Halal Certificate: Why This Kolaveri?

Recent propaganda against Muslims, through News Paper articles, websites, face book comments, and leaflets cause worries among intellectuals and patriots of the nation. Many of such propaganda consists false information or misleading interpretations.

An article written by a Buddhist cleric has appeared in last Sunday's Lanka Deepa (30^th December 2012 . ) The article deals with Halal certificate issue, according him, which is a way to expropriate Sinhala businesspersons' money, and which makes an increasing burden on consumers. According to him, it is also a back door Islamisation, and would cause bad image among the international community, as fundamentalism is enjoying all its privileges.

Halal Certificate

Many people do still have very little knowledge regarding Halal- Haram matters and have completely wrong picture about Halal certificate, which is issued by Jamiyyathul Ulama (Association of Muslim Clerics of  Sri Lanka). According to the basic sources of Islam, i.e. Quran & Sunna (Words, Actions, and approvals of Prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him), some are not permissible for Muslims to have, dress, use etc.   

According to Islamic sources, Haram (prohibited things) are limited in number and Halal (Permitted) are unlimited. Nothing can be categorized as Haram, unless there are clear religious text (Quran or Sunna) that notes it as Haram, or it is established by Islamic Clerics based on Ijthihad (a method of using reasoning by Islamic Scholars taking into consideration the sacred text and its context, for coming up with new rules for the modern problems).   

Since Harams are limited, refraining from them does not make any difficulty for Muslims. When it comes to Sri Lankan context, where multi religious societies are residing, it was confusion for Muslims what to consume, its legal ruling, weather it is Haram, or Halal. Due to a large number unnatural products are available in the market (whose ingredients are not familiar to public), Muslims felt a need for a system for distinguish the Haram from Halal. There arisen the idea, 'Halal Certificate'. As other certificates such as ISO (for international quality standards), SLS (for Sri Lankan quality standards), to obtain Halal certificate too, there are procedures.

This is nothing other than a symbol for Muslims saying that Halal certified products are permissible in line with Islamic Sharia. As it is viewed by some non-Muslims, this is not related to religious rituals of Islam. On the other hand, no one has the right to say a non-certified company is Haram, since merely it is not certified. By looking at this introduction, let's move into the Cleric's above mentioned article. The writer of the above-mentioned article puts forward several arguments against Halal certificate and calls the Sinhalese to boycott all Halal certified products.                                                    

Price Hike?

The writer argues that Halal certificate is one of the causes of the price hike. In his words, 'the huge sum of money paid by the businesses or factories for obtaining Halal certificate makes the price of their product higher. Eventually, this additional burden goes to innocent consumers'.

         

Many companies prefer to obtain the certificates because the Halal certified products are penetrating in Muslim markets. Such products are easily recognizable by the consumers and making increasing profits.  Therefore, the aggregate result of getting Halal certificate is the increasing profit, not the other way around. If the Halal certificate does not yield adequate returns, then such firm would prefer not to renew the halal certificate, which is exactly what a 'rational firm' would do in a competitive market.       

Of course, the price hike is the consequence of several factors. Such factors should be identified and appropriate remedies must be taken so that the burden of the consumers of all societies, are lifted. Luxury expenses of the first class citizens, mismanagement of public funds, corruption, in efficient public sector administration, unnecessary polls, and luxury lives of politicians are major factors of the price hike to name the few. The country is in dire need of economic and political reformation today so that the equality and justice can be established.

Should the Halal certificates are banned for the only reason of price hike, then several other certificates such as SLS and ISO should also been banned for the same reason. Thousands of rupees are spent for promotional and advertising campaigns of the companies. Such expenses should also be monitored, for the same reason.

Payments… why?

I do not have any idea what is exactly happening inside Jamiyyathul Ulama Halal wing. But I am sure that there are several administrative expenses related to this process, and therefore, there is nothing wrong to collect some payments. You have to pay annual fee for any award that your business is willing to obtain.

However, two important things I must agree. For the small firms, those are willing to obtain the certificate, some special arrangements must be made. Secongly, as Islam prohibits wasting the resources, any unnecessary wastage of resources, if there is any, must be avoided. An efficient management system must be introduced for this purpose.                             

Islamization?

 His second argument is that the 'fundamentalist elements' of the society is trying to Islamize the country through the Halal certificate. As I have already pointed out, this is only  a symbol, not a ritual. It does not even consider weather such products are produced by Muslims or non- Muslims. The important thing here is to ensure that the products are prepared not by prohibited means or ingredients.   

It is baseless and a narrow minded claim that the others- non Muslim-  are forced to follow, unwillingly, to an alien religion. Unless a person accepts the Islamic belief system, there is no necessity for any person to indulge in Islamic rituals. There is no any cunning way to make someone to indulge in it. On the other hand, Quran clearly states that there are no compulsions in the religion.           

And it is also beyond doubt that the purpose of Halal certificate is attempting to marginalize the Muslim consumers towards Muslim manufacturers. As once said by the head of Jamiyyathul Ulama, Assheikh Rizvi Mufthi, most of the companies coming forward to obtain Halal certificate are non-Muslim companies. Understandably, the focuses of such companies are Muslim niche markets.     

International Isolation?

The writer says that the Halal certificate would cause other countries to think of us as Islamic fundamentalists and would cause us international isolation. How it comes providing the rights for a minority sects of the country to perform their religious obligations freely, would cause damage to the reputation of the country? Muslim world is consisting one fourth of the world population. Halal certification systems of ours would definitely be taken as a good will towards us, and hence country might enjoy several Geo-political benefits as a result.

Halal Certificate Logos of Other Countries. 

Apart from everything else, the most important way that we have to think is as Sri Lankans. We should not necessarily shape our attitudes or internal matters for the sake of satisfying the super powers.

Why this 'Kolaveri'?

One may wonder why such a tiny matter like Halal certificate, raise such serious concerns like this. The major reason is our inadequate knowledge about each other. Despite the three decades old civil war, it is claimed that diverse religious sects live in harmony for hundreds of years in this land. Of course, it is true in its literal sense; we are living in harmony- without making troubles to each other. 

However, as a nation, this is inadequate. We should have a deeper understanding of others, especially, their culture, customs, religious practices etc those are the spirit and soul of the culture. Though living side by side for generations, we are lacking this. This is the simple reason why so many people do not understand how they behave insensitively towards others. We have so many misunderstandings based on our ignorance and one should expect that such misunderstandings would definitely cause long-term disturbances for the ethnic harmony in the country. 

Therefore, it is a duty of all responsible citizens to work together for some close discussions among different societies and trying to understand each other. This ignorance coupled with media propaganda, which is targeting Muslims world wide, it is not surprise that a group of people from our own neighborhoods have started propaganda against Muslims by various means.

We have to learn about us from each other, not from alien media. The post war country is walking through a critical time in the history. We all have a greater responsibility to build a country where respect and the equal rights are ensured for each citizen despite his ethnic, religious, or linguistic background. 

Our response will determine the future of  our country and our future generations. Not how our history is glory, or not how we gained victory over LTTE.            

  

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