Critical Review —

You can prepare one critical review of published literature during the semester. The purpose of the review is to give you experience in reading, evaluating, and incorporating technical literature into your knowledge base. Although you must prepare a summary of the material read, emphasis must be placed on your evaluation of the literature:

1. How the information aligns with what you already know.

2. How the new information impacts your outlook.

3. The significance of the information to your knowledge base.

Also include in the review why you selected the particular article. Identify the article reviewed using a consistent citation format.

If you choose not to use an article that Dr. J has sent you; then the article must have been written between 2010-present and approved by Dr. J.

Your review should be 2-3 pages of 12-pt double-spaced text with 1″-margins. You must submit a hardcopy of the review by the due date indicated below. As this assignment gives you an opportunity to generate some extra credit, late submissions will not be accepted.

Due Date: Thursday, April 19, 2018 at the beginning of class. Late submissions or email attachments will not be accepted. You may turn your review in anytime before the due date.

Also, to help those students who do not know what is expected in the paper I have attached a copy of the paper that was turned in along with the grade. If anyone turns in the same Critical Review as the attached sample, they will get ZERO points for the assignment. Plagiarism under any circumstances is not permitted. If you are still having troubles come by my office or Dr. J’s office and we will help you.

HN&F 101

Professor salmes

10/1/14

Critical Review

Chaudry, M.M. (2011) Islamic food laws: philosophical basis and practical implications.

Food Technol. 46:92-93.

I chose this article because religion has always interested me in how it governs so much of what people do in their lives, like eating. Given recent developments the article on Islamic food laws seemed like a good place to start my first critical review. Before I read this article I new nothing on Islamic food laws. The only religious food laws I have ever looked at previously was the Jewish food laws. I figured they would share some similarities since they both developed in the same region.

The article starts of by saying that Islam is a religion that governs all aspects of their lives. The basic food laws are found in the Quran (the holy book of Islam) and the Hadith (the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad). With 1.3 billion people practicing Islam and that population growing the food industry needs to become aware of the needs of these people.

In the article, Chaudry gives eleven generally accepted principles regarding what is permitted and prohibited in Islam.

1. The basic principle is that all things created by God are permitted, with a few exceptions that are specifically prohibited.
2. To make lawful and unlawful is the right of God alone.
3. Prohibiting what is permitted and permitting what is prohibited is similar to ascribing partners to God.
4. The basic reasons for the prohibition of things are due to impurity and harmfulness.
5. What is permitted is sufficient, and what is prohibited is then superfluous.
6. Whatever is conductive to the “prohibited” is in itself prohibited.
7. Falsely representing unlawful as lawful is prohibited.
8. Good intentions do not make the unlawful acceptable.
9. Doubtful things should be avoided.
10. Unlawful things are prohibited to everyone alike.
11. Necessity dictates exceptions.

The article then quotes some passages from the Quran that tells Muslims what not to eat. The following list is what is prohibited:

• Carrion or dead animals.
• Flowing or congealed blood.
• Swine, including all by-products.
• Animals slaughtered without pronouncing the name of Allah on them.
• Animals killed in a manner which prevents their blood from being drained from their bodies.
• Animals slaughtered while pronouncing a name other than Allah.
• Intoxicants of all types, including alcohol and drugs.
• Carnivorous animals with fangs.
• Birds of prey.
• Land animals without ears.

The reasons behind some of these are carrion and dead animals are unfit for human consumption because the decaying process leads to formation of chemicals which are harmful to humans. Blood that is drained from the body contains harmful bacteria, products of metabolism, and toxins. Swine serves as a factor for pathogenic worms to enter the body. Fatty acid composition of pork fat has been mentioned as incompatible with the human fat and biochemical systems. Intoxicants are considered harmful for the nervous system, affecting the senses and human judgment, leading to social and family problems and in many cases death. But, the most important reason is because the prohibitions are a Divine order of God.

Prohibited and Lawful foods can be grouped into the following categories: The Animal Kingdom, The Plant Kingdom, The Mineral Kingdom, and Biotechnologically Produced Products. The animal kingdom is mentioned above. In the plant kingdom all plants and their products are permitted except when fermented to make alcohol or when containing intoxicants or ingredients otherwise harmful to humans. In the mineral kingdom safe substances derived from mineral or petroleum sources are permitted except those that pose a health hazard. Biotechnologically produced products have started to raise questions on the permissibility of foods produced using these techniques. Such issues are being reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Muslim scholars.

The article was very informative. One of the prohibited things in there I thought might be in there was pork. Most of the rules for permissibility seem sound even in to a nonreligious person. I had no idea that slaughtered animals had to have the name of Allah on them in order to be lawful. This article makes me wonder how Muslims in the United States eat. Most things in the United States are done in a nonreligious manner. This article leaves me wondering is their a real profitable market in the United States for being considerate to the food needs of different religions.

The grade on this paper was 85%. I summarized the article I did not evaluate, hence the low grade.