AlcoPork

There was a course pizza on the last night of the course in Trieste. At the Pizza restuarant the muslim student from Sudan ordered a tuna pizza. The waiter brought him a pizza and he got stuck into it. The pizza was the wrong one, and it had ham in it. He had eaten half of it, and had remarked several time how good it tasted, before the waiter came and said he had given him the wrong pizza.

A good natured Italian at the table offered him a bottle of beer to wash the taste of the ham away. Pork and alcohol are forbiden for muslims. He spoke in arabic to his friends at the table. Obviously he was greatly concerned that he had somehow defiled himself by eating pork. From their hand gestures I could see that they were telling him not to worry. His tuna pizza was delivered to him and he eyed the fork and knife he had used to cut the pizza with ham in it, as though they were contaminated. He asked for new knife and fork. He wanted a clean start.

At the long table where we sat, wine was drunk, and beer consumed, and at the end of the evening the bill was divided up between everybody who had eaten. It came to 10€. Not at all expensive. The student from Sudan said he would not pay for the alcohol that the others had been drinking. He did not want his money to be used in any way to break the laws of the Koran. His money would not be used to help people commit sin.

He stood up for his principles and beliefs and refused to pay more than 9€. Many of the Arabs thought he was being foolish, and contended with him furiously. He could see that the other students were looking at him arguing, and every so often he would use the english phrase "it is a matter of principle", which was for their benifit.

The Italian girls thought he was being courageous, and would have smothered him to their boosoms, if he had allowed himself to be touched by mini-skirted girls who wore skimpy tops and had their belly buttons pierced by diamond studs. The western boys thought he was being stupid, they rolled their eyes and took another swig from their beer bottles. I offered to pay the extra euro for him, but he would have none of it.

Was he a captive of his own conscience? If you write of speak your opinion on any matter, some people will think you are being foolish and will argue with you, others will respect you and come to your defence, while others will swig their beers and ignore you. You can expect nothing else. There is no universal acceptance or universal rejection. The world walks in the grey areas of public opinion. The Koran is of no consequence in the disco bars of Trieste.

To hold a clear conscience was the most important thing for the muslim student from Sudan. But I wonder as he walked away alone from the table did he think to himself, if it is a sin why did that pork taste so good.

The future belongs to us