Any Muslim Vegans?

Login to find out (September 18, 2005 at 7:18pm)

Super salty rubber fluff kinda describes my last adventure with tofu. And I totally agree with you about the Prophet (salallahu 'aleihi wa sallam) and the early community. We are total carnivores compared with them.

And Mahsa, I totally agree with you about our bodies being containers for our soul. May Allah give us understanding and may we give our bodies their rights, insha'Allah.

Login to find out (September 1, 2005 at 7:57pm)

salam

I'm not vegan. In the last year or so I have cut down my meat consumption by leaps and bounds. I have never been this healthy before in my life. If you look at the way the prophet ate, meat was a very small portion of his diet. I was listening to one sheik and he said be elimated meat from his diet aside from holidays and events like aqeeqahs. I like that kind of thinking. One other thing. Tofu taste like rubber fluff if you are clueless as to how to cook it. I love tofu in mee goreng

Login to find out (August 27, 2005 at 6:20pm)

Tofu is awesome when marinaded and cooked properly.

Login to find out (July 20, 2005 at 5:21pm)

Sumtimes i'm vegan ..soemtimes i'm not... cuz there are over 8 different variations on being 'vegan' :)

Login to find out (May 18, 2005 at 2:49am)

I like tofu in traditional asian cooking, but I prefer not to use it as a substitute for meat...maybe because I don't know how to cook it. Last time I tried, it came out straight up naaastay. Alhamdulillah I ate by myself that night.

Login to find out (May 17, 2005 at 4:36pm)

I am semi-vegetarian, I eat fish and vegetables, and I do eat dairy. I gave up red meat in 1996 (thanks to the mad cow disease -I was in London at the time) and poultry in 1999. However I don't think I will ever give up dairy products, as they are an essential part of my diet, I like dairy products. I switched to eating organic around 1999 and graually everything I eat became organic. The reason I am not eating meat or poultry is health, due to all the usage of hormones, antibiotics, questionable feeding practices that give rise to diseases like mad cow disease, and also the inhuman treatment of animals. If there was organic and halal meat from animals raised in humane conditions, theoretically I could eat that but I am so used to not eating it that I do not search for such options. I use Middle Eastern and vegetarian cookbooks whenever I get the time. I get so much quesitoning from other practicing Muslims already - they don't understand it- that I cannot imagine what it must be like for a Muslim vegan. It must be non-stop interrogation and bewilderment from people.

Login to find out (May 17, 2005 at 12:01pm)

cool beans! JazakAllahu Khair!

Login to find out (May 17, 2005 at 10:44am)

Wa Alaikum Assalam :) Sure, I'm not sure how many have a strong opinion on this either way, I'm in the middle on it, but some veggies and some cookbook authors are dead set against super-processed foods and prefer whole foods (much healthier). As a result they aren't fans of the many soy-based meat substitutes and new uses for tofu that have been marketed in the last 5-15 years. Many see tofu as cool in it's original place in asian food, but don't want to eat it as tofu "hot dogs" or as tofu "cheesecake" or "fake mayonaise," etc. For protein, beans would be preferred, or nuts and seeds or maybe tofu in it's original form or tempeh (also processed, but not a wacky new food). Others say "who cares" and go for loads of veggie convenience foods like fake meats, tofu "ice cream," etc. As I said above, I'm somewhere in the middle, and enjoy less processed foods especially when at home but eat more meat subs at my parents because it's way more convenient (they're the type to add ground beef to tomato sauce if I've cooked it sometimes!) :)

Login to find out (May 16, 2005 at 8:12pm)

Assalaamu Alaikum,

Anyone wish to elaborate on the tofu issue for me...?

JazakAllahu Khair.

Login to find out (May 16, 2005 at 6:35pm)

Salam :) Hmm...I've got lots of recipes, and have a hard time picking which to tell others about :) I'm a cookbook-a-holic, I don't have the Mediterranian Vegan Kitchen but I've heard lots of good things about it, I'll have to ask for it for my b-day! I love Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," it's like "Joy of Cooking" for veggies :) It's not all vegan, but the stuff that isn't is either really obvious to avoid (like egg dishes, etc) or has easy substitutes like using egg replacer in the baked goods. She's also not a fan of meat substitutes or "de-Asianised" tofu dishes, as I'm guessing you aren't, so the tofu in there is in "authentic" recipe form :) I also really like "150 Vegan Favourites" and The Complete Vegan Cookbook. I've recently added Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian" to my collection, but haven't tested it out much yet, I'll let you guys know how that goes :)

Login to find out (May 16, 2005 at 6:01pm)

There is a really great cookbook that I picked up not too long ago titled "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen", or something like that. Really good. All of the recipes are authentic, unaltered vegan dishes from the Mediterranean: Morocco, Turkey, Italy, France, Greece, Algeria, Egypt, Spain, etc. I would highly recommend it, although many of the desserts contain alcohol. However, it is a great book and even includes nutritional information with every recipe, not to mention that there is not one item calling for tofu or any meat substitute. Check it out.

Login to find out (May 16, 2005 at 5:56pm)

Any good recipes?

Login to find out (May 16, 2005 at 1:04am)

Salam! Talib7, I see how with your idea it can still be an "ethical" chioce without saying that eating meat is haram because of the sorry state of agricultural practices in much of North America. I don't intend to eat meat again, inshaAllah, because I don't think that I could stomach it anyway :) After so long without it, it's likely to make me ill! Thanks to both of you for your thoughts on this!

Login to find out (May 16, 2005 at 12:49am)

Fitra, I read your journal, it's great :) Jazzak Allahu Khairan!

Login to find out (May 15, 2005 at 11:44pm)

i totally agree w/ talib7. i was gonna write a more detailded response but i got distracted. check out my journal called "afghans chasing me w/ raw meat". ps: no ill will to afghans, just the title. a true occurance incidentally.

Login to find out (May 15, 2005 at 12:21am)

As-Salaamu 'Aleikum,

As far as the reason why I am a vegan...it was kind of accidental. My sheikh put me on a diet (a spiritual detox, so to speak) and I felt so good on it that I decided to remain a vegan forever. I do not believe that eating meat is haram, as the Prophet (salallahu 'aleihi wa sallam) ate meat and he was the best of creation. However, I do believe that the current practices of factory slaughterhouses are completely wrong. I personally do not care if something is haram or halal that comes out of there, I am not going to eat it due to the fact of how it was raised. However, if a sheep for example was raised on a ranch and was slaughtered according to shari'a in a humane way, technically, I would have no problem eating it. In my view, it is a matter of ethics. The problem arises if one believes that being vegan is superior to eating meat. This is in contradiction to the sunnah of the Prophet, salallahu 'aleihi wa sallam, and is not a positin that we as muslims should take. Yet, if one wishes to be vegan for the sake of their health, to stay away from the haram, and to help the planet and the rest of humanity for the sake of Allah, then I do not see how this could be a bad decision. Sounds like a good intention to me!

Login to find out (May 14, 2005 at 1:51am)

me too!

Login to find out (May 13, 2005 at 5:06am)

Wa Alaikum Assalam! I'm also a vegan, have been for ~ 6 years. I've recently reverted and found the "automatic Halal" aspect really convenient. I thought of it as just one of the ways Allah (SWT) had made the transition easier for me :) I'd be interested to know how long you've been vegan and your reasons for this, as I'm currently trying to "get things straight" in my mind about my intentions in veganism after reverting. As I was an ethical/health/environmentally motivated vegan before, but always viewed ethical reasons as the most valid for excluding ALL animal products under ALL circimstances to the best of my knowledge (i.e. actually being vegan). For example, if my motivation is "just" health and/or the environment, would it really be a big deal to eat a bite of something to avoid offending someone else? And is ethical veganism in effect making the halal haram? Please share opinions on this :)

Wow, that was longer than intended, sorry :) I'll be back later on with some cool recipe links, etc., inshaAllah.

Jazzak Allahu Khairan!

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