Carrion, Blood and Swine

That which dies of itself is easily pictured: a dead animal found at the roadside cannot be eaten, however lawful the species — it is dead, and that is the end of it. The same holds at sea: a fish floating lifeless on its back, in water with plenty of oxygen, killed by nothing anyone did — no explosive, nothing else — has died of itself and may not be touched. A chicken found dead of some sickness is the same, Allāhu aʿlam what the disease was; every creature has its appointed term, and when it dies of itself, it is not eaten.

Blood itself is najis, and drinking it is forbidden absolutely — Islam recognises no vampires among its own. The blood that remains within the flesh itself, though, as in a steak served rare, is a different matter and stays lawful; there is no need to press or squeeze it out. What is forbidden is blood drawn out and drunk as a liquid in its own right.

The flesh of swine is forbidden in every form it takes — bacon, a cut of ham,^** tinned spam, or by whatever other name it is sold — because it comes from the pig, and the pig is ḥarām in itself.