Legal Rulings on Food and Drink in Rabbinic Judaism and Imami Shi’a

The issue of food and drink is one of the important and new topics for man because it is directly and daily related to his life. The various monotheistic religions have given weight in research to these issues and everything related to them and studying its legal rulings and what is permissible and what is forbidden، in addition، various books of jurisprudence have discussed the cases related to the topic.

The current study entitled: Shari’ah rulings on food and drink in Rabbinic Judaism and Imamate Shi’a، attempts to present the most important types of food and drink for rabbinic Jews and Imamate Shi’ites and classify them into permissible and forbidden foods and drinks according to each of the two religions. Also we aims at researching the commonalities in the legal rulings between the two sides and the differences Between them، to be a starting point for establishing a dialogue between the Abrahamic religions in general and between Judaism and the Imamate Shiites in particular. In addition، based on the jurisprudential rules and premises on both sides، using the comparative scientific method، we conduct a comparative study between them and discuss it in a scientific debate based on reliable sources and references to respond to the accusations made by others on Imami Shia such as the claims that whatever found in this regard beside the Shia، have been taken from the Jewish religion and there are no differences between them in jurisprudence by reviewing the legal rulings in Shiite jurisprudence based on the Holy Qur’an، the Sunnah of the Prophet، the hadiths of the pure imams and ijtihad.

The research has reached a set of results، the most important of which are:

1. Both rabbinic Judaism and Imami Shiites have their own legislative sources from which they draw their various legal rulings. The Torah is the main source of legislation for rabbinic Judaism، while the Talmud is a complementary source to the Torah، through which the various legal rulings were collected and organized and subjected to the whims and temperaments of Jewish scholars during The various historical stages. Just the same is the Imamate Shia، as the origin and center of the Islamic religion، and its reliable legislative sources are represented by the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of his Prophet، and his Infallible Family (peace be upon him)، and the ijtihad of his scholars who were brought up and studied under the supervision of their Imams (peace be upon him) stipulated and recommended by the Messenger of God. Everything mentioned in their law is from God Almighty، and the other religions، such as rabbinic Judaism and its various legislative sources، have no effect on the legislative rulings of the Imami Shiites other than what was stipulated by the reputable Shiite sources.

The researcher also reached a number of recommendations، the most important of which are:

2. Deepening by researchers in studying the subject of legal rulings on foods and drinks and solving the problem represented by the discrepancy between the Qur’anic presentation and the Sunnah in mentioning the taboos، which the Holy Qur’an limited to a very small number compared to what is forbidden in other legislative sources، as well as conducting studies and research on foods and drinks that were mentioned in the sources Imami Shia jurisprudence to treat a number of diseases and health and psychological conditions and what is known today as alternative medicine or herbal medicine and to develop and enrich this important field of knowledge.