By Amar Prakash
I have always found the concept of Halal very mystifying. Recently there has been much comment about the subject, especially the controversy over comments made by Inder Singh Ghagga that stated that Guru Nanak may have eaten Halal. With this in mind, I wanted to really look at what Halal is and what the Gurus said about.
According to the Rehit, one of the transgressions of a Sikh is to not eat the meat of an animal slaughtered in the Muslim way.I believe that we have confused how an animal is killed and what Halal really is. It is a moot point that there is no humane way to kill an animal. If you believe that it is unacceptable to eat a chicken that has had its throat slit and bled to death but somehow find it acceptable to eat a chicken that has died by having an electrode shoved up its rectum and electrocuted, you are totally missing the point.
What really makes something Halal is not the method of killing but the fact that some ritual or prayer has somehow made the food sanctified or purified in order to make it acceptable and thus every thing else as unacceptable. There should not be any food that is acceptable or unacceptable to a Sikh because Sikhs have no such rituals.
With this said, I find that the group that is most upset about the comments about Guru Nanak eating Halal, the Akhand Kirtini Jatha, has a diet that is almost a text book example of the above definition of Halal.
Let's take a look at what the Gurus had to say about Halal.
"Let what is earned righteously be your blessed food." Guru Arjan page 1084
To Guru Arjan, the only thing that would make a food not blessed would be to earn it non righteously.
In fact, the aim of a Sikh is to become Halal and be purified by the knife in order to be “attached to the Lord.”
"First Mehl: The knife is Truth, and its steel is totally True. Its workmanship is incomparably beautiful. It is sharpened on the grindstone of the Shabad. It is placed in the scabbard of virtue. If the Shaykh is killed with that, then the blood of greed will spill out. One who is slaughtered in this ritualistic way, will be attached to the Lord. O Nanak, at the Lord's door, he is absorbed into His Blessed Vision. 2 "Guru Nanak page 956
The only thing that a Sikh should consider as Halal is a Liberated One.
"FIRST MEHL: The fools argue about flesh and meat, but they know nothing about meditation and spiritual wisdom. What is called meat, and what is called green vegetables? What leads to sin?" Guru Nanak page 1289
What I believe the Guru is saying is that food is food and it is foolish to argue about what we should eat. How can there be a sin committed when all we are doing is eating to survive. Then how can a sin be committed if the meat is Halal or not. It is in the mind of the individual if it is Halal or not. I choose to see nothing as Halal and I believe Guru Nanak would have also. I believe that if the food that was served to Guru Nanak was Halal, the food that he ate was not. Eating has nothing to do with spiritual attainment and neither is the manner that it is prepared.
Later he writes:
“Those who renounce meat, and hold their noses when sitting near it, devour men at night. They practice hypocrisy, and make a show before other people, but they do not understand anything about meditation or spiritual wisdom. O Nanak, what can be said to the blind people? They cannot answer, or even understand what is said. They alone are blind, who act blindly. They have no eyes in their hearts. They are produced from the blood of their mothers and fathers, but they do not eat fish or meat.” Guru Nanak page 1289
Here the Guru is saying that vegetarians who look down their noses at people who eat meat are also fools. I remember a conversation I had with a woman from 3HO. I mentioned that someone who we both knew ate meat. Her reply was: 'Then how can he be an Amritdhari Sikh?' This is exactly what Guruji condemns in the above.
