• Food: Prepared by non-Muslims
A friend of mine advises me not to eat any food cooked or prepared by anyone other than a follower of Islam, Christianity or Judaism. According to him, it is not permissible in Islam to eat any food prepared by a Hindu or Buddhist, etc. How far is this correct?
Perhaps your friend has a very restricted view of the Qur'anic verse which states that "the food of the people of earlier scriptures is permissible for you to eat". There is no disagreement among scholars that this verse refers to slaughtered animals. What is meant is that animals slaughtered by Christians and Jews are permissible for Muslims to eat because it is forbidden in their religions to consecrate the slaughter of any animal for any one other than Allah. This does not apply to other religions. Hence, the restriction on Muslims not to eat the slaughtered animals of the followers of other religions.
This ruling does not apply to the preparation of food which does not include anything unlawful for a Muslim to eat. If you are eating vegetable dish, you need not ask who prepared it, because it does not matter from the viewpoint of Islam what religion the cook follows. Allah has made it permissible for us to eat anything the earth produces with the exception of those items which He has specifically forbidden. What is forbidden for Muslims to eat is that which Allah has forbidden for a specific reason. He has not forbidden anything due to the identity or the faith of the person who handles or cooks it. When something is forbidden, it remains so, even though a Muslim may prepare it. We cannot eat pork, or something consecrated for anyone other than Allah, even though it may have been handled throughout its process of preparation by a Muslim. Similarly, vegetables and fruits and lawful meat do not become unlawful if they are handled by a Hindu or an atheist or anyone else. Otherwise, Muslim countries would not have allowed any imported food from Korea, Japan, Thailand or other countries where the overwhelming majority of the population do not follow any of the three divine religions.
• Food: Prohibition — degree ofAre there degrees of prohibition, or are all forbidden things punished in the same way? Many people will take interest from banks, they would never eat pork or drink wine. When you ask them the reason for their abstention, they would answer clearly that drinking wine and eating pork are forbidden. If you tell them that the same is true of interest, they try to find excuses.
There are indeed degrees of prohibition. To start with, there is the category of ‘reprehensible,‘ or ‘makrooh’ actions which denotes that something should be avoided, although no punishment is incurred for doing it. There is the category of ‘haraam’ or forbidden which groups all actions that expose the person who does them to punishment by God. Even in this category there are grades. We cannot say that looking at a picture of a naked woman is the same as gazing at her in person, or either action is the same as committing adultery. There are different categories of forbidden matters within the same area. They are not punished in the same way.
Similarly, being granted forgiveness for committing them requires different things. In the Hereafter, they are also treated differently. Smaller offenses are more easily forgiven. It is true that God may forgive a person a great load of sins, if He so pleases, but forgiving smaller offenses is much easier to secure. In the three examples you have mentioned, drinking is a much more serious offense than eating pork. Drinking incurs a specific punishment in this life which must be inflicted once the offense is proven according to the recognized procedures of Islamic law. Eating pork does not incur such a punishment, but it is clearly forbidden. God will punish for it.
All usurious actions are clearly forbidden. Indeed the prohibition is stated most emphatically in the Qur'an with a warning to desist immediately or face a war waged by God and His messenger. Nothing can be more serious than that. Even within this there are differences. We cannot say that a person who lends money to a poor farmer at an exorbitant rate and keeps increasing rate for the farmer's delayed repayment until be deprives the farmer of his farm is the same as one who takes bank interest. Both are forbidden and come within what the Prophet, peace be upon him, has cursed in connection with usury. The severity of the offense is different in the two cases.
• Food: Prohibition of intoxicants — since when and why
Was liquor permissible to drink in an early stage of Islamic history? If yes, why was it forbidden later.
Islam did not start by legalizing alcoholic drinks and changed its mind later. It simply approached the matter in the only way that brings the desired results: to establish first the basis upon which instructions are to be followed. Once faith was deeply rooted in the hearts of the Muslims, they only needed a simple instruction and they abided by it.
During the process of establishing the faith, Islam simply left matters to the wisdom of individuals. But once its first task was completed, it sent about finalizing the second stage, giving clear and detailed instructions, outlining what is forbidden and what is permissible.
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