Halal

Audio transcript:

>>STEVE ST. GEORGE: Hello. I'm Steve St. George. And this is your crash course in Islam. Today we will examine a common question. Do Muslims eat meat? Nothing in the Quran requires Muslims to be vegetarians. However there are certain restrictions on what Muslims can eat or drink. These restrictions are called halal. Halal means permissible in Arabic. So Muslims cannot eat foods that are not Halal. Similar to Jewish kosher laws, Muslims cannot eat any pig meat. The Quran does not state why pig meat is restricted. But some believe that it is because pigs are considered unclean. Also like kosher an animal must be slaughtered while it is still alive. This method of slaughtering is called the dhabihah. It ensures that no blood is left in the meat before it is eaten. Because of this some Muslims choose only to eat meat that comes from a Muslim butcher. Also under halal, Muslims cannot consume any alcohol even if it was used to prepare food. This is the most common understanding of halal. And Muslims can eat anything except for these few restricted foods.

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