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Is Eating Pork a Sin?

04 June, 2020
Q I am a Muslim male living in Canada. One day I went out to dinner with my friends and they encouraged me to eat pork. They said Allah created all creatures and He created the pig. Pigs no longer eat filthy garbage and are properly fed. So, I ate pork. Have I sinned? Is it haram (prohibited)? Please help me.

Answer

Sheikh Ahmad Kutty
04 June, 2020

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

Eating pork under the influence of your friends is a sin. Therefore, you must ask forgiveness of Allah and never do the same again.

In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

Allah orders us in the Quran not to consume the flesh of swine. {Forbidden to you (for food) are carrion, blood, swine flesh, and that which has been dedicated to any other than Allah; that which has been strangled; that which has been beaten to death (by a blunt instrument); that which fell (a long fall); that which was gored by horns; that of which predators have eaten—saving that which you make lawful (by slaughtering before they die); and which has been sacrificed to idols.} (Al-Maidah 5:3)

While forbidding us to eat the flesh of swine, Allah says it is filthy, and since Allah in His wisdom has declared the flesh of swine filthy, and therefore unfit for human consumption, we must shun it.

For Allah forbids only that which is impure and unwholesome. He says concerning the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), {He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them what is foul (and, therefore, unwholesome).} (Al-Araf 6:157)

There is enough scientific evidence to show that the flesh of swine is not at all that good for human consumption.

So, what you have done under the influence of your friends is a sin. Therefore, you must ask forgiveness of Allah and never do the same again.

As a Muslim, it is important for you to stand up for your principles. If you are too weak to do so, you had better get some other friends. A true friend is one who does not trick you into doing something that is against your own moral conscience. Remember: Our loyalty to Allah comes first!

? Read Also: What Is the Reasoning for the Prohibition of Pork?

Almighty Allah knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.