“Do not go upon what
has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon
rumour; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an
axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion
that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor
upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you
yourselves know: ‘These things are bad; these things are blameable;
these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these
things lead to harm and ill,’ abandon them.”- Kalama Sutta: The Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry
Introduction
Violence in the name of religion has become the predominant model for
politics in the modern world. In the present context, has increased in
its frequency, scale of violence, and national reach in Sri Lanka. Too
much emphasis is wrongly placed among the majority on various aspects on
the practice of other religions especially on the concept of halal. It’s telling that more verbal and political energies are being channelled to create anxiety about this.
The purpose of this article is to provide a basic understanding on
the concept of halal and how it operates internationally, to people from
my own community since they often tend to be provided with inaccurate,
lacking and sometimes simply fabricated facts of the same. Hence, right
understanding of the concept may help to alleviate vague or poor
understandings and in some way enhance peaceful relationship between Sinhalese and Muslims which we have been maintaining it for more than thousand years without any cracks.
What is halal?
Twenty years back when I was reading for my first degree at
University of Moratuwa, I raised this question to one of my batch mate
and now it is at the heart of a controversy for the majority Sri
Lankans.
Oxford dictionary defines ‘halal’ as ‘religiously acceptable
according to Islamic law.’ The word halal refers to anything that is
considered permissible and lawful under religion. Muslims are supposed
to live their lives by this concept, with its connotations of
cleanliness, integrity and self-restraint. The opposite of this word
is haraam. The term halal is widely used to designate food seen as
permissible according to Islamic law. In fact, it refers to permissible
behaviour, speech, dress, conduct, manner and dietary. In a Muslim’s
life, every aspect of life is regulated by Islamic law;
therefore, the Halal-Haraam dichotomy almost always applies to
everything, and Muslims make sure they understand what is what since
saying or doing Halal will lead to Paradise and Haraam to Hell.
Halal Foods
Halal foods are foods that Muslims are allowed to eat under Islamic
dietary guidelines. The criteria specify both what foods are allowed,
and how the food must be prepared. Why Muslims want halal foods at all?
“the logic behind this is that remaining blood in the body may become
polluted and harmful to humans”.
The foods addressed are mostly types of meat. In order to be halal,
permitted animals must be slaughtered according to prescribed methods of
slaughtering (halal slaughtering), which emphasised on the aspects of
hygiene, health, safety and humane treatment. A study conducted by the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Humane
Society International concluded that the animals that are slaughtered
according to halal method complies with the hygiene and environmental
health issues and halal meat should be labelled when it is put on sale,
so that members of the public can decide on the choice.
Halal Certification
Halal is not only concern on meat foods, it emphasise that Muslims
must ensure that all foods, particularly processed foods,
pharmaceuticals, and non-food items like cosmetics, are also halal.
Frequently, these products contain animal by-products or other
ingredients that are not permissible for Muslims to eat or use on their
bodies.
Halal certification tells Muslims that their ingredients and
production methods have been tested and declared permissible by a
certification body (i.e., internationally or locally recognised halal
certification bodies certifies the product as halal, preferably with a
trademarked and unique symbol). It also allows companies to export
products to most Middle Eastern countries and South East Asian
Countries.
Since the introduction of halal certification, many mainstream
manufacturers, especially pharmaceuticals, prepared foods, and other
products, as well as hotels, restaurants, airlines, hospitals, and other
service providers have pursued the halal market. These companies
purchase halal-certified products.
International Perspective
Halal Food Authority (HFA) is one of the UK’s largest regulators of halal foods. HFA is well
established, both within the halal slaughter and wider food industry.
Today, from Kelloggs cereals to KFC; from ASDA to British Airways, the
HFA logo can be found on food products declaring them to be approved as
halal.
The oldest and most well-known halal certifier in the United States
is called the ‘Islamic Services of America’. In 2011, ‘Halal Products
Certification Institute’ was established in California and became the
first worldwide corporation that certified halal consumer products such
as cosmetics, personal care products and perfumes & fragrances. The
institute was established by Islamic intellectual scholars and Muslim
scientists to assure the dissemination of halal consumer products.
Also in Europe, several organizations have been created over the past
20 years in order to certify halal products. A survey recently
published by a French association of Muslim Consumers (ASIDCOM) shows
that the market of halal products has been developed in a rapid way.
In South Africa, most chicken products have a halal stamp. The South
African National Halal Authority (SANHA) issues certificates and
products bearing this logo range from water, snacks, and even meat-free
products (which may contain non-halal ingredients). The South African
National Halal Authority also licenses the usage of the Halal logo in
restaurants where the food is halal in addition to no alcohol or pork
products being served.
McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) have been declared to be
halal in most of the countries. In the United
Kingdom, China, Malaysia or Singapore, halal fried chicken restaurants
having thousands of outlets serve halal foods, such as the ChicKing
Fried Chicken, Brown’s Chicken, and Crown Fried Chicken companies.
Also, in New York City there are numerous halal food carts in
business which serve gyros, chicken platters, and other halal fast
foods, whereas in Europe, there are many of halal certified Doner
kebab shops. Very recently, twelve stores in the Mary Brown’s chain
in Ontario and Alberta became 100% halal.
Thailand and Philippines also has a noticeable population of Muslims
and halal meat shops country wide. Within the People’s Republic of
China, which has a sizable Muslim minority population, halal food is
known as ‘Qingzhen’ means ‘pure truth.’
Charges justifiable?
Almost all the halal certifying institutions around the world
incorporated as non-profit organisations and they are categorised under
service sector. Besides, Halal certification is a long and meticulous
process that requires investment in expertise, equipment and manpower.
Therefore, organizations certify halal products are compelled to charge a
fee to meet their expenses. Like any other certification process, halal
certification also has a management cost involved. For example, when a
company obtains the quality standard, the system standard or the risk
management standard certification, it is charged for various costs with
regard to logistics, communication, human resources, professional
services and consultation fees. In addition to that, halal certifying
institutions has to bear the costs in relation to technological testing
and research, human resource costs as they are obliged to maintain a
dedicated team of food scientists, administrators, Halal auditors and a
large team of supervisors based at certified plants.
Conclusion
From the above, it appears that the concept of halal has a global
recognition and is wider in its scope. Specifically as far as Muslims
are concern, the concept of halal is embedded with their day to day life
and is considered as one of the significant aspects of practicing there
religion.
As Buddhists,
we must know how to regard other religions and their practices as we
belong to the religious group that accepts and appreciates the
reasonable teachings of every religion. Buddhists can also tolerate
the practices of other religious, cultural traditions and customs,
although they may not necessarily wish to emulate them.
In other words, Buddhists respect the other man’s views and
appreciate other practices without harbouring any religious prejudices.
If there are certain Buddhists who feel they are unable to appreciate
the ways of other religious practices, then the least they could do is
to maintain their silence and refrain from any undue criticism: this
attitude is very important for peaceful co-existence. If we study the
teachings of Buddhism, then we can understand the basis of our religion
and our attitude towards the other religions. To practise a religion we
must be honest, sincere, truthful and kind to others: we must avoid
deceit and cruelty: and in our relation with others we must be
broad-minded.
According to the Buddha, if we adopt aggressive and violent methods
to solve our problems, we cannot find the real solution to overcome
them. No doubt, we can suppress some troubles and temporarily win the
battle as long as our opponents remain weak. But when our opponents get
the chance, they will not keep quiet and will not forgive us.
Therefore, if we act with violence, we can never find lasting peace.
This is why the Buddha once said: “Hatred is never ended by hatred,
but only by loving-kindness.” Buddha also said: “It is not that I
quarrel with the world but the world quarrels with me. A teacher of
truth never quarrels with others.
Accordingly, non-violence is at the heart of Buddhist thinking and
behaviour. Nothing in Buddhist scripture gives any support to the use of
violence as a way to resolve conflict. One of Buddha’s sermons puts
this very clearly with a powerful example that stresses the need to love
your opponent no matter how cruelly he treats you:
“Even if thieves carve you limb from limb with a double-handed saw, if you make your mind hostile you are not following my teaching.”- Kamcupamasutta, Majjhima-Nikkaya I – 28-29 (By; Kasun Adikari)
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