At-Ta'am
according to philology refers to all that is eaten and taken
as nourishment. But it is said that it is used to wheat and
other such grains only. Lisanu ?l-Arab
says: "When the people of Hijaz use the word
at-ta'am without any restriction or association,
they mean wheat exclusively." He further says: "Al-Khalil has
said, ?In high Arab language at-ta'am is wheat in
particular." The same meaning has been given by Ibnu ?l-Athir
in an-Nihayah. It is for this reason
that in most of ahadith narrated from the Imams of Ahlu ?l Bayt (a.s.)
it has been declared that
at-ta'am in this verse means wheat and other
grains, although a few traditions give another meaning; and we shall
talk about it under "Traditions".
In order
to have a clear understanding of this issue, it is extremely
important that we first define the two words in question.
In Arabic,
halal means "that which is allowed, permitted or
permissible." Thus, "halal meat" is meat that is
considered permissible in Islam.
The term
zabiha comes from the Arabic root zahaba, which means
"to kill (by slitting the throat); to slaughter, butcher, to
murder, slay; to sacrifice."
Being
a witness to what is happening to the Muslim Ummah in the world today,
and having thought about it a great deal and consulted several Ulema, I
thought I would write this piece to share some thoughts with you about
the adversity that we Muslims are facing all over the world; its causes
and cure. It is but natural to wonder why Muslims are the victims of
persecution everywhere in the world today. Be it in Gujarat and
elsewhere in India, in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, it is
the Muslims who seem to be at the receiving end of all kinds of
horrendous persecution. The world is a silent witness when it comes to
Muslims being murdered in their thousands, with very few people coming
to their aid or to help the affected ones who survive the massacres.
All their prayers seem unanswered and it is almost as if they have been
abandoned by their Lord and left to become the victims of anyone who
cares to oppress them.
