After hiding behind his religion to explain the cruel murder of a United States soldier, Arkansas inmate Abdulhakim Muhammad is waging a new war. This time he is fighting for his right to a special diet from within prison. He is now demanding an extremely rigid diet tied to his Muslim faith that those within the prison system see as being unreasonable.

Muhammad has made it known that he requires a “halal diet” and since he is not being afforded this luxury the prison is violating his right to religious freedom. A man serving time for taking another life is arguing that the state prison is violating his freedoms.

In a recent report about the current complaint:

“…meats from herbivorous animals that are slaughtered in accordance with a specific ritual are halal. Muhammad, a Sunni Muslim formerly known at Curtis Bledsoe, says “halal” means permitted and “haram” means prohibited. He believes haram food includes pork, meat from carnivorous animals, meat from other animals not properly slaughtered, and any food carrying haram ingredients such as gelatin, alcohol, pepsin, monoglycerides and diglycerides, and other animal byproducts.

“Mr. Muhammad sincerely believes as a practicing Muslim he must consume a halal diet,” according to his attorney, Jess Askew of Little Rock. Askew said that requires the daily eating of halal meats, which could be fish or other meats except for pork. He considers kosher meats, which meet the specific religious requirements for meat to be halal, to be an acceptable substitute.

The dietitian-developed meals the prison system provides three times a day for its 15,000 inmates in 21 units include a rotation of various meats as a daily protein source. Fish, in the form of tuna or mackerel, isn’t an everyday choice, and the other meats aren’t “halal certified.”

The prison system does afford inmates a certain level of flexibility when getting meals. For many who practice the Muslim faith, they access vegetarian meals to avoid problems with meats not being halal.

This has always been an option available to Muhammad that he has refused. Pork products are one of the biggest issues for many of the religious diets, and the prison provides meat alternatives on the days it is served to all inmates. This option again was not good enough for this particular prisoner as he also refused meatless proteins on the days that pork was served.

Muhammad has been in prison since 2012 but did not file the complaint about the diet until 2015. His lawsuit contends that the on-going accommodations afforded to him in prison are not enough and he needs to have very specific meats provided for his diet. Prison officials content this simply is not the case and that the current accommodations meet the need. According to a report from the prison:

“The prison system has about 1,700 Muslim inmates among the “dozens” of faiths represented in the prison population, according to testimony by Joshua Mayfield, administrator of chaplaincy services for the past three years. He said the department offers special accommodations for Muslim inmates, such as making a prayer service available every Friday, allowing them to participate in Ramadan and even providing a full-time chaplain who is Muslim.

Virtually all Muslim inmates are on a pork-free diet, Mayfield said, noting that those with additional needs are often placed on the common fare diet. He said he believes that the halal diet Muhammad requests is available through the prison’s current offerings, and that he hasn’t requested any specific purchases of halal food.

He testified that there are “several definitions of halal” and that while pork-free diets don’t satisfy every definition, “there are many other Muslim inmates for whom it does.”

Throughout the complaint process, it seems there has been a wide range of accommodations made for this inmate. While prisoners are allowed to follow certain diets based on foods they cannot eat pork, they are not authorized to request foods that would be a substitute. This avoids inmates insisting on diets of expensive meats or seafood for example.

Department Director Wendy Kelle testified on the prison’s behalf about the range of diets. She shared that his requests were above and beyond as he refused to eat the standard Muslim diet. While the prison agreed, for example, to allow him to have fish instead of some other meats, they were not able to provide unique items that he was demanding. He was not willing to follow a vegetarian diet on days he wanted halal meats.