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What is halal meat and how does it differ from regular meat: why Muslims do not eat pork. Halal - what is it and the meaning of the word, features of the industrial production of meat and food Halal touched pork what to do

For a long time, halal food has been considered the safest, cleanest, and healthiest food available. Before finding out what is meant by this name, it should be noted that halal products are very popular, because they are bought by people of different nationalities and different faiths. Halal food sells out in a matter of hours, which is why there are often queues for it.

What does halal food mean?

Translated from Arabic, "halal" means "freedom" or "permissibility". Accordingly, halal food is permitted by Islam, produced in accordance with Muslim rules,. It is, first of all, about meat products. The faithful are forbidden to eat pork and meat with blood. In addition, the killing of an animal is carried out subject to a special ritual: it is necessary to pray over it, calm it down, kill it quickly and as less painfully as possible. This means that the meat is halal.

What is the difference between kosher and halal food?

Kashrut and halal are considered systems of restrictions that are based on religious scriptures. The two systems are different, although a large number of rules are similar. First of all, these rules concern meat. Both Jews and Muslims are forbidden to consume blood, carrion and torn meat, and only certain types of animals are allowed to be eaten. Killing an animal should only be done by a believer. This is where their similarities stop. It is enough for Muslims that an animal be killed by a mere believer. Only pork and any is unacceptable for eating.

The rules of kashrut are much stricter. Of the animals, only ruminant artiodactyls (cow, sheep, goat) are allowed to eat, all others are prohibited. Of the fish, only scaly ones are allowed to be eaten. Alcohol is allowed, but all grape drinks must be prepared only by a religious Jew. Only a specially trained slaughterer has the right to slaughter animals, who has received permission and blessing separately for slaughtering poultry and separately for slaughtering cattle. The animal must die instantly. But even if the animal is killed by all standards, it may not be kosher if its internal organs are damaged. In addition, it is forbidden to consume meat and dairy products at the same time. For this reason, a kosher restaurant can be either meat-only or dairy-only. A Jew may consume unauthorized food only in case of direct danger to life. These are only the main points of the rules of kashrut, in fact they are much more complicated.

Benefits of Halal Food

More than 200 companies produce halal products in Russia, and their number is growing every year. The most interesting thing is that not only small, but also the largest manufacturing companies, which are mainly located in those regions where there are not a large number of Muslims. The reason is very simple - these products are very popular in the market, and in all regions. The main distinguishing feature of halal products is their quality. The European population has long been aware of this, so the Europeans saw in it a new degree of standard and quality, where strict control is carried out at every stage of production. For this reason, the popularity of this product is very much in demand, since modern society strives for clean products that prolong life and preserve health.

18Jun

What is Halal (Halal, Halal)

Halal ( Halal, Halal) - this is an Arabic term used in Islamic law to define what is permitted or permissible in terms of the Qur'an, products or actions. Literally, the word "halal" in Arabic means "permitted" or "lawful".

What is HALAL - in simple words.

In simple words, Halal is a term that means that a given product, drink or action complies with all the norms of Islamic tradition. In other words, we can say that halal is what is allowed for a Muslim and does not contradict the religious one. Everything that does not fall under the definition of “halal” is most often “haram” (forbidden).

Halal food.

Despite the fact that the term "halal" has quite wide application, people in most cases are accustomed to associate it with the cuisine and dietary laws of Muslims. Those who are already familiar with the rules of Jewish cuisine may notice some similarities. So, for example, Muslims, like Jews, do not eat pork and the meat of predatory animals. However, not all kosher foods are halal. For example, products containing gelatin made from bone marrow, beef bones, and beef fat may be kosher, but not halal. In a sense, Muslim dietary laws are more restrictive and are always based on religion. By analogy with kosher, halal products are marked with special signs in stores.

Foods that are Haram:

Alcohol;
Pork and all products related to it;
Animals that died a natural death;
Animals that were not killed properly and not in the name of Allah;
Predatory animals or birds (carnivores);
Blood and products prepared with it;
Plants containing intoxicating or mind-altering substances;

Halal products:

Halal meat
Bread products;
Cereals;
Cheeses and cheese products (properly prepared)
Milk and dairy products (from halal animals);
Eggs;
Fish and seafood;
Potato;
Fruit (fresh and dry);
Honey;
Nuts and beans;
Vegetables;
Tea;
Coffee;
Soup or broth (if it contains halal ingredients).

In fact, the list of halal products is very large, but it should also be understood that there are a lot of all kinds of nuances that determine whether a particular product is halal or not.

Halal meat.

As you might have guessed, in the code of dietary rules of Muslims, close attention is paid to livestock products and meat in particular. So, in order for meat to be considered halal, you should follow a few basic rules:

First rule for halal meat is that it must come from a legal animal. This means that the meat must not come from pigs that died before slaughter or from sick animals.
Second law regarding halal meat is the way an animal is killed. The Qur'an says that the animal must be killed very sharp knife by cutting the neck. During the act of slaughter, Allah should be mentioned (thus demonstrating that this sacrifice was made for the glory of Allah). It should also be noted here that the Qur'an teaches to treat animals with due respect. During slaughter, the minimum amount of pain and suffering must be caused to the animal.
Third and a very important step in the creation of halal meat is the complete disposal of the blood of the animal by hanging the carcass. The fact is that the consumption of blood is strictly prohibited in Islam, and the meat in which the blood remains can no longer be considered halal.

Peoples differ not only in climatic conditions of residence, but also in religious beliefs. Muslim cuisine is a prime example of this. In it there are foodstuffs "haram", which means "not allowed". Accordingly, there are permitted ones. Halal meat is one of these products. What is - not many people know. In this article, we will try to answer this question in as much detail as possible.

What is halal meat?

For many, this term means only a dish prepared according to the recipe of the Muslim people. In fact, this is not so. Halal meat is a way of preparing an ingredient for cooking it into food.

"Halal" in Arabic means "compliance with Sharia law." For Muslims, this term refers not only to food, but to the whole way of life.

Halal food can be purchased not only in Arab countries, but also in Russia, the USA, Great Britain. The main consumers of halal are Muslims, but among people of other faiths there are many adherents of such food. This is due to the desire of people to lead healthy lifestyle life, to exclude from consumption in food superfluous, harmful.

What meat is halal?

First of all, you need to consider the list of types of meat allowed for consumption, and then talk about the differences.

Kosher (permitted) meat for Muslims includes:

camel meat, beef;
lamb, horse meat, goat meat;
rabbit meat;
buffalo;
venison;
antelope.

From poultry to halal meat include:

turkey, chicken;
heron, quail;
ostrich meat, partridge;
duck, geese.

Dumplings, sausages and stew must be made only from such meat - pork is strictly prohibited.

Despite the fact that pork is the most popular meat among Russians, and many cannot imagine food without such meat, you can completely refuse it. The food of Muslims is varied and healthy, it is not for nothing that they live to a ripe old age in good health, many diseases simply do not concern them.

Differences between regular meat and halal

Choosing meat from the above list, it is not always possible to buy real halal. Like this? After all, we just figured out what halal meat is. But the list of products allowed for food does not end there, halal must be prepared correctly. What is being done for this?

All animals corresponding to the list are kept in ideal sanitary and hygienic conditions at all stages of rearing. Cages and enclosures are carefully cleaned, no mess, rotting of food residues is allowed in them.
Animals are treated especially at all stages: before slaughter, during it and after. Rudeness towards an animal is not allowed, it is impossible for it to be afraid. It has been proven that if an animal experiences fear, then a hormone is formed in its blood that adversely affects human health. The animal must be calm and well-fed all its life, it is led to slaughter in such a way that it does not experience fear.
Feeding of animals intended for both slaughter and breeding is carried out only with natural food. GMOs, growth stimulants and other additives are not allowed.
Throughout the life of the animal carefully monitor its health. Veterinary control gives only real information about the condition of the animal, it should not hurt anything. An animal that has survived a disease is no longer halal.
Before slaughtering an animal, a special prayer is said. During slaughter, the animal is treated with special caress.
Animals are killed only by cutting the carotid artery. Other methods for reasons of humanity are excluded.
After slaughter, the blood from the carcass is almost completely released naturally. This gives a special pleasant and delicate taste, eliminates the possibility of reproduction on the meat of pathogenic bacteria.

What is halal meat? This is not only a component of religion, but also a safe food that meets all the requirements of the human body.

Are you sure it's halal?

As it became clear, getting halal meat involves a whole list of correspondences and rules that must be strictly followed. We offer to consider what exactly does not apply to halal.

You can’t buy meat in unfamiliar places, because there, under the name “Halal”, anything can be:

animals not slaughtered according to the rules: suffocation, the animal died from injury, prohibited foods were allowed during feeding;
the livestock owner allowed rudeness during rearing, intimidated animals, did not read a prayer before slaughter;
not bled - the Koran forbids the use of the blood of any animal;
the animal was sick, kept in conditions far from proper sanitary, hygiene left much to be desired.

Among other things, predators are not allowed to eat, and this is understandable. No one can guarantee that the predator did not eat carrion, did not starve, did not eat a sick animal. This applies to mammals, birds and fish.

The Qur'an forbids eating pork meat. Why? This is a separate conversation.

Pork and Koran

Why don't Muslims eat pork? The history of the Muslim people is formed according to the laws of the Koran, which are observed and honored.

The Qur'an states four times that pig meat should not be eaten. It is mentioned in various verses that He forbade the eating of carrion, pig meat, blood, and so on. We have already dealt with blood and carrion, it remains only to understand what the pigs are to blame for.

The Holy Quran says that monkeys and pigs are people cursed by Allah. Those who did not honor His laws worshiped the Tyrant. That is why true Muslims avoid eating pork, while others who do not believe in such miracles simply strictly follow the Koran.

But in the Holy Scriptures, the interpretation of which has not been fully understood to this day, it is said: "If there is some need - saving one's life from starvation, then pork meat, carrion and blood can be eaten." And this is the only reason a Muslim can eat non-halal meat.

Muslims have, in addition to the writings in the Koran, a legend, after hearing which, no one wants to taste pork ribs or chop. The legend says that a beautiful, but unbelieving girl was turned by God into a pig in order to prove to her and everyone the miracles of reincarnation.

Why don't Muslims eat pork? Stories from antiquity, of course, are interesting, but there are logical explanations for this.

Reasons to give up pork

There are several proven factors that indicate that it is unhealthy to eat pork:

The pig is a dirty animal. And this does not apply to her wallowing in the mud. The fact is that pigs eat waste, excrement and often their offspring. Pigs do not sweat, which adversely affects the composition of the meat - harmful substances do not come out with sweat.
Pigs suffer from the same diseases as humans. Many viruses and bacteria do not die even after meat is cooked.
Pigs often get sick, many animals are slaughtered to avoid their death - the meat will be lost, and this is unprofitable. Therefore, there is a high probability of buying the meat of a sick animal.
Pork leads to heart disease and obesity, which again is due to the toxicity of the product (pigs do not sweat).

Where to buy real halal?

In Russia, there are many producers whose meat is sold with the Halal mark. Here is a list of some of these manufacturers:

"Yaktash";
"Anfal";
"Meat Processing Plant Ramensky";
"Tyumen Broiler";
JSC "Tsaritsyno";
"Maikop poultry farm";
"Chelny-broiler";
CJSC "Mikoyanovsky Meat Processing Plant"

This is not the entire list of manufacturers. You can buy products in the hypermarkets "Auchan", "Lenta", "Globus Gourmet", "Podmoskovnoye Schelkovo" and many other stores.

Warning

If you want to be completely sure that you are buying real halal meat, then ask the sellers for a "Voluntary Certification" certificate. Everyone who sells halal products must have it.

Meat subject to such certification undergoes rigorous checks for all halal compliance.

Seeing a product marked “Halal” (Halal, Halal) on the counter, an ignorant person is unlikely to attach importance to this, mistaking this inscription for a simple company sign. In fact, it would be worth considering, because. this word (from the Arabic al-halal - permitted) means that this product does not violate Islamic prohibitions ("haram"). Today we will find out what these prohibitions are and whether we, Orthodox Christians, can eat halal food.

What is halal food?

In Islam, "halal" means food that is allowed to be eaten. It mainly refers to meat.

Muslims are prohibited from:

pork,
meat with blood
animals that died a natural death,
the meat of animals that were slaughtered without the name of Allah.

There are some other features: for example, animals must not be strangled, certain parts of animals must not be consumed (genitals, endocrine glands, gallbladder etc.), you can not eat carnivorous land animals (tiger, wolf, etc.).

The experts of the Halal Meat Cooking Committee talk about the production algorithm:

The scorer must be an adult Muslim. Although some sources speak of the permission to slaughter an animal and representatives of other faiths, provided that they believe in the One God - i.e. Jews and Christians. (Only it is not clear how the next point is carried out in this case.)
The animal must be conscious and feel pain. Stunning before slaughter is not allowed.
When an animal is slaughtered, the prayer “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar” (“In the name of Allah, Allah is great!”) Is said.
At the same time, the animal's throat is cut and the bulk of the blood is drained.

Halal food shops

For the first time, legally halal food appeared in the capital of our Motherland in the 80s of the last century in a kiosk at the Cathedral Mosque. Today, more and more new outlets with halal products are opening in every district of Moscow. Halal meat is very popular among consumers because considered one of the safest products. Initially, it is assumed that the animal should be grown on environmentally friendly feed without the use of hormones and other harmful additives.

We can meet the mark "halal" on confectionery products. In this case, it means that pork fat was not used in the preparation.

I must say that halal food is more expensive than regular food. Related to this are cases of fake halal products, when, for example, in the so-called. Pork was found in halal dumplings. Therefore, now, in order for the product to be marked “halal”, it is necessary to obtain a special certificate.

Halal slaughter of livestock is prohibited in Poland

Since 2013, the Polish government has banned the ritual slaughter of Muslim halal and Jewish kashrut. This caused dissatisfaction with those countries to which Poland supplied meat that complied with the ritual slaughter rules for Jews and Muslims, as well as Jewish and Muslim organizations within the country itself.

The justification for the ban is a contradiction of this method of killing animals of the Polish constitution. Ritual slaughter without stunning animals is considered cruel, animal rights advocates are categorically against it. Note that for halal and kashrut standards, the animal, as mentioned above, must be conscious and feel pain during slaughter.

Poland until 2013 is one of the largest exporting countries of halal and kosher meat. The ban on the production of such products foreshadowed millions of dollars of loss for this European country. However, this fact did not force Poland to change its views and cancel this decision of the Constitutional Court.

Frederick Fred, the head of one of the French societies for the protection of animals, said in an interview about the process of ritual slaughter of cattle: “It comes with more suffering. I regularly visit slaughterhouses and I can say that when you see a bull whose throat is cut, you become a witness to the agony of an animal. It is not the act of cutting the throat itself that is shocking in the first place, but the agony of the animal as a result of this, which can last up to 14 minutes.

Can Orthodox Christians Eat Halal?

Now that we have enough information about halal food, let's move on to answering the main question: can Orthodox Christians eat halal or not? To do this, first let's figure out whether halal food is?

Muslims sacrifice animals at a specific time for this, reading a series of prayers and performing ritual actions. In the production of halal meat, these actions are not performed, just as those prayers that are performed during the sacrifice are not said. For example, when sacrificing, it is necessary that the animal lies on its left side and the direction of its head is also determined. This is not required for the production of meat permitted to Muslims.

Thus, halal meat is not considered idolatrous in the biblical sense (unlike the ritually slaughtered ram on Eid al-Adha).

And yet, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that both when slaughtering an animal for sacrifice and when producing halal meat, the same words are pronounced during the cutting of the animal’s throat: “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar” (“With the name of Allah, Allah great!").

It is unlikely that the religious feelings of an Orthodox Christian will remain calm when using such products. However, what to do in cases where an Orthodox is visiting a Muslim? Wouldn't it be a manifestation of dislike for one's neighbor to refuse a meal in such a situation?

It happens that an Orthodox Christian lives in a country where it is impossible to buy products other than halal. How to be?

Therefore, we can give the following recommendation: an Orthodox Christian can eat halal food only if it is not possible to buy other food (or the Orthodox is visiting Muslims), and the food is not bought in the mosque (meaning that the Orthodox himself should not buy food in the mosque) .

And, of course, food is eaten only after prayer and the sign of the cross (which is customary for any food).

In such cases, do not be embarrassed and afraid to eat this food. If it is possible to buy an ordinary product without the inscription "halal", an Orthodox Christian should prefer it.

The term halal and halal meat

The very word halal is of Arabic origin and literally means permitted. It turns out that halal meat is meat that is allowed. In fact Halal, Xalyal , halal, halal, elal(arab. حلال ‎ - permitted‎) is a very broad term and does not refer only to meat. It’s just that most often in everyday life we come across precisely this combination of this word. Halal is a way of life. Halal applies to almost every area of human life: food, clothing, jewelry, cosmetics and perfumes, personal hygiene, recreation, entertainment, finance, relationships between people, environment, to the work performed, the disposal of one's property, etc. The opposite of halal is haram (forbidden).

Forbidden or haram meat for Muslims is:

carrion
blood;
pork;
meat from animals not slaughtered according to Islamic tradition;
meat of predatory animals (wolf, lion, tiger, etc.) and birds of prey(falcon, hawk, eagle, etc.)
the meat of dogs, donkeys and mules;
endocrine glands, gallbladder and bladder, genitals of animals, including those slaughtered in accordance with Muslim tradition;
Halal products that have been in contact with unclean (forbidden foods or other impurities) until they are washed clean water or not remove the point of contact.

It is worth noting that Halal food is not a product exclusively for Muslims. Halal products can be consumed by people of any nationality and religion. Halal is first of all quality and purity. offers exactly halal products. From year to year, the volume of production of halal meat is growing rapidly and today almost half of the halal meat in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Sudak, Bakhchisarai, Evpatoria and other regions of Crimea is consumed by non-Muslims.

In order for meat to become Halal, it must meet the following conditions:

The slaughter of an animal must be carried out by an adult of sound mind, usually a Muslim, regardless of nationality;
The animal must be healthy and not be contaminated with anything that could cause a change in the structure of the meat, or harm the health of people who eat it;
Simultaneously with the cutting of the main cervical arteries, the person who slaughters the animal must say the phrase "Bismillah, Allahu Akbar", the use of tape or other recordings is not enough;
The cutting of the main cervical arteries and the esophagus should take place once, without delay or interruption, as close to the head as possible;
Butchering of the carcass is allowed after the main part of the blood has flowed out;
It is prohibited to stun animals before slaughter with electric current, hammer, ax, blow to vital points or organs of the body, etc.;
It is forbidden to sharpen slaughter tools in the presence of an animal;
It is forbidden to cut with a blunt instrument, bringing suffering to the animal;
It is forbidden to cut one animal in the presence of another;
It is forbidden to peel off the skin, dip it in boiling water, pluck out feathers, chop off parts of the body of animals until it becomes clear that the main part of the blood has flowed out, arbitrary muscle contractions have stopped.

Halal is the answer to the inhumane treatment of animals. In fact, when meat is obtained in accordance with the principles that Allah has laid down in the Noble Quran, it benefits humanity, animals and the environment.