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Subject: Re: this is just weird
Aren't the reasons that Jews (Orthodox ones anyway) and Muslims both don't eat pigs the same? Isn't from the same source within the religious texts?Subject: Re: this is just weird
Yes, the rules in Islam and Judaism regarding pigs are very much alike. I'm not sure why Israelis would think that this strategy would work from their own viewpoint.Subject: Re: this is just weird
Hmm, interesting.My Animal Science prof at an agricultural university I attended years ago referred to pigs as "God's chosen animal". (I don't think this was a religious opinion though).
Mike
Subject: Re: this is just weird
LOL. Well, pigs certainly seem to have found a way to protect themselves from being eaten so maybe from their viewpoint, the Islamic and Jewish rules are a good thingSubject: Re: this is just weird
Hmmm . . . for the curious, why are dogs considered ritually unpure to Muslims? Could you own a pet dog if you wanted?Subject: Re: this is just weird
Muslims are allowed to keep a dog for help with hunting, guarding, or around the farm, but are otherwise strongly discouraged from it. The dog should live outdoors rather than be kept in the house. The major concern with impurity seems to be with what the dog licks or otherwise touches with its mouth.To be honest, the rules sound to me partly like they would serve as protections against rabies and other diseases that dogs may carry and transmit, and partly that dogs should be left to do their own thing or put to work doing things that are natural to dogs, rather than being kept in houses and used for people's companionship. From a religious perspective, humans are allowed to use animals for our own benefit only by leave of God, and we'll be called to account for how we fulfill this responsibility. For instance, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described how a woman who kept a cat as a pet starved it to death and was punished the the Hereafter for that cruelty, while another report tells about a person who found a dog dying of thirst so he gave the dog water he carried back in his shoe and his sins were forgiven for that.
Except for the aspect of ritual impurity, which they share with pigs, dogs are not treated that differently from most other domesticated animals; except that in our culture, dogs are often kept in the house as pets, and that wouldn't be Islamically appropriate (however, cats are OK).
From my understanding, dogs from some breeds have serious congenital illnesses because of the inbreeding that's done on them. My aunt has a pet dog with some serious health problems because of that. So I think that our keeping dogs as pets has not been entirely to the animals' benefit and that there is some wisdom in the Islamic rules, if you look at them in a positive manner.
Ritual impurity always sounds "bad" but it doesn't necessarily have that connotation. Blood is ritually impure but there's nothing negative attached to the act of bleeding. All "ritually impure" means is that you need to wash your hands (or whatever came into contact with it) before the prayer.
Also, as the point about pigs in Judaism indicates, I believe that Judaism also has rules about ritual purity although I'm not sure how many of those are applicable today.