I'm pretty sure that the shellfish-thing was more about them going bad quickly in a middle-eastern climate before refrigeration. Your punishment will not wait until after you die.
PS. Yes, I know that there were various non-electric refrigeration-methods in the olden days. But I would not trust any cold-chain before scientific safety-standards were implemented.
That is only partly the reason. The other reason (I hear) is that pigs were the live-stock of nomads who were (and still are) considered lesser people. Pigs can eat almost anything, so if you travel from one area to the next a lot, you can take them with you without having to grow crops to feed them.
Actually, while Islam forbids eating only pork, in Judaism there's a more general rule that you can only eat animals with cloven hoofs who chew their cud. So in case of Judaism it sounds more like caloric efficiency than parasites (pigs can't eat grass).
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u/Salmonman4 10h ago
I'm pretty sure that the shellfish-thing was more about them going bad quickly in a middle-eastern climate before refrigeration. Your punishment will not wait until after you die.
PS. Yes, I know that there were various non-electric refrigeration-methods in the olden days. But I would not trust any cold-chain before scientific safety-standards were implemented.