Is swinophobia Islamic?

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:41 pm by Svend White

Is swinophobia Islamic? 2013-05-07T18:41:42-05:00 Svend White

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Baraka got me waxing nostalgic for my Paris days when she wrote about "Of Piglets & Love Hounds".

I’ve been an enthusiastic booster of the animated film "Babe" ever since I got dragged to see it over vigorous protestations during my student days in Paris a decade ago. (I spent a year at the Sorbonne.) When I instinctively objected on religious grounds to the indecent proposal of a Muslim going to see a "pig movie", my friend, an Israeli art student, retorted that as a Jew she was no less strict about pork than me, but that didn’t necessitate her hating them. Wasn’t entirely convinced, but had little else to do, so I agreed. (For the record, my eye brow-raising friends, the situation was entirely halal/kosher. At least to the extent that two single people sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers–i.e., seeing a movie with a friend–can be in Islam, I suppose, but that’s the morally ambiguous social life of the undergrad.)

Anyway, like Paul on the road to Damascus I saw the light, and now delight in trying to get Muslims to watch that movie to shake all these Moslem hang-ups about the beleaguered beasts. Not only is it a witty, playful and gorgeous film–I bet this is what turned Peter Jackson on to New Zealand as the setting for The Lord of the Rings–but it’s emminently Islamic in its subject matter.

Yes, I said it. What’s more "Islamic" than a movie whose central message is against eating pork? If it’s okay for Muslim kids to watch all manner of superstitious cartoons–How else do mice and ducks talk, wear human clothes, and drive cars except by magic?–blurring the line between Humankind and the Animal Kingdom, what’s the big deal about a cute talking pig?

Besides, is there really anything in Islam that prescribes hatred for, much less cruelty against, pigs?

I can’t say I’ve become a fan of the squealing critters–I was, afterall, raised Muslim, and they are certainly ugly–but I do feel sorry for them sometimes. Are they any less God’s creatures?

The intensity of many Muslims’ reaction to the thought of eating pork is fascinating. I must confess that, having grown up around (and occaisonally accidentally consuming) pork in Boston, I don’t have quite so intense a psychological aversion. Baraka writes:

Non-practicing Muslims often indulge in forbidden vices one by one, but pork is usually the last taboo. [I’ve also noticed this phenomenon, as well.] Somehow our parents managed to drill it so deeply into our heads that the thought of pigs makes one’s skin crawl and we could well nigh contemplate jumping off a cliff before we would bite into bacon. I myself once opened a take-out box of chow mein only to realize it had strange pinky-brown meat in it. The mere suspicion (later confirmed) that it was pork had me running to the sink to wash my mouth out vigorouosly and nearly vomiting.

I remember a case when I was in high school at the end of the 1980s when I witnessed a Egyptian college student become so distraught and ill at the discovery that she’d eaten imitation bacon bits on her Pizza Hut salad that she hurled right on the spot.

Baraka makes a really interesting point about the ecological consequences of Muslims’ instinctive antipathy for swine:

Truth & Beauty: Of Piglets & Love Hounds

In Islamabad one occasionally sees wild boars. And since it is widely held to be incumbent upon every Muslim to kill swine wherever they are found, they are hunted down with nary a thought of preserving native species and habitats.

Wouldn’t it be a great cosmic practical joke (and lesson for the Ummah) if Pakistan’s Muslims hunted their native boars to extinction, only to discover that their species possessed, like an exotic flower in the heart of the Amazon, some wondrous medicinal power?

As for dogs, I’m a cat lover whose aurilophilia verges on idolatry, so I don’t have strong opinions there (e.g., I may see many of Khaled Abou El Fadl’s points about with the whole negis thing, but I’m not letting no dog in my house). But they shouldn’t be abused or neglected, of course.

Previous Post

February 24, 2006

Mozaffar on "What is a Moderate Muslim?"

Next Post

February 28, 2006 Cat's still got my tongue

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American Politics Animals in Islam Anti-Semitism Christian Jihadism Christianity Culture & the Arts Current Affairs Denmark Dogs in Islam Family life Film Gender Great MP3s Hate in America Imam W.D. Mohammed Interfaith Dialogue International Affairs Islam and the Left Islamic Thought Islamophobia Jihad Judaism Legos Link of the Day Marriage Misc Modernity/Post-Modernity Mormonism Multiculturalism Music Muslims in the Melting Pot Must-Listen Podcasts Non-Muslims and Islam Pakistan Pictures Pigs in Islam Polygamy Pork Progressive Muslims Race Relations Really Important Stuff Religion Required Reading Robert Spencer Scandinavia Science Science Fiction Sex in Islam So-called Globalization South Asia Star Trek Strange but True Studying Arabic Stupid Muslim Tricks Sufism/Tasawwuf Television The "Miami 7" hoopla The Corporate Media The Danish cartoons The GWOT The Jihad against Islam The Middle East Vikings! Wahhabism/Salafism Washington and the Middle East Web/Tech Women in Islam

Select a Month March 2014 February 2014 November 2013 September 2013 July 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the distinctive cup used in receiving communion in many traditions?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bowl Chalice Plate Jug