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Refutations

Why Did God Create Pigs if They're Forbidden? The Hidden Purpose of Harmful Animals in Islam

8 min read 1748 words

Why Did God Create Pigs and Then Forbid Them? The Importance of Harmful Animals

Table of Contents

The Question

Many people wonder about the benefit of creating predatory and harmful animals such as lions, tigers, hyenas, wolves, elephants, pigs, poisonous snakes, crocodiles, scorpions, mosquitoes, flies, owls, bats, and others. The most confusing question is why the pig was created, when Allah has forbidden humans from eating its meat in the Holy Quran:
“He has only forbidden you dead animals, blood, and the flesh of swine.” — Surah Al-Baqarah 2:173
“He has permitted them the good things and forbidden them the bad things.” — Surah Al-An’am 6:157
Pork is classified among the impure meats — that is, among the meats that are harmful and hurtful to the human body, as confirmed by modern science. Despite the Creator’s grace and mercy in caring for human health by prohibiting what harms them, the question remains for some: why was the pig created at all if its meat is so harmful to humans? This is the constant question asked by some skeptics and some believers out of curiosity to know the secret of creating this animal. The answer lies in understanding that God Almighty did not create anything in this world or universe in vain — there must be some benefit. The following article presents justifications that go beyond the religious prohibition alone, to demonstrate the environmental and functional importance of the pig and other harmful creatures in serving man, his health, and the safety of the environment.

The Pig — Created for a Purpose

The pig, whether wild or domesticated, is one of the most important and complex animal creatures according to its physical structure — one that resists the most severe diseases. Although its structure serves as an intermediary for transmitting diseases to animals and humans, it does not harm the pig itself. When we understand its environmental tasks and functions, we realize it operates like a machine subservient to human welfare. The filth and harm of its meat is nothing but a means to compel humans not to eat it — and to leave it to the tasks for which it was created to serve humans. We were not ordered to eliminate it, but to refrain from eating its meat and from raising it or trading in it — just as we are to avoid alcohol and not own or trade in it.

The Pig’s Role in Environmental Sanitation

The pig is the dirtiest of garbage animals according to what it eats. It is primarily designed to eat carrion and consume animal and human waste that was left in the open before the emergence of modern civilization — and still is, in some areas of the world that have not joined civil civilization and the sanitation facilities it provides.

Take, for example, the Chinese countryside in several areas — the upper and middle parts of China — where residential complexes exist as small, closed, walled villages. Their inhabitants live in stacked rooms with storerooms below and cellars for domestic animals. These complexes have no toilet facilities; inhabitants relieve themselves in a bucket per family, emptied every morning into a pig farm near the gate as the pigs’ only source of food. Household waste and vegetable scraps are fed to horses and cows. Since human waste — such as feces — is preferred by pigs, along with animal waste, spoiled meat, and carrion, the pig functions as a living sanitation system in these environments. It even consumes the carrion of its own species.
The reason for the interest in raising pigs among the Chinese — considered the largest consumers in the world — is not only for their meat, but also because they are more economical. They feed on nothing but human waste, and they reproduce far more than other domesticated animals: a pig gives birth three times a year at a rate of ten to twenty offspring each time, while a cow or sheep gives birth to only one calf per year. The average weight of a pig is 120 kg when fed on waste and filth, while if fed compound feed materials, its weight may reach 600 kg, as in farms in the United States.
The Western man who raises pigs and eats their meat is disgusted by the thought of eating mice or rats — because they live in sewers containing human waste — yet finds no contradiction in eating pigs that feed on that same waste. In reality, he is a victim of his own ignorance and of promoters and traders of pork throughout history. Medicine, however, cannot dispense with the use of some pig-derived products for anesthesia and treatment in surgical operations.

Pigs in the Global Food and Population Balance

The world’s pig population is estimated at 800 million. The Chinese preference for pork over lamb and beef is, remarkably, a mercy to humanity — because if China’s 1.3 billion people abandoned pork and turned to livestock, those animals would face extinction in a short period due to the sheer scale of demand. India participates in maintaining the balance of cow numbers and preventing their extinction, albeit unintentionally, as approximately one billion Indians sanctify the cow and abstain from eating its meat. The populations of China and India together constitute more than one-third of the world’s total population. Their dietary habits — whether by religious prohibition or cultural sanctification — serve a function in maintaining the ecological balance of the animal world.

The Elephant

The elephant’s importance to the environment, humans, and animals is very great. It is the only animal skilled at paving roads in forests — like a mechanical bulldozer — due to its size and strength, uprooting trees that obstruct its path to facilitate the passage of its herds. Its extreme importance is also evident in its knowledge of the locations of water even in the depths of the earth. During drought, animals and beasts follow the elephant from a distance for tens of kilometres, fully aware of its ability to locate water. The elephant rushes forward, stops suddenly, and begins digging with its foot and trunk until water explodes into a large pool — first for the elephant to drink, then for the others that follow. In India, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, and other Asian countries, elephants are used to transport large items, especially tree trunks, in areas where vehicles cannot enter.

Predatory Beasts — Lions Tigers Wolves and Hyenas

The predatory carnivorous beasts — lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, and hyenas — preserve the balance of plant life through the herbivores they hunt. Without predators, the numbers of herbivores would increase beyond the availability of plants, causing overgrazing and desertification. Predators also serve public health by consuming carrion that would otherwise accumulate and become a source of disease.

Snakes and Insects

The importance of poisonous snakes lies in the fact that they preserve the safety of human plains and orchards from mice and rodents that greatly damage crops. Snakes combat and pursue rodents, functioning as a natural pest-control system essential to food security. If cultivated fields were empty of rodents without the presence of snakes, humans would not enjoy this food security. Scientific progress has also proven that snake venom is very important for treating many chronic diseases. All poisonous animals and insects — including large spiders and scorpions — are equally important in the field of medicine and pharmacology.
As for harmful insects such as flies and mosquitoes, their presence is necessary in exposing humans to pathogens from a young age, thereby building immunity. Allah created birds to limit their reproduction and prevent their numbers from becoming unmanageable.

Crocodiles

The importance of crocodiles lies in the fact that they eat carrion from rivers. When large animals such as deer, various cattle, and zebras cross rivers in pursuit of grass, many of them drown in the running current — especially during the great migrations witnessed across Africa. When crocodiles eat this carrion, they maintain the purity of the water. Without them, the rivers that humans drink from downstream would become polluted and unfit for use.

Owls

The owl is considered by many people in Arab countries to be a bad omen — without any justification — and they kill it. Its importance lies in its role within cities and villages, where it hunts mice that take advantage of the darkness of night to wreak havoc and destruction. The owl’s quiet flight allows it to surprise and kill mice before they cause damage, making it a natural, silent guardian of urban and agricultural environments.

Bats

The bat’s main food is mosquitoes and flying vermin, which it devours diligently throughout the night. Years ago, residents of one American state objected to tens of thousands of bats taking refuge under a bridge and demanded that they be killed or deported. They quickly withdrew their complaint after the municipality informed them that these animals consume a total of twenty tons of flying insects daily during the night — most of which are mosquitoes.

Conclusion

This was a brief presentation to understand the importance of wild animals and insects in the ecological balance and their service to humanity. Every creature Allah has made — however harmful it may appear to human eyes — occupies a place in the web of creation that benefits the whole. The prohibition on pork is not evidence that the pig was created pointlessly; rather, the pig’s very nature — its diet, its physical structure, its reproductive capacity — points to a purpose beyond human consumption. It was created to serve humanity in another capacity entirely, and the prohibition on eating it is itself a mercy: it directs the pig toward the task for which it was designed and protects human health at the same time.
“He who perfected everything which He created, and began the creation of man from clay.” — Surah As-Sajdah 32:7