Morocco - What is HARAM

One word that we Europeans inevitably encounter again and again when we come into contact with the Islamic world is: HARAM.

Haram stands for a taboo. Something bad/evil. A sin. And haram is many behaviors practiced quite normally by us in the West. The most well known is probably drinking alcohol. But what I have learned is that all substances are haram that can alter one's state of mind, are addictive and dangerous. And such a ban actually makes sense. We know what alcohol and drugs can do. In itself, I don't think the taboo here is bad at all. The Muslims who abide by it certainly fare better. Besides, they are mostly hotheads. Who knows - maybe their society would then consist only of "murder and manslaughter"? At least there are fewer alcoholics than here. However, opinions differ on the famous hashish pipe. Perhaps because a normal consumption calms down? The hemp plant is actually an ancient medicinal plant? It can relieve pain? It is at least a gray area in the world of the Haram.

Let's move on to pork. Pigs are simply considered unclean. To my knowledge, pigs are the only mammals we eat that would also eat "us" - that is, they are omnivores. Or scavengers. So in a sense, they really are unclean. I don't know that we eat any scavengers otherwise - except in emergency situations. And that herbivores are healthier, I think is obvious. And if we once again interfere with the laws of nature, as in the case of feeding cows - when we came up with the idea of feeding animal meal to herbivores - such unhealthy effects as BSE and Kreuzfeld-Jakob disease, which were caused by dead sheep infected with the scrapie pathogen, will result. Personally, I have also turned away from pork. However, not because I don't like it - as Germans, pork is something we are born with - at least in my generation - but because I generally dislike undignified factory farming and don't want to support with my consumption the fact that animals continue to be seen as a production or industrial factor. And since I now prefer lamb and beef anyway and can get them more easily from organic farmers, it is not difficult for me to do without them.  Another aspect is added: pork spoils fastest in heat. And it is hot - at least in most Islamic countries.

Besides, credits are haram. That really surprised me. And I find it exciting. After all, debt makes you very unfree. You quickly come under pressure and can certainly become ill as a result.