Is Turkey Halal?

During the month of Ramadan, I wake up early and make breakfast for my family. We usually start off with the works. For example, the first day of fasting, I woke up at 3:28 am PST and made grits, toast, turkey bacon, and eggs. This morning two weeks into the fast, the breakfast was much lighter. I made eggs, hash browns and fried salami. My son, Sadiq, looked at his plate when he entered the kitchen. I could tell he was itching to complain. But he dared not, because of course it was 4:00 am. All he asked was, “Did we run out of meat?” I laughingly conceded that we had.

My family is lucky that I cook at all. When I was a kid, my Dad and my step mom, Najma did not cook. Najma and Dad met at Loyola Law school in Los Angeles. The two of them had much in common, including their brilliant minds. What they lacked was the ability to cook anything. Najma hardly even boiled water. What she was good at was ordering. I remember my ninth-grade year, it seemed like all we ate and drank every day were Pizza Hut cheese pizzas and Pepsis. Najma actually smoked cigarettes and drank Tab.  What can I tell you? It was the 80s.

Once they graduated law school, Dad and Najma opened a law firm in Easton, PA after passing the Pennsylvania Bar. My younger brother, Sundiata moved in with the two of them. I remember traveling to visit.

They had a beautiful three-story Victorian home with dark burgundy wood and red brick coloring. At the front entrance was a porch, where I would often sit and look out at the other lovely homes on the block. The first floor housed Dad and Najma’s law offices, living room, and the unused kitchen. There was a cherry wood banister that lead upstairs to the second-floor bedrooms. Then on the top floor, there was a prayer room with richly colored Middle Eastern rugs and Qurans.

Dad would wake up, stand at the second floor banister, and call the Adhan every morning. We would sleepily saunter out of our bedrooms to the sound of his voice booming through the halls. We would clean up for prayer and then go upstairs to the prayer room. After we prayed, we sat together and read Quran.  Sitting here, I can still hear Dad calling the Adhan. His call reminded us that “prayer is better than sleep.” He gave us this important reminder every dawn as he called out to us.

When I was 19 and visited Dad, his best friend Ola was staying with him. This was the year that Ola taught me how to drive (but that is another story). Walking distance to Dad’s house was a deli. I remember going there and ordering a delicious turkey submarine sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, and all of the fixings. It was 12 inches long, the size of my arm! Back in those days, I weighed 115 lbs soaking wet. I carried the sandwich  wrapped in deli paper up the front porch into the house. As soon as I entered the front door, I ran into Dad and Ola. Just as I was about to unwrap the sandwich to take a bite, Dad said, “You can’t eat that. It is not halal.”

I responded, “It isn’t pork. It’s turkey.”

He replied, “It may be turkey, but it’s not halal.”

Ola interjected, “Turkey is alright isn’t it?”

I said, “I’ve been eating turkey my whole life!”

As a bit of background, my parents divorced when I was a toddler. The one rule that Dad and Mom both abided was that we were not allowed to eat pork growing up.

Dad said, “Well I have learned that if the meat isn’t prepared properly it’s not halal. So you can’t eat it.”

I retorted, “I just bought this. I’m gonna eat it!”

Dad said, “Well you can’t eat it in this house!”

So, I took my 19 year old, size 3 wearin’, turkey sandwich holdin’ self onto the porch. I brooded as I ate that sandwich like it was going out of style! I savored every single bite of it. Once I returned inside, Dad and Ola bust out laughing. Dad had a way about him, he couldn’t stay mad at his kids. He never really raised his voice to us. Whenever he did, we knew how serious he was.

I continued to eat turkey sandwiches that were not halal for about six more years. When I was in my twenties, Dad gave me a book about eating halal. I read in it that when we eat halal food we receive a blessing with every bite. Since then, my husband and I only eat and prepare halal for ourselves, children and loved ones.

So today, I guess I need to run to the store and get some more halal turkey bacon. Or maybe, I will make a halal turkey sub sandwich and eat it on the porch.