But I had a friend with me who only ate vegetarian food because he said even cows are not 7alal because they are not slaughtered properly. I always thought that you can just eat it and bless it with the name of God or something, but he said no it's 7aram. He got to such an extreme that he wouldn't even eat fries because he thought they were fried in containers that once contained lard.

Well, i am currently living in the UK with my husband (a convert to Islam). We only eat halal meat or products suitable for vegetarians (and alcohol free) or suitable for a kosher diet. Nowadays, it is much easier, i face no problem in finding halal food. Everything is marked on the shelves of any quality supermarket. I do not believe that we are in any way 'extreme' in not eating from food chains where there may be doubt that even the fries are cooked in lard. Mcdonalds in the UK were actually in the news not so long ago as they claimed certain food items were vegetarian (if i recall correctly the bread and fries) when in actual fact they were not! Now that is scary!
It is our duty as Muslims to eat only halal. In a society such as ours, there is no excuse nowadays.

Based on my knowledge, Somalians, Lebanese, Syrians, Moroccans, Tunisians and Iraqis are very active in this business, in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

Also,
Due to the high percentage of Muslims in Canada, even Mc Donalds and Pizza Pizza chains have signs stating that the beef/chicken is HALAL.

Wether it is only a propaganda or else ...Allahu A'alam. But most of the franchises that carry that sign are owned or in partnership with/ by Muslims.

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Originally posted by kimo_the_maniac:
But I had a friend with me who only ate vegetarian food because he said even cows are not 7alal because they are not slaughtered properly.
...
He got to such an extreme that he wouldn't even eat fries because he thought they were fried in containers that once contained lard.

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I'm not a Muslim, Kimo, but I do avoid fries, soups of unknown origin and some other things too because I'm a vegetarian.

However - your friend is probably right - most of the cattle in non-muslim countries is not slaughtered in a "halal" way.

In North America there are plenty of Jewish butcheries, and from what I understand (anyone correct me if I'm wrong) the kosher meat is basically the same as halal meat and thus allowed for Muslims.

I'm originally from Germany and there is a huge Muslim population due to the Turkish immigrants. So getting halal products is not a problem at all since there are many Turkish stores, all of them carrying halal meat products.

I'm very grateful for that btw since that's where I get my chickpeas, tahina, olives etc.

If we wat out in Restaurants he always has either Fish or Vegetarian dishes but never meat as they wouldn't be killed in the halal way. You even have to be careful about some soups in restaurants which SEEM vegetarian until you find out that they have been made with meat stock.
Yogurts are a nightmare too! Particularly the thick set ones as they ALWAYS seem to have gelatine in. We only buy things with the 'V' sign for Vegetarian.

what i like about islam is that it's a personalized religion. you read the quran. some parts are very precise. others are left vague, for your own interpretation. what i don't like about it is how some people think there's only one interpretation, and it's theirs.

I'm really not sure what your point is but you are of course entitled to your own opinion and i respect that. Just voicing my opinion mate
As for your friend and his direction of prayer, perhaps he had a vague idea and used a dispensation that like that of the Maliki school of thought where he may have had a full 180 degrees tolerance. Yet, if he was following the Shafii school they have a tolerance of only 4 degrees and thus his prayer would have been invalid if he had not been facing the Qibla correctly. This is not extremism but merely following the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

And yes a rokhsah is a rokhsah (dispensation?), you can eat pork or drink wine if nothing else is available. You can eat non-halal beef if that's the only meat available. And you can make rough guesses about the Qibla by looking at the sun if you can't be precise. You can break the fast if you feel sick, etc..

Not using a rokhsa is not just being cautious it's being extremist. That's the middle way, being precise when you can and being rough when you have to. But that's only my opinion.

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Originally posted by kimo_the_maniac:

And I am pretty sure there is a clear statement that you can eat the food of "people of the book", even if it's not the only thing available. Need to look up the verse though.

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Originally posted by Farhana:
Hmm..I can't help but to find the word 'extremist' rather harsh.

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I've never had any difficulty not eating Pork or it's by-products, Halal meat is available everywhere but I do not limit my self to Halal Meat, I try to balance between Halal and Nutritious.
Eating Halal Chicken that's been drugged up and caged till it was slaughtered according to Islam is not healthy. (I also refuse to support that inhumane treatment.)

Most of the Lamb available as Halal meat in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver actually comes from Australia (I think also New Zealand)certified Halal.
Only in Calgary was I able to find Halal Butcher who actually has someone on their staff who goes to the farm to slaughter the animals.

As for "extremist", I don't like it, same as I don't like "fundamentalists" and so forth.
These terms have been Overused and Misused and I found them vague and dismissive.

1) I got 2 opinions on this before: that for me as a muslim it is ok to eat beef, if there is no way to refuse eating it e.g. without being insulting to my non-muslim family. I think everybody knows that muslims don't eat pork but they have no idea that all the other meat should be slaughtered halal. So at one of those special family meetings when there is only beef - or extra esp. beef instead of pork for my family (husband, me and the kids)! not eating is not an option, it will hurt the cooks' feelings, and convey the picture of extremism, like: oh, you don't even eat beef? how hard and strange that sounds to them. This would turn them off about Islam instantly.

2) If there is a choice of foods, it will be better not to eat from any meat, if one is not sure that it is halal.

Plus everybody has ups and downs in his level of faith, and will take his/her decisions based on that current level. The higher one's faith, the more perfect would one want to be. So depending on who you ask you'll get different replies, and all are not incorrect, just more adapted to this persons level of faith.

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Originally posted by kimo_the_maniac:

That thread on pork and bacon got me thinking (and that's a very bad sign) about Egyptians abroad. I have a little experience with travelling and food was always a problem for us. I always try to avoid pork products and extracts but it's just so hard. I remember once in a large supermarket I found that only corned beef was pork-free. Even beef sausages had pork. The only way to get around it is to eat kosher (bleagh) or search for an Islamic food stall (overpriced to the level of usury). So I just try to avoid the clear stuff and eat normally (for example I ate big macs although I am sure there is a trace of lard).

But I had a friend with me who only ate vegetarian food because he said even cows are not 7alal because they are not slaughtered properly. I always thought that you can just eat it and bless it with the name of God or something, but he said no it's 7aram. He got to such an extreme that he wouldn't even eat fries because he thought they were fried in containers that once contained lard.
Well, my question is what do you guys and gals (Muslims abroad) do. Just curious about people, not religious rulings. I would still eat beef and chicken and not feel guilty about it.

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Hi Kimo, here in Germany we have normally no problem with it. I asked at the local mosques for addresses of butchers who offers halal meat and they gave me a big list. And the meat is sometimes even cheaper than in the big supermarkets. And we have so many arabian restaurants of all kinds where you mostly find the sign "halal meat" at the entrance door. And if you do not find something like this, you can take fish. As far as I learned from the koran you will have no problems with it.