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Fun fact, Muslim can eat kosher meats but generally Jews cannot eat halal meats.

The main reason is that they are both descendent of Abrahamic based religion that always slaughter their herd animals to eat by the name of one God. Muhammad is a descendent of Ismail while Moses is the descendent of Isaac, both are siblings from the same father Abraham but different mother. Even the original languages for their holy scriptures namely Arabic and Hebrew are very similar by being rooted from the same original Semitic based language.

2 comments

Your second paragraph begins with "The main reason is that" by what follows is not really a reason, though it's an interesting tidbit. When kosher and/or halal adherents accept the others' standards, it's because they believe it is at least a strict as their own. Kind of like how a vegetarian will eat food labeled as vegan.

But like another commenter pointed out, interpretations of these rules vary widely among practitioners so making blanket statements about who might eat what is difficult.

Please note that I'm not a scholar of Islamic or Jewish study and don't take my comments seriously.

OK I will re-phrase that to "one of the main reasons" since for the meat to be considered halal it needs to fulfill two main requirements. Firstly it must be slaughtered by the name of one God and secondly it must be slaughtered with proper procedures. For most religions, the practices are always come down to spiritual and physical aspects, and as you probably can deduce that the first one is the spiritual aspect of it.

Having said that, Quran refer to the Jews and Christians as "People of the Book"[1], and that's the main reason some of their rulings are acceptable in Islam. Another fun fact is that "Moses" is mentioned by name more than any other prophet names including "Muhammad" inside the Quran [2][3], and there is also one Chapter "Mary" referring to the Jesus' mother.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Book

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_in_Islam

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_and_messengers_in_Isl...

Is that due to different ways the animals are killed ?

Muslim and Jewish dietary law are both interpreted in various ways by various authorities (and, of course, adherents follow those laws to various degrees of strictness). So any blanket statement on the subject is going to be incomplete.

Under the strictest rules for each, halal meats cannot be kosher and vice versa, because the slaughter must be carried out by a member of the religion. The physical requirements for the initial slaughter are essentially identical. But it's not uncommon for Muslims to view kosher meat as acceptable, at least as an alternative (and there's scriptural basis for this).

The reverse really isn't possible because there are more restrictions on how kosher meat is handled after slaughter , most notably the removal of certain fatty tissues, nerves, and veins. More info on that here:

http://www.kashrut.com/articles/nikkur/

I think the difference is based on who gives the blessing over the meat.

I can't speak for halal, but kosher is not about blessings. In the case of meat, there are a myriad of rules that regulate the production, starting from animal selection (only a kosher species, and then only an animal that meets certain health criteria - a cow with a punctured lung may not be eaten), then the slaughter technique and procedure, then the removal of specific parts of the animal that may not be eaten, salting to remove the blood, and ultimately preparation (no mixing with dairy, etc).

Curious. Are there scientific basis behind these specifications?(perhaps valid in those historical times?)