The Old and New/Contemporary standards of the Legality Hillat-o-Hurmat of Food Items in Islamic Sharia

  • Muneer Ahmed Chief Editor

Abstract

In Islamic Shariah, generally, simplicity in halal foods is appreciated
and recommended and overeating, eating non-hygienic and harmful food is
not appreciated. The prophet May peace be upon him has set a standard and
criteria even in the quantity and manner of making and eating a food item by
setting an example through his Seerah and narration Hadith for the humanity;
and till the day of judgement, it will remain a standard. In order to know about
the Islamic rulings about the Halal and Haram food, the Sunnah of the
prophet May peace be upon him is mandatory; and in the light of his life and
commandments the old and new contemporary standards of Hillat-o-Hurmat
being halal or haram of a food item can be derived. Maintaining the specificity
of the traditional old foods and the modern day technologically manufactured
foods, as being approved or disapproved, in the light of The Quran and
Sunnah is a bit difficult task; for example, modern day chocolates and gelatinoriented food products with different chemicals and emulsifying agents need to
be judged according to the injunctions of the Islamic Sharia. The main
purpose and objective of the current research is to find out the Islamic
standards/universals about the food items as for as their Hillat-o-Hurmat is
concerned; in other words what are the Islamic standards about a particular
food item as defined in Sharia and how the eating habits can be changed in the
light of the Islamic rulings. The research will also discuss those standards
that make it easy to differentiate between the legal and illegal food in an
Islamic perspective. The study concludes with the basic premise that the
answer of all the above questions is in simple food and simple living, as it is
evident through the life of the prophet May peace be upon him.

Published
2020-02-01