I am a.student of religious philosophies and this place provides a philoaophical space to explore and learn about the philosophical underpinnings of Islam. Thia is why I am here.

Writer of the article on "Dietary Prohibitions"

Let me begin with thanking you on a succinct account of what, according to the Quran, is lawful in terms of food to eat for a Muslim. While I understood and also agreed on most of the points, point # got me thinking.

According to the way you have understood the verse 6121, NOTHING is lawful until and unless God's name has been uttered before slaughtering the animal. In other words, chicken from Walmart or a grocery store in the US or any other Western country for instance where Muslims are a minority, will be rendered unlawful, since it is highly unlikely that the person or the machine slaughtering the chicken had uttered God's name before the act.

It is needless to say this creates a massive headache for the ones living abroad in a non-Muslim majority country to find some that is lawful, until and unless there is a "halal" grocery store or something like that. But, who said God's religion was going to be a piece of cake, right? Then again, I would argue - at least from a positive point of view, that God didn't mean to intentionally and irrationally forbid something to the ones those who have submitted to the path. Uttering god's name before eating and before slaughtering are two different things and a distinction needs to be made here in order to provide a clear guidance - the Quran is adequate and clear... so the answer should be there, almost necessarily.

But - it does seem to leave us sort of not knowing if eating or slaughtering is implied in the verse quoted... isn't it? I think it does, but when the entire context of the Quran is taken into context, where there is an heavy emphasis on using one's head, judgement, discretion, etc. are contained, it seems logical for me to think that the reference would be toward eating and not slaughtering per se. Meaning, if you are not sure if one has uttered God's name before slaughtering, then you should simply utter the name yourself before eating it (as long as it is not a pig, or blood, or a dead animal, or animal that has been sacrificed in the name of a deity other than God).

Understanding the logica behind prohibitions is important... blind "following" is not God's way, not according to the Quran, as I understand.