The "Ham" Story That Started it All

From : http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/ and a link over at TheReligionofPeace.com :

Muslim fury over prison food
Mar 2 2006


By Adam Smith, Birmingham Mail


DISGUSTED Muslim prisoners at a Midland jail are boycotting meals after a rogue kitchen worker was caught filling their halal curries with unholy ham.

Prisoners at HMP Blakenhurst received a written apology from the Prison Service after the discovery and Imams were on hand to console distraught Muslims.

Wasim Zafar, aged 19, from Alum Rock, spoke out after visiting his relative in the Howell Drive Category B prison.

"He was very depressed and had lost a lot of weight because he has not been eating much since he found out what had happened with the curries," he said. "He feels he can't trust anyone again after finding out such a disgusting problem with the food."

And Wasim's brother Anis, aged 27, who had also visited the prison, explained why including ham in the halal curry caused such anguish.

He said: "This is the ultimate insult to any Muslim. All the food we eat has to be blessed."

"This has really messed up the heads of anyone who ate the unholy meat. Religion is central to any Muslims life and this shows total disrespect to our religion."

Islam decrees that followers cannot eat meat from a pig as it creates "lowliness in character and destroys moral and spiritual faculties in a man".

It is unknown how long the prison kitchen worker had been contaminating the halal food.

The Prison Service admitted there had been an incident at the HMP Blakenhurst, which houses 1,070 inmates, and that the prisoner, who was caught throwing tinned ham in the curries, had been punished.

"We can confirm that officials at HMP Blakenhurst discovered that a prisoner had contaminated halal food," said a spokesman. "The person responsible has been disciplined and everyone who ate any of the food was sent a letter of apology and Imams based at the prison were on hand to deal with any issues that have arisen."

There are currently an estimated 4,500 Muslim prisoners in jails in England and Wales with each prison offering halal food and special measures for prayers.

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This is the story that caused me to ponder what the "ultimate insult" to Muslims really is, as I was starting to lose track considering the continuous "outrages" and "insults" being cited constantly by members of the religion of peace and the easily offended. Praise allah that they had those imams on hand to console those Muslims victimized by the ham that "caused such anguish"!