COMMENTARY | You may have heard about a Muslim cleric living in Europe who issued the following missive to his followers: avoid bananas, cucumbers, carrots and eggplant while shopping, because their sexually suggestive shapes will corrupt you, according to the online publication Bikyamasr.com. Looking into it a little further, one has to question the source.
It has been getting lots of attention online and has been picked up by blogs and Fox News. Some take the report at face value. Others question its veracity. The American Muslim blog points out the Bikyamasr report doesn’t actually link to the original article and maintains that the “unnamed Sheikh” who supposedly issued the fatwa is never otherwise identified. Perhaps the discussion was inspired by anger over increasing restrictions on women’s rights in Egypt, they suggest.
In fact, take a look at a Halal food list (those foods allowed under Islamic diet restrictions); it appears vegetables are fine to eat, no matter what they might look like in their own skin.
Is it something that could happen? Yes. Take a hard look at sliced figs or peaches and you’ll no doubt be seeing some future banned food somewhere on the planet.
If you weren’t convinced food could be considered sexy, take a look at by this pro-vegetarianism ad, which was banned in the U.K. due to the extremely erotic way in which non-meat-based foodstuffs are presented.
While it’s certainly easy to make comparisons between sex and food, it’s probably not a good idea to assume that anyone thinks food is inherently evil.
The point is, most well-adjusted people can differentiate perfectly well between an innocent cucumber and the real thing. If they can’t, well, it’s rather a fine line between yogurt and cucumber salad and pornography, I guess.
It’s silly, quite honestly. Anyone seen Veggie Tales? I seriously doubt anyone could look at Larry the Cucumber and call him an immoral vegetable, inspiring wicked thoughts. In fact, he’s a pretty cool cuke, pardon the pun, talking about kindness to others and generally being a good guy.
To be on the safe side, perhaps the cleric in question (should he actually exist) should instead endorse a similar veggie-inspired animated series for Muslims. In this manner, he can be assured that no one sees innocent fruits and vegetables in a potentially harmful manner and, in fact, said nutritious foods make spiritual contributions.
Besides, everyone knows it’s the tomatoes you have to worry about.