Food conforming to the Islamic (Muslim) dietary laws. Meat from permitted animals (in general grazing animals with cloven hooves, and thus excluding pig meat) and birds (excluding birds of prey). The animals are killed under religious supervision by cutting the throat to allow removal of all blood from the carcass, without prior stunning. Food that is not halal is haram.
The Arabic word halal, meaning lawful, corresponds to the Hebrew word kosher, meaning right, in so far as both words refer to food that followers of those religions are permitted to eat. Derived by compounding halal with another Arabic word—khurdan, meaning to eat—is the Persian term halalcor, meaning lawful to eat. This term, however, refers not to classes of foods but to classes of people: in countries such as Iran and India, a halalcor is someone who may eat anything he chooses. Paradoxically, though, this power to choose belongs not to the highest but to the lowest caste of people: the assumption is that such people are so worthless that no one, not even the Almighty, cares what they eat.
To food prepared and served according to Muslim dietary laws.