In Halal regulations, the very first rule is the prohibition of pork, the same as the prohibition of pork in Jewish Kosher law, regarded as the primary issue of kosher/Halal certification. Tracing back more than five thousand years and surveying various cultures, why have humans so generally disliked and forbidden pigs? This article discusses it from the following aspects:

1. The pig is ugly and strange in appearance, and greedy and dull by nature. The languages of all peoples of the world, when describing a person as ugly, slovenly, or stupid, invariably use the pig as a metaphor.

2. The pig loves filth. Its living area is filthy, and the feed it eats is also filthy, hardly comparable to herbivorous animals.

3. The pig is vicious and erratic by nature. As the saying goes, "even a fierce tiger does not eat its cubs", but once a pig is extremely hungry, it will eat even the piglets it bore. Generally, animals - even small birds - will form some kind of bond with the person who raises them, and stories of loyal dogs saving their masters and other animals helping humans are widely known; yet a pig sometimes even gnaws to death and eats the infant of the person who raises it, its nature surpassing even that of tigers and wolves.

4. Incestuous mating. Once a young pig reaches estrus, some will mate with the mother (or father) pig that bore them, breeding offspring with no distinction of generation or seniority - something rarely seen even among ordinary animals.

In fact, for Muslims, not only do they not raise pigs or eat their meat, they also seek in their habits to eliminate filth, dirtiness, greed, slovenliness, stupidity, and other bad habits possessed by the pig and animals similar to it. Bad habits like the above are all condemned, and other civilizations likewise spurn them; not eating it also means staying away from the bad habits it possesses. This is also why Muslims likewise do not eat fierce birds and beasts and other strange, greedy, cruel animals. The standard for what Muslims may eat is "wholesome and good" - as the saying goes, the "handsome in appearance, gentle in nature, and clean" may be eaten, while the "strange in appearance, vicious in nature, and filthy" may not.

FAQ

Why do both Halal and Kosher law list the prohibition of pork as the primary issue?
The prohibition of pork is the shared primary clause of both Halal law and Kosher law, regarded as the primary issue of kosher/Halal certification. For Muslims, not only do they not raise pigs or eat their meat, they also seek to eliminate bad habits such as filth and greed. The standard for whether something may be eaten in the Halal diet is "wholesome and good" - those "handsome in appearance, gentle in nature, and clean" may be eaten, while those "strange in appearance, vicious in nature, and filthy" may not - so fierce birds and beasts are likewise forbidden.