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World Net Daily worries that if you eat “halal” food you’re eating food sacrificed to idols

WND, the wacky right wing Evangelical website is forwarding the myth that halal food is sacrificed to idols. They also peddle the conspiracy that Americans are going to be forced to eat halal food. The piece from God Discussion is an excellent rebuttal.

World Net Daily worries that if you eat “halal” food you’re eating food sacrificed to idols

(God Discussion)

Pastor Mark Biltz over at World Net Daily worries that you might inadvertently eat “halal” food in the good old US of A–a country of many cultures—food he says is sacrificed to idols, and “catch” Islam like a virus.    Ignorance of Islam is at its highest in this comment by Pastor Biltz:

At issue, says Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., is eating food that’s “halal,” in other words “lawful” or “permitted” for the Muslim diet.

Muslims join many Jews and some Christians in avoiding the consumption of certain animals such as pigs and birds of prey, but those of the Islamic faith also have their meat blessed in the name of their god, Allah.

“From the Christian standpoint, Allah would be an idol,” Biltz told WND.”

From a faith standpoint, “Allah” IS God, NOT an idol.  Allah.org states:

Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word god which can be made plural, gods, or feminine, goddess. It is interesting to notice that Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a sister language of Arabic.

The One true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates with God. To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him. The Prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries about Allah; the answer came directly from God Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Quran, which is considered the essence of the unity or the motto of monotheism. This is chapter 112 which reads:

“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say (O Muhammad) He is God the One God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone.”

The Quran also condemns the worship of idols, same as the Christian God:

The Quran reminds us of the falsity of all alleged gods. To the worshippers of man-made objects, it asks:

“Do you worship what you have carved yourself?” (37:95)

“Or have you taken unto you others beside Him to be your protectors, even such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves?” (13:16)

Moreover, the term “Allah” is used by Arabic speakers of all Abrahamic faiths (let us not forget that Islam is a branch from the same tree as Christianity and Judaism).  That means that Mizrahi Jews, Eastern Catholics,  Ba’hai’s, and Eastern Orthodox Christians, as Arabic speakers, use the word “Allah.”

As for WND’s and Pastor Biltz’ worry that you and I are eating “halal” food unawares, every day we eat Jewish kosher food and it hasn’t hurt anyone. World Net Daily can’t even get the halal process right.  The halal process goes like this:

Halal Meat – The Process
The slaughtering rules (dhabh in Arabic) for Halal, which are based on Islamic teachings, ethics and jurisprudence need to strictly follow the guidelines below:
-
The premises, equipment and machinery must be classed according to Islamic Shariah (Law) before any production takes place
A trained Muslim man should slaughter the animal in a licensed slaughter house with the implementation of all the hygiene and animal welfare regulations
The slaughterman must be a mature and pious Muslim of sound mind who fully understands the fundamentals and conditions relating to Halal slaughter and must be licensed by the Meat Hygiene Service
The animal/bird must be fed and grown on natural vegetarian diet
The animal/bird must be alive, healthy and free from any disease or injury at the time of slaughter. This should be certified and checked by a veterinary surgeon
The animal’s skin or fur and bird feathers must be clean prior to slaughter and free from faeces, dirt or other unhygienic substances
The animal/bird should be fed and should not be hungry or thirsty before slaughter
The animal should not be slaughtered in front of other animals and no blood seen so that no stress or discomfort has been caused to the animal
The animal should be handled gently and individually
The knife should be very sharp and clean and should not be sharpened in front of any animal before slaughter
The Muslim slaughterman says the following before slaughtering: in the name of Allah, Allah is greatest (Bismillah, Allah Akbar)
The cut to be done in the right anatomical position in the throat by cutting the two carotids, the two jugulars, the windpipe and the gullet, but without cutting the spinal cord
All blood should be allowed to be drained from the carcass
A specific time should be allowed till the animal ceases any movement
De-feathering, de-skinning and evisceration can be done afterwards
Any unlawful meat like pork should not contaminate Halal meat. Separate knives, equipment and utensils should be used for Halal meat

So don’t worry, folks. Eating halal meat isn’t going to make you a involuntary Muslim anymore than eating kosher food unawares makes you an involuntary Jew.

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    • Stupid beyond belief. If I eat jalepenos will I start spaeaking Spanish? What an idiot!

    • UK Muslim

      Are Arab Christians who worship Allah idol-worshippers & what about their Bibles?

    • jdb

      Christians do not consider the Jews and Muslims God to be the same as theirs, to them Jesus is God, the son, and the holy ghost. And if you don’t believe that,then you don’t believe in the same God.

    • Daniel

      In the Aramaic New Testament (the language Jesus spoke), God is “Allah”.

      I am no longer surprised at the appaling ignorance of supposedly educated pastors.

    • Yearp, they don’t want people to know that in M’asia and Indo Christians both use the word ‘Allah’ but also use other phrases such as ‘Massallah’ and ‘Ins’allah’. Same goes for, of course, Arabic speaking Christians. However, it’s possible if not probably that the writers of this article don’t consider the groups we are both talking about true Christians and as people who need to be ‘rebirthed’ or whatever it is they do to them so we are kinda talking to the wind…

    • Masa

      Jack,

      Legally, yes. My point was that while these people – as mentioned in the article – are still going around talking about ‘Allah’ being the name of some idol, or some sort of ‘moon god’ getting a hefty promotion, their co-religionists in say, the rest of the world, have embraced ‘Allah’ as another way to refer to ‘God’.

      Its unbelievable how these loons go all apesh*t over the silliest things.

    • I thought they got it Masa, didn’t the High Court in KL revoke the previous judgment?

    • Masa

      “From the Christian standpoint, Allah would be an idol,” Biltz told WND.”

      Interesting… at the same time, Christians here in Malaysia are trying to get approval for their usage of ‘Allah’ in their religious texts, ceremonies, etc.

    • Daniel

      Ironically, the Apostle Paul made it clear in 1 Corinthians that eating meat sacrificed to idols does not defile a Christian, and it is a sign of weakness to think that it does.

      Double the irony that Islam is far more iconoclastic than Christianity, which views images of God as ok.

  • Farlowe

    Vegetarianism is the answer to all this.

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