The cultural opposition to vegetarianism is not restricted to fringe tribes. The Islamic scholar Mawil Izzi Dien, in his recent book "The Environmental Dimensions of Islam", goes so far as to assert the following:
According to Islamic Law there are no grounds upon which one can argue that animals should not be killed for food. The Islamic legal opinion on this issue is based on clear Qur'anic verses. Muslims are not only prohibited from eating certain food, but also may not choose to prohibit themselves food that is allowed by Islam. Accordingly vegetarianism is not permitted unless on grounds such as unavailability or medical necessity. Vegetarianism is not allowed under the pretext of giving priority to the interest of animals because such decisions are God's prerogative.(1)
Vegetarianism may well be a superior
> >moral position, but, if everyone adopted it, the
> >world would not revert to peacefulness as some
> >writers would have us believe. The world is far
> >too crowded for universal hunting and gathering;
> >humans would need to grow crops and would be
> >obliged to slaughter, even if they did not eat,
> >the resurgent wild animals that would compete
> >for their harvests.
> >
> >Moreover, on a global scale, vegetarianism for
> >all is unecological. There are many sustainable
> >integrated systems around the world that produce
> >animals and plants for human consumption in
> >which eliminating animals would decrease both
> >sustainability and food output.
QED.
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