I saw it on the Surau (small mosque) wall. More of it has been forwarded to the society by mails and put on blogs. They printed it out and handed it by mass at mosque.
The paper printed in colors screamed ‘Stop buying this and this product. It’s owned by this and this person. It’s deteriorating Muslims. It’s not Halal. It’s Haram.’
Please ignore the Halal stamp on the product.
For those who didn’t know ‘Halal‘ is a term for any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic Law. Haram is the opposite.
It’s a huge topic and very delicate one but I will try to explain.
As you can see on all products especially food they should have a small stamp that says Halal introduced by a certain known Muslim organization in Malaysia. It means that Muslims can consume it and it doesn’t have anything doubtful or forbidden items including pork and all its derivatives; animals improperly slaughtered; alcoholic drinks, including all forms of intoxicants; carnivorous animals; birds of prey; and any food contaminated with any of these products.
This is just the food section. There are many areas regarding this too. We’ll just talk about food.
Many people like to take advantage of this food section. Easiest way is to plant a rumor saying this or this product is Haram (forbidden) and many people would accept it at face value assuming that Muslims should help and spread this kind of stuff to other Muslims.
Suddenly your products were boycotted off the market. What a pity.
Why didn’t even it occur to them that this could be a propaganda from rival food products to take the other one down? Isn’t it frustrating to see a business you owned and worked so hard at suddenly went down because of a rumor? Because suddenly everybody says that your Halal stamp is not valid? Or because you are Chinese?
I think that’s not a good competition.
We should check any rumors rather than printing any internet page containing rumors and spreading it around (in holy places too!) At least please check with the relevant authorities before boycotting any products and starting another sarcastic comment at coffee shops about the recent gossip.
I used to take this issue (Halal/Haram issue) lightly but it propels me to write something because some people just think food section is the only section that requires Halal/Haram monitoring. They made a great deal of Halal stamps and reinforcing many regulations upon food or pharmaceutical products that they forgot about other things that needs to be kept in check too.
Take your job for example. Simple one for starters.
Say your job starts at 9 AM. Break at 1 PM and like other office hours, it will end at 5 PM. This is what the Human Resource Manager told you. What happens if you arrive at 9.15 or 9.30 (someone punched your card) then breakfast at 10 AM to 10.30 again lunch at 1 PM till 2.30 PM and went back at 4.30? (you have to pick up your child at kindergarten) Do you think the amount of salary you are receiving is all Halal? Even if you buy Halal food all your life but using a Haram money then do you think the end result would be good?
Don’t scold your children because they’re dumb. It’s the money that you earn to buy the food you brought on the table made them that way.
Halal and Haram is not just limited for consumerism. It’s a way of life. The topic is huge and educating the society is vital so that they can understand why is it important for Muslims to eat halal food and living a halal way of life.
This goes the same for business, education, friendship, marriage, administration, banking institution,traveling, politics, justice, in everything there is a fine line between halal and haram.
My point is the Halal stamp on food is not everything there is in the world and a riot is not worth it.
P.S:
I do apologize for writing such topic as I am not very well versed in Islamic law but this is my personal opinion of the printouts I saw posted on blogs and on Surau walls. It’s sickening. You don’t bring another person down like that.
[bisa] 