Halal in Muslim means lawful and on the other hand, haram means something that is not allowed to the Muslims. We will in this article discuss the significance of halal in Muslim religion. Many people think that halal is generally associated with meat but this is not true. Halal is associated with any food. When it is said that the food is halal it means that the food is allowed to the Muslims and they can have these food items.

What is Haram?

Some things that the Muslims are forbidden to have are called haram. It is considered a sin of highest order to have these items. Some of these food items include

• Pork
• Blood of any animal
• Animals that are not slaughtered in the name of Allah
• The dead body of an animal
• Any animal that was beaten to death
• Alcohol and any food that did not have the name of Allah pronounced

All these are considered to be sinful and cannot be allowed to have by a Muslim. The Muslims are prohibited to have these items. A true Muslim will never drink and have any of the items that we have mentioned above. Apart from these Muslims are forbidden from eating birds of prey, carnivorous animals and animals without external ears and all these also come under Haram.

The Holy Quran

The Quran does not tell Muslims to have meat. It clearly mentions that first they should have vegetables. If there is no vegetable only then an animal must be sacrificed for meat. Killing animals for food is not something that the Quran mentions. Some Muslims are there who eat only vegetables. This must be a shock to the other religion who considers that Muslims eat only non veg.

Halal Cut

The Muslim religion mentions that the meat that they have must be halal cut. halal cut is a special type of cut. In this the animal is not slaughtered at one go. A small cut is made at the throat and this is done with a special knife. The blood is allowed to bleed. When the animal is completely drained of blood it is cut. The name of Allah is pronounced before this is done. This is like a sacrifice that is made in the name of the God. The Muslims are not allowed to feed on blood of any animal. The Muslims are not allowed to have any animal that was dead before slaughtering. If the animal was dead before then it is a haram. Such meat should be avoided by the Muslims at all cost.

The Muslims do believe that when they cut the animal in the halal method the animal is allowed to rest in peace. As the name of Allah is uttered god will take care of the animal. This is exactly why the Muslims will refuse to have any meat that is not halal cut. The Muslims feel that animal is given less pain when it is killed by the Halal method.

This method is a way of showing respect and love to the animal. Only Muslims know how to do the Halal cut precisely. This is why you will find meat stores clearly mention that they sell only Halal cut meat. As most of the meat is consumed by the Muslims these shops ensure that they keep Halal cut meat alone. Many Muslim countries import Halal cut meat. This is because they have use consumption of meant. The supply that they have in their country is not enough to meet the requirement of the people in the country. This imported meat is consumed by the countries. Many non Islamic countries don’t encourage the sale of Halal meat.

The animal activists say that the tradition of Halal cut is very brutal. The animal is made to suffer a lot before it is killed. This can be very bad for the animal. The protests are valid in their arguments. The animals can be cut at one shot this will definitely reduce the suffering of the poor animal. However, the religious sentiments of the Muslims must be respected. Many Hindus prefer not to ear Halal cut meat. They feel that it is wrong. Many Muslims too have stopped the consumption of Halal cut meat.

The Muslims do believe that this method is the best and it is always less painful for the animal. The debate is on for years. All the religions want that the animal should suffer the least. Each religion has their own way of killing the animal. We cannot say which the best practice is and which is not. We are just trying to look at all the aspects of Halal so that the readers understand the concept of Halal better.

Although the awareness is being spread there is still a long way to go. The significance of halaal in Muslim religion is very high. A true Muslim cannot have a meat that is not halal cut. You must have noted a lot of items stating that it is a Halal food. It means that the food item does not contain any thing that is Haram for a Muslim. Some of these items have been listed in the beginning of the article. Muslims prefer to have only Halal food. As consumption of the forbidden items is a sin in the eyes of god. In Islamic countries some cosmetics are also sold with the note that they are Halal. Any cosmetic that was made by torturing animals is not allowed by the Muslim religion.

We hope that this article on significance of halaal in Muslim religion was able to explain to you what Halal food and meat is all about. This will help you to understand the concept of Muslim religion and their practices better. If we look deeper we will see that the religions are more or less the same. The Muslims want to ensure that they don’t cause much pain to the dying animal. This is exactly why they follow Halal.

This ensures that they are religious and they follow the norms made by Allah. The Halal means lawful and it can be associated with any food item and even other goods that Muslims use in their daily life. Perhaps we should not be judgemental about anything. We must try to understand the real meaning of the customs only then we will be able to understand their religious significance.