Buying foods that have been made in accordance with Jewish laws.

In Canada there are a lot of foods on which there is a symbol having
to do with the ways of makingfood in the Jewish religion, which I do
not fully understand. This symbol says that the food is kosher.
Once it is understood that the food has been made in accordance with
kosher laws, is it permissible for us to eat it? Because many foods,
even bread, include ingredients like monoglyceride and diglyceride,
and I do not know whether the source is vegetable or animal, so it is
difficult for me to buy food.
Praise be to Allaah.
Allah has forbidden to the Jews many kinds of good foods, as a
punishment for their disobedience. Allah, mayHe be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"For the wrongdoing of the Jews, We made unlawful for them certain
good foods which had been lawful for them"
[an-Nisa' 4:160].
As for our sharee'ah, it isan easy-going, tolerant law, as Allah has
permitted to us all good foods (at-tayyibaat) and He has not forbidden
to us anything but that which is bad (al-khabaa'ith). Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"This day all good thingshave been made lawful to you"
[al-Maa'idah 5:5]
And Allah says, describing the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him):
"he allows them as lawful At-Taiyibat ((i.e. all good and lawful) as
regards things, deeds, beliefs, persons, foods, etc.), and prohibits
themas unlawful Al-Khabaith (i.e. all evil and unlawful as regards
things, deeds,beliefs, persons, foods, etc.)"
[al-A'raaf 7:157].
After examining the food laws followed in the Jewish religion today,
it seems that all the foods that they regard as permissible are
permissible for us in our laws, and there is noexception to that, as
far as we know, except alcohol only.
The word kosher, which is used by the Jews, means that this food is in
accordance with the dietary laws followed in their religion.
Based on that, there is nothing wrong with a Muslim eating this food
unless he knows that they have put alcohol in it.
We will quote here a reliable text from a studyof the Jewish religion
in a book called Mawsoo'ah al-Yahood wa'l-Yahoodiyyah
wa'l-Suhyooniyyah (5/315-318) by Dr. 'Abd al-Wahhaab al-Maseeri, who
spent a decade of his life compiling and researching it. In this text
he gives a detailed explanation on the issue of food and dietary laws
in Judaism.
In this book he says:
The laws having to do with food are called in Hebrew kashrut, which is
derived from the wordkosher; what it means is appropriate or
befitting.
This word is used to refer to the set of laws that have to do with
food, preparation methods and the lawful manner of slaughter in
Judaism.
These are laws the origin of which is the Torah, and food that follows
the laws of kashrut is called kosher. What this word means is food
that it is permissible to eat according to the Jewish religion.
These laws forbid the Jew to eat specific types of food and permit him
to eat other kinds. In fact the prohibitions basically have to do
withmeat, but there are some other prohibitions,such as the fruit of a
treebefore four years have passed since its planting,or any plant that
was planted with another type of plant, as mixing plants, like mixed
marriages, is prohibited.This prohibition applies only to "the land of
Israel" i.e., Palestine.
It is also prohibited to drink any wine that has been made or touched
by a Gentile (i.e., a non-Jew).
In fact it is also prohibited to eat bread or any other food prepared
by a Gentile even if it was prepared in accordance with the Jewish
food laws.
There is also a prohibition on eating leavened bread during the feast
of Passover.
With regard to meat, therulings are as follows:
(a)
It is permissible for the Jew to eat clean animals and birds.
These are animals that have four legs and cloven hooves, have no
eyeteeth or fangs, eat plants and chew the cud.The birds (that Jews
are permitted to eat) are domestic fowl that can be raised in houses
and gardens, and some wild birds that eat plants and grains.
All animals and birds apart from these are regarded as unclean. Hence
it is forbidden to eat horses, mules and donkeys because they do not
have cloven hooves; it is also forbidden to eat camels because they do
not have cloven hooves. Pigsare forbidden because they have eyeteeth
(known as tusks), even though they have clovenhooves. With regard to
rabbits and rodents that eat plants, they have claws and not cloven
hooves (so they are not kosher).
Unclean birds include all those that have hooked beaks or talons;
these are birds that eat carcasses and carrion, such as falcons,
vultures, owls, kites and (some types of) parrots.
(b)
It is forbidden for the Jew to eat the flesh of animals if they have
not been slaughtered by onewho is qualified to slaughter, in the
lawful manner, after reciting the blessing or prayer for slaughter.
(c)
It is also forbidden to eatcertain parts of animals, such as the sciatic nerve.
(d)
It is also forbidden to eatmeat from which the blood has not been
drained by means of salting (washing away remaining blood and salt,
after putting salt on the meat and leaving it for an hour).
(e)
It is permissible to eat fish that have fins and scales. As for other
sea creatures such as shrimp,octopus and so on, they are forbidden.
The same applies to shellfish.
(f)
It is permissible for the Jew to eat four types of locust, but it is
forbiddenfor him to eat other insects and reptiles.
(g)
It is forbidden to eat meat and milk at the same time. Hence it is
forbidden to cook meat in ghee (clarified butter)or butter; rather it
must be cooked in vegetable oil. It is also forbidden toeat meat and
cheese or butter and the like in one meal, and one must wait six hours
between eating one and the other.
It is even forbidden to put meat in a vessel in which milk or cheese
was previously put, or touse the same knife to cutmeat and cheese and
thelike. Hence restaurants that offer kosher food have to have two
sets of vessels, one for cooking meat and another for milk.
It is not forbidden for the Jew to eat any kinds of vegetables or
fruits; however it is not permissible for him to eat from the first
four harvests of a tree. There is also a specific prohibition on yeast
during the festival of Passover. It is also forbidden for the Jew to
drink wine that was prepared or even handled by a non-Jewishperson.
To a large extent these laws led to the Jews becoming somewhat
isolated. Daily food affects the rhythm of a person's life and
controlshis social relationships with others, because theperson who
eats food that is different from thefood of others will find himself
separated from them, whether he wants to or not; he cannot share their
daily life with them. Even those Jews who have tried to overcome
Jewish isolationism have found it difficult to give up Jewish food,
because it is not easy for a person to change the food that he is used
to.
The necessity of having birds and animals slaughtered by a qualified
slaughterman according to their laws made it impossible for the Jew to
live outside ofthe Jewish community.
Reform Jews have criticised the food laws, because they prevented the
Jews from developing and assimilating; they are of the view that these
laws do not have any religious or moral foundation, so they do not
adhere to them.
Jews in Western societies have been faced with difficulties in
obtaining food that is lawful for them, in places where there are no
kosher food shops to meet their needs.
In Israel the Chief Rabbinate has tried hardto implement the food laws
in public life, such as on airlines and in hotels and restaurants.
The majority of Jews in the United States and Soviet Union (more than
80% of them), who form the vast majority of the world's Jews, do not
apply any of the food laws; rather many of them eat pork and no more
than 4% of them follow all of the food laws.
It is no different in Israel, where approximately 30,000 people work
in raising and selling pigs. It seemsthat more than half of the Jewish
inhabitants of Israel eat pork, including many prominent figures in
society – ministers and generals and even members of the Knesset –
even though they had agreed to propose a banon the selling of pork.
There are a number of companies in Israel that raise pigs, slaughter
them and sell the meat; the most significant of them is Kibbutz
Mazara.
The religious parties at present are putting a great deal of pressure
on the Israeli government to issue a law prohibiting the selling of
pork.
As for the secularists, they fear that this wouldlead to pork being
sold on the black market, which would be detrimental to tourism and
the economy, and would force Israelis to go into Arab Christian areas
to buy pork, just asthey go into Arab areas during Passover to buy
regular bread.
From time to time discussions flare up about food that is lawfully
permissible, especially since some of the members of
religiousinstitutions use their authority to issue certificates of
permissibility for personal gain.
In 1987 CE, the Rabbinateannounced that a certain type of tuna was not
kosher, even thoughthe Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of
America (or Orthodox Union) had issued a statement saying that it was
kosher. It was understood from this that the Rabbinate in Israel
wanted to expand its influence and dominate the kosher certification
process completely.
The conflict between theSephardim (Jews who came from Spain and
Portugal) and Ashkenazim (Jews who came from Germany and France) is
also reflected in the kosher certification process. Thus we find that
the Ashkenazi Rabbinate rejects the certificates issued by the
Sephardi Rabbinate, and vice versa. End quote.
To sum up: there is nothing wrong with the Muslim eating Jewish foods
on which is written the word "kosher", unless it is known that they
have added any alcohol to it.
And Allah knows best.