Vegetarianism in the Qur'ān?by Mikhayah ben David

בשם יהוה הרחמן הרחם/بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Why does the Qur'an call meat from certain animals ONLY "halal" and yet calls the food from the Earth: "halal and tayyib"? Thus we read:

Oh Humankind: Partake from all that is is in the Earth (fi al-Ardi) which is both permissible and good (halalan tayyiban)... (2.168)

أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبً

The Qur'an can here be read as saying that what is "in the Earth" (فِي الْأَرْضِ) - not "on the Earth" (ala al-Ard, على الأرض) - is both halal and tayyib. Now that i not to imply that this phraseology can only mean food in the soil itself. Clearly the phrase can be generally used to mean something happening in the region. However, read without punctuation, as it was originally written down, as it relates to food, it can be read as making a general reference to the food which grows in the Earth both halal and tayyib; just as we see in the original Biblical dietary injunctions, vegetation is called tov or tob (טוב), the Hebrew equivalent of tayyib (طيب). We will find that this notion of non-animal food itself being tayyib is corroborated elsewhere, with the term for food used, and references to meat and animals absent.

When the Qur'an talks about the land in the context of food it says both permissible and good. It says elsewhere the good is permissible, and then follows with a description of Kosher meat as being only permissible. When halal and tayyib are used together, we find wa (and) before meat is then listed again (5.4)

We read also that: "This day are those things which are good (الطَّيِّبَاتُ) are lawful (أُحِلَّ) unto you." (5.5). Thus, all things good or tayyib are halal, but not all halal things are tayyib. Thus, the Qur'an follows that: "The food of those of the Bible is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them." That is to say that all Muslims, whether Mu'minin who hold to the highest standards, or those God-fearing Muslims who adhere to the minimum requirements laid out in the Qur'an must eat in accordance with the Biblical laws of Kashrut.

Why say first that things which are good are made lawful and then follow with the food of the people of the Book; all Diaspora sects in the Middle East (Jews, Nazarenes and Sabaeans)? Thus we see this is speaking only of Jewish and Quasi-Jewish sects; Nasara, Nazarene Jewish-Christians, not Pauline Christianity which was referenced as Kristiyan in the Middle East even before the Qur'an. We can determine this logically, since Christians do not believe in Biblical dietary restrictions. We can also tell that Muslims and Mu'minin must adhere to the Biblical laws of Kashrut, as it says your food (طَعَامُكُمْ) is acceptable (حِلٌّ) to them (لَهُمْ) of the Bible. Clearly this would not be the case were it not deemed Kosher to the general Jewish community.

The underlying issue, as it relates to vegetarianism in the Qur'an is that this 'ayah is talking about food. It mentions two categories, sequentially, and explains the following:

1. ALL that is tayyib is halal
2. Food eaten by any Ahl al-Kitab is halal but not implicitly tayyib.

Thus we recall Sebeos' Histoire attesting that Muhammad "forbade them to eat the flesh of any dead animal [and] to drink wine." (Sebeos, Histoire, 94-6) These are precisely the terms of Nazirut, which we otherwise see ritual evidence for in the collections deemed Sahihayn.

One might raise the issue of Surat al-Baqarah recalling the Manna and quails in the desert. The Qur'an is very specific, and few commentators pay attention to the phrasing and order of words in this (or any) passage of the Qur'an. Read:

وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْغَمَامَ
And we sent the [Pillar of] Cloud [to guide] upon you

وَأَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَىٰ
And we sent upon you manna and quails

كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ ۖ
Eat of the good thing of what were given to you

وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
They did not bring any harm to us, but [instead of just eating the good] they wronged [only] themselves.

Now please tell me, what did they wrong themselves by eating in the desert where Divine intervention was necessary to save them from starvation or malnutrition? Did they find a pig farm and fry up some bacon? What could they have wronged themselves by, but by not being content with the tayyib manna?

The Torah, which the Qur'an commands the listener to "remember" tells us that manna was commanded and those who asked for quails and ate thereof did so to their own detriment and grew very sick afterwards (Numbers 11.4-11.35). Thus, the Qur'an expects us to know this story. The Qur'an is not speaking to a Judeophobic audience centuries later, it is speaking to people who it assumes know the Torah well enough that it merely need say "remember" and they will know what story in the Torah is being referenced.

So this 'ayah concludes that those who did not eat of the tayyib - but also ate the quails were made sick thereby just as the Torah tells us - "wronged themselves" by eating those quails. These were not the original tayyib gift to them for food. Thus, the manna was tayyib, the quails were not, and when both were sent, the Bani Isra'il were told to eat only of what was tayyib. Those who ate the quails became sick.

Thus, Psalm 78.24-25 says "each one" ate the manna, but when it refers to the quail, it says there was more than could be eaten only by those who ate them, not "each one" (105.40) If all of the Bani Isra'il ate even just one quail a day for a month, this would be 90 Million quail per month. Clearly it was a minority who did not find the holy manna sufficient! Thus Jesus refers to "our ancestors in the desert who were given manna to eat" not "manna and quails to eat" (John 6.31). Thus we see that the Qur'an truly is a Kitab al-Mubin to those who have read the stories which it tells them to "remember." To those who have not read these stories, the Qur'an leads to confusion.

i would suggest that my ikhwan and akhawat read this book which is said to be from Allah Hu-self, very carefully. As we say, "the devil is in the details," or rather "the devil is in MISSING the details." Thus 'ayah 168 of Surat al-Baqarah continues: wa la tattabiau khutuwati ash-shaytani (وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ) - do not follow in the footsteps which your inner-shaytan which lusts after the desires of the dunya' would have you follow - innahu lakum `aduwwun mubinun (إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ) - for he is your clear enemy.