What is Halal?

Bismillah Al Rahman Al Raheem

(In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful) 

What does halal  food mean anyways?

In general the term halal  is translated from Arabic to include all that is permissible under Islamic law. Therefore halal food is simply all food that is permissible for us to consume.

"O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you, and render thanks to Allah if it is (indeed) He whom ye worship"

Al Quran 2-172 

You can read the complete definition of .halal food here.

Muslims and Non-Muslims alike, we all can benefit from eating halal food and this is why I created halalicious. 

But many of us, including myself, have a hard time distinguishing from what is halal to that which is haram (forbidden) especially while living in Non-Muslim countries such as the US. I am not going to go into all the details here but sadly haram food products are consumed unknowingly by Muslims every day.

Many of my closest friends and loved ones have chosen a vegan and/or vegetarian lifestyle to stay away from consuming meat that has been treated inhumanely and slaughtered in oh so horrible methods. In Islam it is forbidden to treat animals inhumanely. In order for meat to be considered officially halal it must be raised in a friendly manner and slaughtered in a way that is least painful for the animal.

Our Prophet Mohamed, (SAWS) has said,

“Fear God in regards to these animals who can not speak their will.  If you ride them, treat them accordingly (by making them strong and fit for that), and if you [plan to] eat them, treat them accordingly (by making them fat and healthy).”

(Reported byAbu Dawud)

Read this article about how Islam supports animal rights.

 Take for example that yummy apple pie at your local market, did you know it might just have lard (pork fat) in its ingredients? Or your favorite movie night snack such as Skittles or Starburst may have gelatin in it derived from animals such as pigs? There are much more examples that are much less obvious than these that will change your diet , hopefully for the better.

But it is our responsibility to read the labels and do our own research. There have been many sites created to help us with figuring out what is halal for us to eat such as here and here and oh here too ( just to give a few). 

I am learning new things everyday and I want to share them with you. Going grocery shopping might seem like a chore for now on but it is worth it in the long run, trust me. In order to maintain a healthy as well as halal lifestyle the best way to start is introducing more fresh ingredients and raw foods into our cooking. The less processed foods we depend on, the better. In this blog I hope to use this philosophy and introduce new views on what is halalicious  food.

  I ask Allah (SWT) to guide me in my effort to consume only halal products and maintain a halal lifestyle for my family and share my findings with you. May halalicious  benefit all of those who read it Insha’Allah (God-willing) and may we all be guided to the straight path. Ameen.