use be it clothing, employment etc. not only meat or flesh.
In the natural state meat or animal flesh is not Halal. If a Muslim wishes to eat meat it should be made Halal (i.e. lawful) through a simple ritual. This ritual requires that you kill the animal by cutting its throat and when cutting you invoke God. (you invoke God by saying "Bismillahi Allahu Akbar"). After this ritual the meat is Halal and you can consume it.
Also you must remember that only a few animals are Halal (lawful) to eat. These include camels, cows, rabbits, some birds, goats, horses among a few more. It should also be noted that fish or any creature that lives only in the water need not be made Halal. They are suitable for consumption whatever way they are killed.
Animals that have claws, or sharp teeth and prey on other animal (e.g. cats, dogs, vultures, tigers , lion etc) and repulsive animals like snakes, lizards etc. and animals that eat dirty things (e.g. pigs etc) are not permissible to eat even if you do the Halal ritual on them.
I hope I have explained about Halal. If you have anything about it I would be glad to discuss it with you. Also you can discuss anything about Islam and Muslims by visiting our group blog at - muslimunity.blogspot.com/
My understanding of the need for halal was it was vital in the older days when animals used to die of diseases and people used to eat these diseased animals and die. Though a praiseworthy measure at the time , it is now not necessary as all meat animals are killed while alive
The family of my husband are muslims. They do not eat other meat, only halal. That's the problem in our city. It is difficult to buy it because only small part of stores can offer you such meat.
Dear Friend,
I kindly request you to check what you are posting on the blog. The factors you mention in this blog are totally wrong and I am sure even muslim laymen can understand this.There are various sites available on the net discussing and giving information on the Islamic rituals and the reasons for them.Kindly check them ( I am sure you can go to google and find out) an dedit your comments here. After that I will be open for ny debate with you.
This is an irrelavant article in Buddhist blog. Buddha taught non violence. Why are we discussing the torture of Animals and killeng them whether for God or for whoever. Buddha condemned all animal sacrifices - hallal or non hallal. Meaningless responses to an irrelevant post.
You know Islam teaches us to be kind and teaches us the true might of Allah (PBUH). He says it is ok to sacrifice but in my name. Halal is the way you slaughter more importatnly then the red plate hot enough to kill the animal is the prayer you say when slaughtering an animal. So to bring up the issue that things are not being done the way they were stated by Allah (PBUH). He made us the smartest of all his creation on Earth and therefore gave us a brain to make sense of what he is asking, in knowing with true and strong fatih in our religion we do what is right in Allah's eyes not yours. If you note he does say that the animal shold not see the weapon that is to attack it that shows his mercy. Hopefully htis helps you furher understand the isseu of HALAL.
Dhamma is for people who are intelligent.
Dhamma is for people who are hard working.
Dhamma is for people who can sacrifice the things they like.
Dhamma is for people who are positive.
Dhamma is for people who are willing to listen.
Dhamma is for people who are kind all everyone.
But not for the people who are not willing to listen, think read or understand.
Not for the people who are waiting till someone to take you to the haven.
Finally Dhamma is for someone who can stand up on his foot and work hard to solve his own problems.
Listen all my dear friends, You may not understand the truth of the buddhism, That's not your fault. But yes! you can read, listen, think and understand. If you feel that it's the truth, accept it.
Budusarani
You are right. I have some muslim friends and that's exactly what they do. I think that religious do not take animals lives very seriously.
Very nice post. Thank you for sharing. I agree with singing bowl religious do not take animals lives very seriously.
Peace & Harmony
Dolma
Interesting article. Thanks for your input.
Great site, thanks
Interesting article, thanks for sharing
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