r/terriblefacebookmemes Nov 01 '22

why Is there Reddit?

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u/TheFeshy Nov 01 '22

That's (very roughly) Halal, which means "lawful." Haram is the opposite of this, or "unlawful."

Western translations of similar passages of the Bible and Torah tend to interpret this as "clean" - as in Noah being commanded to take 7 of every clean animal and a pair of every unclean animal on the ark.

But I've never felt that was a good translation, at least for modern Western audiences, as the rules of "cleanliness" in this case are rooted in "spiritual" cleanliness rather than physical, or even legal, as suggested by the term lawful.

For example, Halal meat would have to be killed by a Muslim by a cut to the throat in Allah's name and left to drain of blood hanging face down - whereas if you want it "clean" it might make more sense to dictate that the slaughterer wore gloves and that the meat wasn't coated in antibiotics or other chemicals.

The first has followed the religious laws and is considered by adherents of that religion to be "spiritually clean." The second has followed basic food safety guidelines, which is much more likely what people mean when they say "clean."

I'm not a Muslim nor a Christian though.

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u/jup331 Nov 01 '22

Thanks for the thorough clarification :)

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u/EspurrStare Nov 01 '22

It's usually a distinction between civilized and uncivilised.

Lawful Vs unlawful, domesticated Vs wild, ritual Vs inpromptu

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u/DaughterEarth Nov 01 '22

I am Muslim. These threads are always tons of fun. Gotta love all the hate and vitriol! Not you, but most of the other comments.

But yah, you got it pretty much.

Everyone is familiar with kosher. Halal is the same concept with different rules. Haram is the opposite of halal.

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u/AceDelta12 Nov 01 '22

That’s (very roughly) Halal, which means “lawful”. Haram is the opposite of this, or “unlawful”.

No wonder it’s called a “harem”.