Kosher, Halal and Sleepovers

I learned an Islamic saying the other day. “Kol 3nd yahodi w nam 3nd mase7e.”  Meaning: “eat with the Jews, and sleep/rest with Christians.”  Now, trying to explain the various interpretations of a saying like this is a bit dangerous, but it was making me think. J

First of all, the beginning of the saying refers to the rules governing eating for both Jews and Muslims.  Jews of course are prescribed to eat kosher. Kosher food has a number of detailed rules.  The basics are not eating properly slaughtered meat (slaughtered according to Jewish law, draining the blood), not eating pork, and not mixing meat and milk products together.  Kosher also prohibits eating insects, so fruits and vegetables have to be cleaned thoroughly to make sure you don’t eat an ant or two. ;) There are a number of other more detailed instructions on eating kosher – those are just the basics.

Muslims also have rules governing the intake of food/drink. Halal (meaning lawful), the opposite of haraam (unlawful) actually refers to all behavior in life that is considered lawful under Allah. For Muslims, eating halal means not eating pork or blood, therefore meat should be slaughtered in order to drain the blood.  Like Jews, Muslims are also prohibited from eating meat which is not slaughtered, meaning meat from an animal that died from natural causes in not allowed. Muslims are also forbidden to drink alcohol (according to the Quran, which says: (very rough paraphrasing) Muslims should not drink even a small amount of something, which could make one drunk)).

So, back to the saying. Muslims, recognizing the similarity of kosher and halal laws governing food, say it is good for them to ‘eat with the Jews.’  In fact, many Muslims in the United States eat at kosher restaurants or buy from kosher grocery stores, because in general, if something is kosher, it will also be halal.  

As for the second part of the saying, I am told by some Muslims friends that Muslims consider Christians to be ‘closer’ friends to them than the Jews – as a historical view.  They are told to ‘sleep/rest with the Christians’ because they can trust them.  This view is due to many factors, but one is the stories of two early Christians who met and knew the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).  The Prophet, when he was still around 12 years old, met a Christian monk named Bahira in the desert, who foretold that he would become a Prophet from God.  Later, after the Prophet received his first revelation from Allah, he was encouraged to believe and accept the revelations by a Christian scholar named Waraqa ibn Nawfal. Both of these recorded incidents are taught in Islam as examples of Christians as friends to Muslims.

One of the things I like about Islam is its recognition of the things that join the three religions. As it was the last religion to emerge, it does have the benefit of hindsight. However, Islam has historically been a tolerant religion, allowing Jews and Christians to live among Islamic communities in peace.  I find this Islamic saying fascinating in its simplicity. It makes me smile, imagining two Jewish and Muslim housewives cooking away in the kitchen together. Or imagining some Christian kids from Minnesota camping with some Egyptian Muslim kids, maybe making s’mores and swatting mosquitoes. J For those of us Christians, we should probably steer clear of cooking a big meal for our Jewish and Muslim friends. But maybe we could invite them all over for a sleepover instead. J