Eating Unlawful Food and Satanic Temptation

God almighty said: ” ‏Do not eat from that which the Name of Allah has not been mentioned, for it is a sin. The evil impulses [within men’s hearts] whisper unto those who have made them their own to argue with you. If you obey them, you shall indeed become idolaters.”.[1]

Indications:

* God has harshly prohibited unlawful food because it leads to coldheartedness and paves for other sins. This was also mentioned in the lecture of Al imam Al Husein (pbuh) for his enemies on the day of Ashura:” Your stomachs were filled with unlawful food”.

* We read in the 5th verse of Surah Al Ma’ida the lawfulness of the people of the book “The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you”. This gracious verse says: every animal that the Name of God is not mentioned on before slaughtering it is unlawful to be eaten. Because the people of The Book used not to mention the Name of God on their slaughtered animals, we can conclude that their food was unlawful and that what is mentioned in this verse includes their food made of grains and alike, but not meat.[2]

* ‏The satanic temptation happens as follows: the dead animal is God’s slain and God’s slain is better than a human’s slain! Then, how are dead bodies prohibited but an animal killed by a human being is lawful? These thoughts take place when a human being attempts to forget that applying God’s provisions is more important than all of this.

Percepts:

1- A Muslim should respect the religious commitments even in food and nutrition, “Do not eat from that which the Name of Allah has not been mentioned”.

2- Mentioning the name of God when slaughtering an animal is not a formal or ceremonial matter, but it’s a duty; ignoring it is immoral (fisq), and it’s immoral.

3- Where the lack of faith is more severe, it is necessary to emphasize, because in the pre-Islamic era, the people’s acceptance of the conditions of the ornament of slaughtering was a difficult matter, and we note here that God, Glory be to Him, raised the issue in the context of multiple affirmations. The sentence “and it is fisq (it’s immoral)” is nominative, and the tool is “in” and the letter “lam” is for emphasis. (Arabic grammatical explanations)

4- Because of eating unlawful food, a human being becomes more able to accept the satanic temptations, “and do not eat… the evil impulses”.

5- Satans have the ability to make temptations, “the evil impulses”.

6- The satanic temptations affect their guided one not God followers, “the evil impulses their guided ones”.

7- People’s arguments result from the satanic temptations and their desires?” the evil impulses… to argue with you”.

8- Arguing in God’s provisions is one of the evil’s weapons and arrestings,” the evils… to argue with you”.

9- Arguing in the religious provisions leads people to polytheism, “to argue with you… you shall indeed become idolaters”.[3]

10- Monotheists who practically obey other than God are idolaters,”you’re idolaters”.

‏His Eminence Sheikh Mohsen Kara’ati

[1] Surat Al An’am, 121
[2] Tafsir Al Mizan
[3] Surat Al An’am, 121

source:english.almaaref