The Torah contains passages in Leviticus that lists the animals people are permitted to eat. It first notes what qualifies an animal that is absolutely permitted: Animals that have cloven hooves and chew their cud are ruminants such as cows, sheep, and deer. This text does not specify every possible animal by name, only their behaviors. The text goes on to describe specific animals that are known and meet one, but not both, of those qualifications, thereby prohibiting their consumption. It does not elaborate on the exact reason for prohibition other than physical characteristics. Pigs are described in this section as prohibited because they have a cloven hoof but don't chew their cud. Deuteronomy expands on the list of permitted animals. Deuteronomy reiterates what Leviticus states on pigs.
One example of verses from the Quran on pig consumption: The prohibition of certain food is also linked to Islamic Cosmology. Accordingly good and evil qualities are transferred by eating an object carrying a certain quality, that also affects the soul of human, the pig rendered with evil qualities.
Other
According to Herodotus, The Scythians had a taboo against the pig, which was never offered in sacrifice, and apparently the Scythians were loath to so much as keep swine within their lands. Scottish pork taboo was Donald Alexander Mackenzie's phrase for discussing an aversion to pork among Scots, particularly Highlanders, which he believed stemmed from an ancient taboo. Several writers who confirm that there was a prejudice against pork, or a superstitious attitude toward pigs, do not see it in terms of a taboo related to an ancient cult. Any prejudice is generally agreed to have disappeared by 1800.
Interpretations of restrictions
The cultural materialistic anthropologist Marvin Harris thinks that the main reason for prohibiting consumption of pork was ecological-economical. Pigs require water and shady woods with seeds, but those conditions are scarce in the Middle East. Unlike many other forms of livestock, pigs are omnivorousscavengers, eating virtually anything they come across, including carrion and refuse. This was deemed unclean; and a Middle Eastern society keeping large stocks of pigs would destroy their ecosystem. It is speculated that chickens supplanted pigs as a more portable and efficient source of meat, leading to the religious restrictions. Maimonides, the Jewish philosopher and legal codifier, who was also court physician to the Muslim sultan Saladin in the 12th century, understands the dietary laws chiefly as a means of keeping the body healthy. He argued that the meat of the forbidden animals, birds, and fish is unwholesome and indigestible. According to Maimonides, at first glance, this does not apply to pork, which does not appear to be harmful. Yet, Maimonides observes, the pig is a filthy animal and if swine were used for food, marketplaces and even houses would be dirtier than latrines. Rashi lists the prohibition of pig as a law whose reason is not known, and may therefore be derided by others as making no sense. The Chinuch Sefer HaChinuch gives a general overview of the Jewish dietary laws. He writes "And if there are any reasons for the dietary laws which are unknown to us or those knowledgeable in the health field, do not wonder about them, for the true Healer that warns us against them is smarter than us, and smarter than the doctors".
