By Rohaizad Hassan, The Halal Industry Quest

It seems that these day vegan campaigners took their quest more than meal preference and believed everyone should join their camp. But for a Muslim, it is more than just a fancy look to be vegan and as if this is a trendy thing to do these days. They foster the idea that Veganism ideology based on the support on the cruelty of man against animal or animal prone to have diseases compare to plant.

PETA protestors  

As for Muslim, Allah, God Al-Mighty reminded every Muslim to understand the knowledge behind Islamic slaughtering and the goodness of meat behind it. He reminded in Quran – ‘The Cattle Verses No. 6’, Ayah 119 :

“And why should you not eat of that upon which the name of Allah has been mentioned while He has explained in detail to you what He has forbidden you, excepting that to which you are compelled. And indeed do many lead [others] astray through their [own] inclinations without knowledge. Indeed, your Lord – He is most knowing of the transgressors.”

For the sake of knowledge, Muslims who still think Islamic slaughtering is cruel or the Halal meat is not healthy; please read why Halal slaughtering is humane.

So why meat is so important in our lives:

1. Nutrients

An essential amino acid or indispensable amino acid, which can only obtain from meat is an amino acid that cannot be synthesised de novo (from scratch) by the organism, and thus must be supplied in its diet. The nine amino acids humans cannot synthesise phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and histidine.

Amino Acid (Protein) Deficiency Signs: weak immune system, loss of antibody production, fatigue, stomach acid/alkaline imbalance, dizziness/nausea, water retention, and infertility.

Protein

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 does a lot of things for your body. It helps make your DNA and your red blood cells, for examples. Vitamin B12 naturally found in animal products, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products.

Since your body doesn’t make vitamin B12, you’ll need to get it from animal-based foods, and it needs to be consumed on a regular basis.

Causes of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Vitamin B12 deficiency can happen if you have specific conditions, such as:

• Atrophic gastritis, in which your stomach lining has thinned
• Pernicious anaemia, which makes it hard for your body to absorb vitamin B12
• Surgery that removed part of your stomach or small intestine, including weight loss surgery
• Conditions affecting the small intestine, such as Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, bacterial growth, or a parasite 
• Immune system disorders, such as Graves’ disease or lupus
• Long-term use of acid-reducing drugs. Stomach acids help break down animal proteins that have vitamin B12
• Some vegans think they can always take supplement B12 or amino acid through the fortified grain, but again, economically, is everyone able to buy all these supplements?

These are some of the examples of the type of nutrients which are essential by taking meat in our daily life.

 2. Economy

A simple economy rule of thumb, supply vs demand. Ask yourselves, should we promote vegetarian to the highest level? In Islam, balance in life is so important, and if a Muslim becomes a vegetarian eminently, we are helping the cost of meat to go up (which they are now) to the certain limit that we could not afford anymore. Think about those undeveloped countries and community that have meat as their sole dependencies of nutrient.

This scenario shall trigger issues on food security topic. In some nation, breeding an animal for self-sufficiency is much easier than growing a crop, because of the climate, ph level in the soil that makes growing crops is impossible on a huge scale. And this is why we cannot stop eating meat, the number 1 source of protein and the goodness behind it. It is important to understand the reason why Allah opposed that every Muslim must take meat, and we should take it together with vegetable as a balance both diet and life.

Conclusion

Something to ponder, the one thing that you could not deny is the fact that God has created you together with pointed teeth (carnine) as a reminder that humankind should eat meat in our natural forms.