Nourishing the body and food for soul: The role of animals in the South Asian Sufi environment

Abstract

This article investigates some aspects concerning the consumption of meat for food in Islam in general and in the South Asian cultural environment in particular. Starting out from a look at the primary sources of authority in Islam, i.e. the Koran and the prophetic Traditions (hadith), concerning legal prescriptions with regard to feeding on meat, the focus moves on to describe how muslims, especially Sufis, in the Indian subcontinent have adapted to the local culture and developed a particular attitude towards eating or refraining from eating meat in their daily diet and/or in the specific circumstances of their initiatory discipline. It argues in favor of a common stance among practitioners in different spiritual traditions, thereby creating a common understanding and attitude characteristic of the multi-cultural environment of India and Pakistan.