Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are halāl (حَلَال "lawful") and which are harām (حَرَامْ "unlawful"). This is derived from commandments found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, as well as the Hadith and Sunnah, libraries cataloging things the Islamic prophet Muhammad is reported to have said and done. Extensions of these rulings are issued, as fatwas, by mujtahids, with varying degrees of strictness, but they are not always widely held to be authoritative.
Pork is harām (حَرَامْ "unlawful") for the Muslim faith and in many countries cannot be found. In Saudi Arabia this is the case but in Bahrain, they do sale pork to the non Muslims.
I went on line to find what local stores had pork for sale, not every grocery stores will sell harām meat. I found one food store that is within walking distance (when it is not 100 degrees F outside). The grocery store is one of several and a second store was located a couple of miles away. We decided to visit both.
Yesterday, Sunday 24 September 2017 was a local holiday at work, (in Saudi it was considered Saudi National Day) and I did not have to work. Gordy and I relaxed around the house until 11 am and ventured out to the first store located down the street in the Nakeel Center http://nakheelcentre.com/. I have driven by this location since May and never stopped in to see what stores are there. Of course there are two coffee shops, one Starbucks and a Esquires Coffee shop.
We arrived at the time of the day when parking was not a issue. In the evening this location the parking lot is always full, one of the reason why I have never visited the stores. We found the Alosra Supermarket a small be very clean and well stocked grocery store.
The store seems to be stocked with items that Westerners would like, a lot of US and UK brands. Of course the cost for a lot of items is very expensive, They did have a small room with pork in display coolers. We found couple of pounds of bacon, two nice pork chops, we pass on the sausage, made on site but did not like the packaging.
We found a lot of hard to find cooking items and the location make I easy to pick things up on the way home from work.
After a few things on our shopping list, we cashed out and went home to drop what we purchased then left to go to the lager Alosra Supermarket located two miles form our flat. We finished our shopping list at this location and returned home by 2 pm. I am looking forward to a BLT, for lunch and the pork chops for dinner one night.
When researching where to buy pork in Bahrain, some locals Muslin responded and were surprise that pork was available. The information on the internet said that a non Muslin would handle the pork for cutting and packaging and that a muslin cashier would not handle the pork in a package. When I checked out at both location there was a muslin cashier and I told here I had pork. Both cashier told me to hold the pork so she could use the infrared scanner to read the price. I then placed the pork in the shopping bag.
I know that pork is a no no in Saudi Arabia but have found that in the UAE and Bahrain pork can be found if you know where to go. There are several restaurants in Bahrain where pork is sold, last weekend after Mass Gordy and I went to Rick's Country Kitchen and met another family for breakfast. They had bacon, sausage and pork BBQ. They even had grits which made Gordy happy.
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