The Halal Debate: From Neutral To Kosher In 3 Seconds

Can a Muslim entertain meat in the Christian world ?. I have read the fatwas of the renowned muftis on this topic and frankly, they are not very convincing. Their desperate efforts to raise doubts, conjuring-up vague associations and rigging together unsubstantiated suppositions, leads me to believe that good intentions, over time, have ballooned into needlessly burdensome rituals.

I will present my case for it. It certainly isn't the last word on the subject. Let us lay out the facts first. Most scholars cite these two verses from the Quran. I will cite the relevant ayats.

In the chronological order of their revelation:

Surah Al An'am [6:121]:

"And do not eat of that upon which the name of Allah has not been mentioned, for indeed, it is grave disobedience".

Surah Al Ma'idah [5:5]:

"This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you".
Then we have the oft-quoted hadith narrated by Hazrat Ayesha (RZT): Some people said, "O Allah's Apostle! meat is brought to us by some people and we are not sure whether the name of Allah has been mentioned on it or not (at the time of slaughtering the animals)." Allah's Apostle said (to them), "Mention the name of Allah [Bismillah] and eat it." [Sahi Bukhari #1935.]

There are three basic variables in the halal argument. (1) What meat is it ? (2) Who prepared it ? (3) How was it prepared ? (4) If you are unsure, what to do ?.

The sort and condition of permissable meats are clearly enunciated in Surah Al Ma'idah [5:3]. Any meat which falls into the permissable category, prepared by draining the blood by Ahl-e-Kitaab (People of the Books) is lawful for Muslims and vice versa. Unless, during preparations the Ahl-e-Kitab (or Muslim) was sitting in the back, going "Satan! Satan!" on each chicken, goat or cattle he was carving. That would of course, make it non-kosher. But what if this guy was listening to his iPod and thinking of his date that night, while slaughtering these animals ?.

That, would make it neutral meat, or fill-in-the-blanks meat.

What do you do with that meat on your table ?. It is the right meat, handled the right way, by the right guy, only it has yet to be labeled. This is probably the most common predicament, when sitting down to eat meat in the west. That's where we apply the lesson from the hadith above. You say "Bismillah" and that neutral meat becomes kosher meat. Ready to eat.
Of course, this does not absolve you of taking all precautions and avoiding eating in places where you are sure that they are cooking porky-the-pig, right besides the hamburger you ordered. Just like you don't go back to the KFC where the big black chick was digging boogers out of her nose at the fryer. It's just common sense and hygiene. Minimize risk as much you can. To your body and your soul.

And if you are one of the faithfuls who just cannot bring him/herself to enjoy meats outside of their zabeeha-ordained homes, then more power to you. I am just too weak for that kind of monastic discipline and self-denial, when clear and simple instructions (OK, rationalizations) are available.

And let's not forget the other ayats from Surah Al An'am [6:118-6:119]:
"So eat of that [meat] upon which the name of Allah has been mentioned, if you are believers in His verses. And why should you not eat of that upon which the name of Allah has been mentioned while He has explained in detail to you what He has forbidden you, excepting that to which you are compelled. And indeed do many lead [others] astray through their [own] inclinations without knowledge. Indeed, your Lord - He is most knowing of the transgressors".

You are not making me one of the transgressors.

18 July 2012. Today's morning was really inspirational for me as i made up my personal blog and uploaded the widgets succesfully after hard struggle of 2 days. U know what inspired me most? I had asked for help to so many people but all they said is "google it, u can customize it by ur self. its just a piece of cake not a rocket science." I was like blowing them up with RPG. i was so mad at Pakistanies. I asked a girl Yusra and Rafayable (as u have known by now that i do not remember names of certain ppl much so im not sure if he is Rafayable or what or even if i knew i would not pay much attention coz hes not my Mammy ka puttar (relative). But A girl Saima really helped me out. She asked her friends if they can help me. I liked it whether she helped me or not. Because the point is She did her best to help me out . So I made up my blog by my own and before doing it i was like "i gotta quit" But inside my heart, a voice kept on saying "u can do it. Ur surrendering just bcz u think it is a hard task but u did not even try ur level best and quit like that?" So i gathered up all of the hope left and finally created one :P Today's evening was as boring as it had to be because i just wanted to sleep but could not afford a peaceful sleep. The noise of television was so loud that it was coming to my room and if i say "Maa awaz halki karyn" she is like "Oye zaleel kar le apna thikana kaheen or, yahan rehna he to compromise krna seekh" and then i have no option left other than bearing that annoying sound of "tun tun tunnnnnnn tunuu tunuu tunuu tunuu Ap dekh rhy hien Geo news" Well i somehow took a nap for a while. (luckily) !! Today's night was kinda new to me. As it rained and weather was so beautiful that it cheerished my feelings. I found out that weather plays a vital role in building up a sound mind and really calm ur mood. I browsed twitter and started tweeting. I felt great talking to some new people such as Ayamaria, Rida from Uk, (well somehow javaria was absent at that time :P ), Bhakti and Zainab. After hearing complains from Aymaria regarding foolish pakistani behaviour by illiterate men around liberty market, witnessing Rida talking in Urdu whereas for all the time i had been thinking she just speaks english, talking to Bhakti about Ramzan and finally ended up admiring Zainab's english and reading a paragraph in her blog related to me. I logged off twitter and then i laid down on sofa and played "Fourth Kind" hollywood science fiction movie based on true stories. Wow I never knew Aliens do exist and they speak Sumerian language. Well my heart started beating faster and fasted and i went to sleep reciting Ayatul-Qursi. (did i tell u that i am afraid of evil spirits and non-human intelligences?) All days are like normal but 18th of july 2012 proved to be the best day of this month. Well One more thing, "Ramzan Mubarak to all Muslims. May Allah bless u through this divine month of deeds.

The First Important lesson in High school

 Well Its gonna be my first post. Today i relate you an event of my life when i learnt something really good. When i was in high school. I really annoyed my fellow. I always made up new tricks to make fun of him. One day while we were talking about random girls (lol yeah our favourite topic to discuss) This thought suddenly came to my mind. I told my friend to show me his hand because my father is a palmist and he teaches me some skills of palmistry. He said ok tell me what do u see? I look for a while and with an *evil grin* told him that "brother !! ur life is at risk. I see ur hand lines getting disappeared. It means ur gonna die with in few days. I thought he would start laughing but he actually started weeping. Oh my God !! like a 2 years old baby crying for milk. I was like "damn it, Now what to do". His weeping was getting louder and louder ROFL When i got no idea i just said him to go out with me (we were having lunch break for 20 minutes) I took him to juice shop and that noob actually ordered the most expensive juice from the menu list without telling me. When i was drinking i was like "Dude, U should have ordered another one for both of us. Its so delicious." I never knew he actually ordered 2 more. We quenched our thirst to fill and i asked for the bill. When bill was presented i got a mini heart attack. DUDE !! WTF ? 2 thousand rupees ? My friend now seemed laughing with pauses. I could not even say anything bcz acc to me i had reputation in front of the owner of juice shop :P I gave him money with a smiling face but inside i was enraged like "Ghost Rider" On that day i learnt a moral lesson not to play with people feelings or annoy them. Not because they get hurt :P Because i do not want to lose more money on freaks -____- Well because of my stupid joke, i had to compensate my loss by pressing cloths of my father and vaccumed my mother's room for a month.  Now Is there any need for a "Face-Palm" ?? Yeah. so here it goes THE GIANT FACEPALM :P