Unclean Animals

[nailit]

Can anyone here explain to me exactly WHY jews and muslims consider certain animals unclean?
Always found it a bit odd that God supposedly created all creatures and then decided that some animals were 'clean' and others 'unclean'. Its almost as though he dropped a clanger when creating.
Thanks.

[jourdain2]

I think it's a throwback to when pigs were common hosts of tapeworms (that's what I learned) so it wasn't sensible to eat them. Nowadays, of course, this is controlable and so the prohibition is pointless - to say the least. It's all a bit daft.

[jourdain2]

Re: muslims and dogs - I took my very well-behaved dog on a school walk and all the Muslim kids started out terrified of her. They said that dogs were possessed by the devil (of all the ridiculous comments!). When I explained that I knew my dogs parents, they calmed down and by the end of the walk several were clamouring to hold the end of the lead. We're up against a lot of weird superstitions here.

[nailit]

keyplus, please eleborate. Yours is the kind of answer I was hoping to find.
Dont want to be contetious, just wanting an honest response. Not a trick question.

[sandyRoe]

This dislike of dogs in Middle Eastern countries might be rooted in common sense. Avoid all dogs and you'll also be avoiding any rabid ones.

[wildwood]

Yes keyplus, your //"In Islam Pig falls in that category and you do not have to be a rocket scientist to find out that pigs are not clean, externally and internally"// makes no sense at all, so please elaborate.

Pigs wallow in mud so that when that dries any parasites fall off with it. Mud also keep the skin moisturised and healthy which avoinds skin ailments.
If given enough room, pigs will use a specific area for toilet. They are also quite intelligent animals and every bit as smart as a dog.

[Canary42]

Nobody has yet explained why God created unclean animals in the first place.

Perhaps they play the same role as the serpent in the Garden Of Eden - i.e. to tempt people into Sin.

[Hypognosis]

A strangely prescient thread. Since midnight, the BBC news channel has been running a story about Malaysian muslims and their fear of touching dogs, which is proscribed except under certain circumstances, like rescuing the animal from danger.

This seems to tally with naillit's experience with walking his dog.

I wondered whether the biblical era ban on pork was to do with the risks of tapeworm which is passed to humans via cysts in pig muscle (modern farming techniques prevent this, of course).

On a more mischievous level I wondered if it was more to do with these religions being those of goatherds and shepherds, who wanted to promote their meat and drive pig farmers out of business ;-)

In fact, if the levant/desert environment is so unsuitable for boar/pigs, I'd be interested to know how they came to be known to the old testament peoples, who wrote the bible, or what is the oldest arcaeological evidence of pigs being eaten in the levant, the fertile crescent and north Africa?

Meanwhile, meat sold unrefrigerated from a street stall and exposed to everything from traffic fumes to flies crawling over it is deemed to be clean.

[beso]

A more pertinent question would be why Christians ignore the advice.

The answer is that Romans loved pork and the movement would have gotten nowhere if it was banned.

[douglas9401]

'Can anyone here explain to me exactly WHY jews and muslims consider certain
animals unclean?'

They're not hungry enough.

[keyplus90]

Here is a bit of information. Many people may not believe in it or parts of it. There are independent studies and researches that can be found on google that talks about pig flesh being unfit for human consumption even after cooking at higher temperatures.

http://islamicvoice.com/february.99/zakir.htm

As for someone question about dog. There are lot of Muslims who have dogs and I myself have had many dogs. The only reason people try to avoid dogs as someone mentioned is that according to Islamic teachings when dog is wet (or its nose and tongue that is always moist) and it touches your clothes then your clothes are considered unclean and you cannot perform daily prayer. However if a dog is dry and it does not rub nose (or tongue) against your clothes then there is nothing wrong with it. But other thing about devils etc are just superstitions and have no place in Islam and are more from cultures.

[DaisyNonna]

Food from animals which deteriorates quickly in the heat?

[hc4361]

canary, I explained why we have 'unclean' animals in my first post.

They are the scavengers of land, sea and rivers and eat the dead and rotting carcasses of other animals - they are the original waste disposal systems.

[beso]

keyplus

From your link //The author is the president of Islamic Research Foundation, Mumbai//

I don't see any reference to any independent studies. Just quotes from your revered book which has repeatedly been shown to be objectively wrong on many subjects.

[ludwig]

// pigs are not clean, externally and internally. //

As opposed to sheep who always floss and wipe their bums.

[naomi24]

Ludwig, haaaaaaaa! Silly devil!

Keyplus, //The only reason people try to avoid dogs as someone mentioned is that according to Islamic teachings when dog is wet (or its nose and tongue that is always moist) and it touches your clothes then your clothes are considered unclean and you cannot perform daily prayer. //

That's not entirely true. There is a certain amount of suspicion relating to dogs.

[naomi24]

*not suspicion - superstition.

[ludwig]

So there we are - ancient food safety advice. That makes sense.

Now, how do we explain god's occasional insistence on silly haircuts?

[ludwig]

..I bet it was the prophets saying 'hey, they took our food safety advice as the word of god. Let's see if we can have some fun with this!'

[mushroom25]

//Now, how do we explain god's occasional insistence on silly haircuts? //

is kim-jong-un religious? or possibly god?

[ludwig]

Nowadays the rules would probably read something like this..

'Thou shalt not eateth of the piece of toast that hath lain more the three seconds on the floor, neither cosumeth the pot noodle, or cheweth the flesh from that dodgy looking burger van in the layby on the A5, for verily they are unclean'