Eating "halal" meat?

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Exsurge_Domine

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Does anybody know, if there is any formal teaching from the Church whether Catholics can eat “halal” meat?

Halal products are derived from animals and/or poultry that have been slaughtered according to Islamic law under the following statement, “In the name of God – God is the Greatest/Bismillahi Allahu Akbar.
isaiowa.org/content.asp?ID=1677

I don’t know whether one can hold this “halal” as a “meat sacrified to idols”. Nevertheless from the NT, I can find the following verses discussing the issue:

*Rev. 2: 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

20 But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
  1. Cor 7:7- Howbeit there is not in all men that knowledge: but some, being used until now to the idol, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
    8 But food will not commend us to God: neither, if we eat not, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
    9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to the wea
    10 For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
    13 Wherefore, if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble.
  2. Cor. 10:18 Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar?
    19 What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
    20 But I say , that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.
    21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.*
 
Exsurge_Domine said:
Does anybody know, if there is any formal teaching from the Church whether Catholics can eat “halal” meat?

Halal products are derived from animals and/or poultry that have been slaughtered according to Islamic law under the following statement, “In the name of God – God is the Greatest/Bismillahi Allahu Akbar.
isaiowa.org/content.asp?ID=1677

I don’t know whether one can hold this “halal” as a “meat sacrified to idols”. Nevertheless from the NT, I can find the following verses discussing the issue:

*Rev. 2: 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

20 But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
  1. Cor 7:7- Howbeit there is not in all men that knowledge: but some, being used until now to the idol, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
    8 But food will not commend us to God: neither, if we eat not, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
    9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to the wea
    10 For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
    13 Wherefore, if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble.
  2. Cor. 10:18 Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar?
    19 What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
    20 But I say , that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.
    21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.*
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I cannot imagine what the objection would be. Like many ancient religious laws, those involving food standards are based on the hygienic standards of the time they were initiated.

God is obviously not an idol nor a demon, regardless of the name given Him.

The Lord revealed to Peter that Christians are not required to keep kosher. As far as I know, they certainly may do so if they wish, and I do so - to some extent - out of respect for my Jewish wife, though I occasionally sneak a shrimp platter at Long John’s while she’s elsewhere.
 
Vatican II said:
  1. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.
 
St. Paul speaks some about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Of course hallal falls under this category.
Paul says to eat it, because the Spirit that is in you is much greater than the empty god to whom the meat was sacrificed.
He also says not to do it if and when it might lead your brother to fall… so if you are together with someone who might think you accept Islams idol because you eat their meat then you must refrain from eating it, in order not to tempt your brother.
The Bible is very clear with this point.

My personal oppinion… I have probably eaten some halal chickens without knowing it because a lot of stuff is sacrificed to allah in my country… in order to please the muslims.
But I would not voluntarily eat it… and I bless my food in the name of Christ. I do not like the thought of eating meat sacrificed to an idol. Probably none of us do.

Peace.
 
GraceDK said:
St. Paul speaks some about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Of course hallal falls under this category.
Paul says to eat it, because the Spirit that is in you is much greater than the empty god to whom the meat was sacrificed.
He also says not to do it if and when it might lead your brother to fall… so if you are together with someone who might think you accept Islams idol because you eat their meat then you must refrain from eating it, in order not to tempt your brother.
The Bible is very clear with this point.

My personal oppinion… I have probably eaten some halal chickens without knowing it because a lot of stuff is sacrificed to allah in my country… in order to please the muslims.
But I would not voluntarily eat it… and I bless my food in the name of Christ. I do not like the thought of eating meat sacrificed to an idol. Probably none of us do.

Peace.
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Since “Allah” is simply the Arabic word for God, and because Muslims sacrifice their meat to Allah (as far as I know), it would not be an “idol” as you say, but God Himself. We both worship God; only Muslims do not have a theologically correct conception of God.
 
Exsurge, your concerns are unfounded. The Church recognizes that Muslims worship the same God as Christians.

Catechism of the Catholic Church said:
841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day."330
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scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p3.htm

Eating halal products is no different from eating kosher products.
 
Dale_M said:
Exsurge, your concerns are unfounded. The Church recognizes that Muslims worship the same God as Christians.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p3.htm

Eating halal products is no different from eating kosher products.
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We both worship ONE God, but not the SAME God, there is a difference. Nevertheless, I think that “halal” is “kosher” for Catholics. And I don’t think, that it is even “sacrificial food”. I think saying the name of Allah is more like “blessing” or “thanking” the food, not offereing it to Allah. If I am wrong, correct me.
 
The Catechism says we worship the same God, it says:
together with us they adore the one, merciful God
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We do worship the same God as Muslims. They are our brothers.

As for halal ritual, I know nothing about it. :o
 
If you all believe in allah then why dont you follow the Quran and the imitate the prophet muhammed???

Saying hallal and kosher is one and the same thing is such abominable talk. The Jews worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the kosher tradition is an interpretation of the Mosaic law that we share with the Jewish people. Those basis Scripture that have remained unaltered.

Measure a god by his revelation… its the only way we know him. Our Lord has revealed Him self through the Talmud, the Law and the Prophets, and through a final fulfilling revelation: Christ our Lord and Messiah. Salvation comes from the Jews and all of Gods promises have had their YES and Amen in Christ, as is written.

the idol of islam is a spirit that comes to a false prophet and speak lying prophesy.
Catholic brothers, who has bewitched you??

St John says clearly, the one who adds to revelation is a liar. No other religion has so added to Christian revelation and made people deny the salvific action of Christ as that lying spirit that talks in the quran. The Muslims are in the darkness and your “buddy-talk” wont change that.

Measure all religions on their revelation. next you will probably tell me that Vishnu is also really Jesus… with a little bit of good will… and Zeus is the same… BADR!

The truth question has nothing to do with whether a given religion deals with one or severel deities. Gods Person has all to do with who He is… that He is ONE GOD is part of His truth… but thats an awful little to get right.

Lastly, I cant imagine how horrible it must feel for former Muslims who have become Christians to hear other Christians call their old idols - the chains which held them in darkness - the same god…

No matter if you wanna befriend a billion people by tickling their ears… it will never be the same god.

Shalom.
 
I don’t know much about Islamic theology, but I agree with what Grace is saying here.
 
Sam_777 said:
Personally, I don’t think God The Most High equals Allah in Islam, read this link:
faithfreedom.org/Articles/skm30804.htm
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It’s unquestionably true that “Allah” was in use before Muhammad’s time by Jews, Christians, and pagans alike. “Allah” seems to have generally denoted the supreme deity, whether used in a monotheistic (Jewish/Christian and then Muslim) or polytheistic (supreme deity above all others) sense.

In other words, “Allah” is Arabic for God.

Note that the article to which you link alleges that “Allah” was a name for the moon god, but provides not one shred of evidence for this (it seems to think that it’s providing such evidence by simply showing that the pagan Arabs worshiped the moon, but nowhere does it indicate that “Allah” was specifically used as the name of the moon god).

This is all a lot of hot air. “Allah” has always been the Arabic word for God. Period.

Edwin
 
GraceDK said:
If you all believe in allah then why dont you follow the Quran and the imitate the prophet muhammed???
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Because we disagree with Muslims as to how Allah has revealed Himself.
No matter if you wanna befriend a billion people by tickling their ears… it will never be the same god.
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It’s not a question of pleasing Muslims. It’s a question of truth.

Allah has always been used by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians as the name of God. You are the one saying that we should abandon our historic practice simply for the sake of gratuitously insulting Muslims and obscuring the genuine historic links between their religion and ours.

Edwin
 
But I would not voluntarily eat it… and I bless my food in the name of Christ. I do not like the thought of eating meat sacrificed to an idol. Probably none of us do.

Blessing in the name of Jesus Christ removes all taint of idolism or Mohametanism.
 
Contarini said:
Because we disagree with Muslims as to how Allah has revealed Himself.

It’s not a question of pleasing Muslims. It’s a question of truth.

Allah has always been used by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians as the name of God. You are the one saying that we should abandon our historic practice simply for the sake of gratuitously insulting Muslims and obscuring the genuine historic links between their religion and ours.

Edwin
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Edwin.
I know that “Allah” is the Arabic word for God. Our Christian brothers use that word to address the Lord, the Triune God of the Bible. Our Muslim neighbours, however, use the word to address the false spirit that revealed himself to Muhammed and said he was god and that the following was his will…
However… the two persons behind the revelations are in total contrast to each other.
I have no problem with the linguistic aspect of this problematic… but I do have a problem when people say we worship the same god… because that is not true and such statements serve only as reletivism and confusion.
 
GraceDK said:
Edwin.
I know that “Allah” is the Arabic word for God. Our Christian brothers use that word to address the Lord, the Triune God of the Bible. Our Muslim neighbours, however, use the word to address the false spirit that revealed himself to Muhammed and said he was god and that the following was his will…
However… the two persons behind the revelations are in total contrast to each other.
I have no problem with the linguistic aspect of this problematic… but I do have a problem when people say we worship the same god… because that is not true and such statements serve only as reletivism and confusion.
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In fact, Nostra Aetate makes clear that Christians and Muslims worship and adore the same Allah. Second, the rules of halal food is not about making a sacrifice. It is simply the right rules for the preparation for food (and is in fact very comparable to kosher laws…often in fact, in the absence of a halal butcher, Muslims will try to find one that is kosher). My guess is that many of you have eaten halal food without even knowing it, if you have eaten Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food at a local restaurant (at least here where I live there are several restaurants that are halal).

In fact, one should always offer up everything to Allah. This is why a Muslim will say Bismillah before a wide variety of actions, to remind themselves that everything they do is seen by God and is for God.

salaam.
 
GraceDK said:
Sorry bro… I never touch beer or other alcholic subtances. But for your sake: cheers mate.

So you are a math student?
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I found one with tea! I don’t really drink tea, but oh well.

I’m working on a degree in computer engineering and I figured I might as well grap a minor in mathematics while I’m at it (only two extra classes!). I’m looking at a minor in business management or economics as well, I’m not really sure what I’ll do. 🙂

Anyway, I have to grab lunch before my next class starts.
 
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