Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 361
UNDATED 361 The Justification for Eating Meat The above-mentioned patient was a Hindu. The Promised Messiah as asked him, ‘Do you eat meat?’ He responded, ‘Yes, I do eat meat. ’ The Promised Messiah as said: Meat stock is useful in such ailments to maintain energy and the people who say that meat is forbidden are unwise. Physicians and doctors know how useful meat is for man as food. There are numerous human needs that are akin to [consuming] meat. If mercy towards animals means that [the consumption of ] meat be forbidden, then there are many such things that will need to be forbidden. First, milk should be forbidden as it is the sustenance of the offspring of animals. Then consider silk which is produced by killing insects. Then look at honey which man seizes from thousands of bees to put in his mouth, whereas the bee is a helpless tiny insect. Then consider musk which is used like honey in the worship of the Aryas and Hindus. It is extracted from the navel of a deer after killing it. Then consider pearls that Hindus have constantly been the traders of. They are also harvested by killing the animal. Then let a person observe the shoes on their feet; what they are made from. In short, how many items should be numbered? Whether it is man’s clothing, his diet, or his other needs, all have some material that can only be obtained by killing a liv- ing being. Some people contract a disease in which their nasal cavities are invaded by maggots. Undoubtedly these maggots have to be killed. The wounds of some injured people at times become infected with bacteria. Such medicine is administered on the wound that kills the infection. During a pandemic when the water in the wells is contaminated by pathogens, then a chemical is added to the well to kill the pathogens. How many items should be enumerated?