I’ve heard stories, possibly apocryphal, about Israelis putting pork fat on their bullets so their muslim enemies will go straight to hell, do not pass go, etc. I dated a muslim chick, an Italian American princess who switched for her ex-husband but drank like a fish but never touched pork anymore, and she went off on helal and why pork is bad in Islam. Plus from prior threads from searching I’ve noticed most muslims consider pork to be bad. On par with murder, rape, etc.
Is that the case? A muslim can’t resist the delicious smell of a hickory smoked kielbasa and decides to have a bite, is he condemned for all eternity with the 9-11 hijackers, murderers and Hitler?
Or is eating pork akin to masturbation where it’s frowned upon but at worst you’ll spend a few minutes in Purgatory?
I have heard this same basic idea before, except it was General Pershing in the version I heard.
Checking this out on my favorite urban legend debunking site www.snopes.com (where I lifted the quote from), I found that the idea of discouraging Muslim extremists in this way has in fact had currency in the Israeli press as early as the 30’s and perhaps earlier.
What it boils down to is this:
- this is an old idea
- assuming all terrorists are muslims and all muslims loathe pigs is an oversimplification of a widely varied religion. it is like saying americans will burn in hell if they eat meat on friday. not all americans are christians, much less catholics, much less strict catholics.
- it’s so crazy it just might work (note: this does not necessarily make it right.)
Um… ain’t there a difference between “succumbing to temptation and eating a slice of bacon” and “being shot several times, very much against your will, with pork-greased bullets, and then buried with a pig carcass?”
I’d like to think that any sane deity could tell the difference. At least, I wouldn’t much wanna worship one that couldn’t.
When talking about masturbation are you talking about relating eating pork to masturbation in the Bible? I don’t think there is a restriction to masturbation in the Koran. . AFAIK, the Koran says that all Muslims will go to hell to pay for sins (no details on how long or which are worse) made while alive and Christians believe (most anyway) that you will be forgiven for your sins (except you can’t have blasphemed against the Holy Ghost - unforgivable!) if you accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour.
I think the original germ of this story goes back to the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 in India. Native soldiers revolted because of a variety of grievances. However, the trigger was that the new Enfield rifles issued to the native levies uses paper cartridges (which had to be bitten open) that had been greased with animal fat, apparently a combination of pork and beef fat, thereby managing, at one go, to deeply offend the entire population of India.
G’day
I shared my house for some time with a Muslim couple from Indonesia. Early in their stay, I noticed that they were rather keen on frankfurter sausages.
So I asked “Don’t those frankfurts have pork in them?”
The husband said “Yes. What’s the problem?”
I said “I thought Muslims were forbidden to eat pork.”
“By whom?” he said. (Actually, he said “By who?”, but I’m taking artistic licence.)
“I thought it was in the Q’uran” I said.
He checked. They stopped eating frankfurters. I always feel bad about that-- “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.”
Regards,
Agback
From your link
The operative word here is belief. The British always maintained that the fat was from vegetable sources.
Hmm. I’m finding conflicting information on whether animal fat was actually used. Rather than hijack this thread further, I have started a new thread on the subject: Sepoy Mutiny question: Were the cartridges really greased with animal fat?
Agback
Muslim couple … keen on frankfurter sausages.
Such restrictions may be less strong than we think. Reminds me of a similar situation, the views of Judaism on pork: as the author of this page noticed on a Holy Land trip, it’s widely eaten in Israel as ‘white beef’.
Pork is forbidden because it is considered unclean. It is permissible to eat pork, or anything else forbidden in the case of hunger or ignorance. Being shot, (against ones will, I hope) with porkfat greased cartriges would have no effect on the afterlife. Neither would pig entrails being dumped on your body in the grave. This is not to say that muslims wouldn’t be horrified and try to avoid such a situation.
Alcohol wasn’t completely forbidden during the early days of Muhammad’s ministry. It is forbidden because of the effects it has in fogging the mind and loosening inhibitions, perhaps leading one to do things that are worse or harmful.
martin - are pig products also banned? eg pigskin leather?
I recall that the Hadith on the subject says not to eat or touch any part of the pig.
Pretty sure, anyway.
I do know a lot of turkish muslims who run pizza joints and serve pork. I think there was a fatwa permitting muslims in non-muslim countries to cook and serve pork to non-muslims. Not all follow that, though.
Martin
So much for Muslim football players!!!
huh? What do you mean? Israel was founded in 1948.
From the linked site:
This sounds more like a joke to me, particularly the last two sentences… can anyone confirm this?
A Google search on [pork Israel “white meat”] finds much more - such as this Middle East Times article - confirming that pork is widely available, but a highly contentious issue between secular and Orthodox factions.