Shiite haram = Sunni halal

From the TaNaKh, Leviticus Chapter 11:

11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.

4 There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5 The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

Thus orthodox Jews don't eat certain animals, and for our discussion today, specifically the camel and pig.

Islam shares many similar beliefs with Judaism, among them belief in one god, same angels, same prophets (Yehoshua ben Yosef /Isa and Mohamad being the exceptions)*, circumcision and also dietary observance, to wit, what is kosher (halal) and what is not (haram).

* To Jews, Yehoshua or more commonly Yeshua was a Judean heretic whilst to Muslims, he was a prophet. To Christians, he was the son of god.

To Muslims, Mohamad was god's last prophet, but Judaism and Christianity don't recognize him at all

Orthodox* Jews and Muslims don't eat pork but when it comes to camel, they differ.

* non-orthodox Jews eat anything and everything

Pig is an animal which has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud. Thus it fulfils only one of the two requirements for a 'clean' animal and must not be eaten.

In these respects, the camel is the exact opposite - though it chews the cud, it does not have a divided hoof. Thus it too fulfils only one of the two requirements for a 'clean' animal and must not be eaten.

Jews and Shiite Muslims don't eat both the pig and camel.

But interestingly, Sunni Muslims do eat the camel.

halal 

haram 

Indeed I've read of camels, gifts from this or that minister, being slaughtered and distributed to Muslims during an Islamic religious event or festival.

Why is there this difference between Jews-Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims? I haven't the faintest.

As for pigs, In a delightful book titled In the Devil’s Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food Stewart Lee Allen the author informed us that:

Historians fancy the notion that Jewish pig phobia stems from their stint as slaves in Egypt during the time when the cult of the god Seth held pigs to be exalted beasts.

This may also explain the curious reports that certain Jewish cults used to have secret pork feasts once a year.

According to scholar Frederick Simoons, when Seth was overthrown, his beloved spareribs became taboo for Egyptians, save for a yearly feast held at the full moon, a habit some Jews might have picked up.

Seth 

Why the full moon? Because the original sacred animal was not the pig, but the similar-looking hippo, which according to ancient Egyptian belief, lived on the Moon. Hippos live on the Moon? Well, yes; the idea is that while some Pharaoh was meditating on the full moon reflected on the Nile, a hippo emerged from the reflection ...

mistaken for a pig, or pig was mistaken for a hippo 

Regrettably in Malaysia the authorities have gone to extreme or silly extent to mask or/and hide images of pigs.

The latest attempt has been the moronic erasure of a movie character called Zhu Bajie (Too Pak Kwai in Penang Hokkien) from the movie posters and billboards.

The movie is 'Journey to the West - Tee Monkey King 2', a Chinese language movie which only would appeal to Chinese audience. Yet the image of Zhu Bajie has been deemed persona non grata or offensive, so it was erased.

For more, read my post Malaysian bull about a pig but not a horse.

Zhu Bajie (Piggy) on right

image removed by local distributor 

Also, in January 2014 we had the Malaysian version of the International New York Times showing pig faces in a photo being blacked out - see Malaysian Printer Blacks Out Faces Of Pigs On The Cover Of The New York Times.

We then had thought that was the most moronic censuring by Malaysia but now we have the same stupid extremity again. It's so pathetically childish and in my opinion, insulting to the great religion of Islam.

You know, I've been informed that while Jews might not partake of pork, they are allowed to carry pigskin wallet/handbag and wear pigskin shoes.

original photo in International NYT 

Malaysian edition

pigs' faces all blanked out 

As one of my readers Unknown posed: What about Chinese New Year in 2019?

Maybe we can substitute the pig with a hippo, or perhaps even a camel, wakakaka.

Happy Chinese Hippo New Year?

Happy Chinese Camel New Year?