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Islamic Culture ( 20 Apr 2022, NewAgeIslam.Com)

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Islam And Vegetarianism

By Sumit Paul , New Age Islam

20 April 2022

Vegetarians Have No Moral Right To Condescend, Condemn And Criticize Muslims For Being Non-Vegetarians And Vice Versa

I'm piqued as well as amused by our certain dyed-in-the-wool beliefs regarding specific races, people and community. Recently, eating non-veg on Ram Navami by a group of students at JNU is one such instance that has made people fallaciously think that all Muslims are 'incorrigible non-vegetarians' who cannot live without consuming meat. This is stereotyping a whole community on a dietary count. In other words, this is a gastronomical idiosyncrasy of non-Muslims about Muslims. We erroneously harbour this belief that eating meat is somewhat integral to Islam. No, it ain't. Having non-vegetarian food is not de rigueur or mandatory in Islam. I've come across scores of Muslims in my life who altogether avoided non-veg and didn't even try eggs. Otherwise also, egg was never a sought after food item on the plates and palates of Muslims, esp. of the sub-continental Muslims, who began to consume it after Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498 CE. Portuguese, along with pineapples, potatoes and prawns, introduced eggs to the sub-continental kitchens. Arabs learnt to relish eggs following the Muslim invasion of Spain (711 CE/Al Hegira 92). But that story is for some other day.

Prince Dara Shikoh was a staunch vegetarian. In his Persian treatise 'Majma-Ul-Bahrain' (Mingling of the two oceans), there's a full chapter on the spiritual and ethical benefits of vegetarianism. He convinced his father, Shahjahan, about the positive aspects of veg food and Shahjahan turned a vegetarian! It's interesting to note that Arabs, who're considered to be hardcore meat-eaters, were also aware of the benefits of veg food despite the paucity of vegetables in Arab peninsula, all the more when Islam came into being. Ibn Sina's ' The Canon of Medicine ' Book, 11th Century, Al-Razi's ' Diet Therapy' Book, 10th Century, Ibn Hubal's 'Selections in Medicine' Book, 12th Century, Ibn-Al-Nafis' ' Art of Medicine' Book, 13th Century and Samarqandi's ' Food and Drink for Healthy People,' Book, 13th Century had chapters, advising people to abstain from excessive meat-eating. Al-Razi himself was a vegetarian.

Most of the Persian mystics were vegans. Rabia Basri never had meat. Hakim Sanai, Jami and Nizami were known vegetarians who never tried flesh. Amir Khusro turned vegetarian after the age of 27. Rumi relinquished meat-eating when his friend and spiritual instructor Shams Tabrizi sent a couplet to him, urging Rumi to give up meat. My Arabic professor and mentor Dr Zaifa Ashraf never ate meat and eggs, though she was an ex-Muslim who left Islam and all man-made faiths at the age of seventeen. Point is, food is purely a matter of  (personal) choice. Vegetarians have no moral right to condescend, condemn and criticize Muslims for being non-vegetarians and vice versa. There's no need to be judgemental. That much dietary maturity we all ought to have. Types of food were never a religious issue in the past. It has become a bone (pun intended) of contention only recently. Let people eat whatever they want and on whichever day they deem it fit (to eat). Lastly, most of my non-Muslim friends are hardcore non-vegetarians and despite being a vegetarian, I love to eat with them sans a skerrick of prejudice. 

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An occasional columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.


URL:    https://newageislam.com/islamic-culture/vegetarianism-persian-mystics/d/126829


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