While commenting on verse 3 of Suratul Maidah (5) of the...

While commenting on verse 3 of Suratul Maidah (5) of the Qur`an (dealing with prohibition of certain animal products such as “the meat of pigs”) which reads:  حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْــتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْـزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللٌّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلاَّ مَا ذَكَّيْـتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِـحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَنْ تَسْتَقْسِمُوا بِالأَزْلاَمِ ذٌلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ..

 “Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine and that on which has been invoked the name of other than Allah; that which has been killed by strangling, a violent blow, a headlong fall or by being gored to death; that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless you are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety…” Khalifa writes that Allah (awj) has only prohibited “the meat – lahm” of the pigs and not “the fat,” and so usage of lard should be permissible.

Khalifa has insisted on the literal meaning of “lahm” to exclude the fat of the pig from this prohibition, and has totally disregarded the teaching of the recipient of the Qur`an, (‘s), as accepted by Muslims for the last fourteen centuries! Rashad Khalifa seemed to ignore the fact that the Qur`an is not a butcher’s manual where all items are spelled out precisely, for example, “lean ground beef” without the fat as opposed to “regular ground beef” with the fat!

The Qur`an has used the term “meat/lahm” in chapter 5, verse 3 in a general sense and not as a butcher’s jargon, and it applies to any edible part of a pig. If he had read verse 259 of Suratul Baqarah (2), Khalifa would have seen that the term “lahm” has been used in the Qur`an also in a meaning that includes the meat and the fat together.

Describing His power of resurrection, Almighty Allah (awj) demonstrates the resurrection of a donkey that had died for a century:  ...وَانْــظُرْ إِلــى الْعِظَامِ كَيْفَ نُنْشِزُهَا ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًا...  “…Look at the bones and see how We construct them, and cover them with flesh (lahm)” Surely Almighty Allah (awj) did not cover the donkey’s bones with “lean” flesh without the fat, skin, etc! The word “lahm” here applies to everything that was placed on the bones.

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