Halal or not?

Nowadays most people prefer to go to mamak restaurants, tomyam & seafood restaurants and fast-food joints to hang out and eat. But most of these places are not tagged with halal logo or certification from JAKIM. As you know, JAKIM is a government agency and one of its purposes is to certify halal eateries and products in Malaysia. I heard the shop owners have to apply for it and sometimes JAKIM enforcement officers may do random inspection on certain food joints in KL. Some of these joints have been fined in the past for failure to comply with the JAKIM requirements and their halal logos are withdrawn instantly from them.

Actually, because of lack of manpower and enforcement, JAKIM cannot monitor and enforce the halal logo compliance effectively at all restaurants and products in KL alone. Last time, there was an eatery in IKEA which served their foods together with pork. It became a national scandal for a short while. Many Muslims cried foul play over it. I notice that certain eateries do not have the halal logo displayed on them, though the owners are Malay and serve only Malay food and dishes. Maybe the owners are ignorant of the JAKIM’s rules and regulations. Maybe they do not bother at all about the halal logo requirement. To me these people are not sensitive. Maybe some Muslims do not care about it but they are good Muslims who expect something extra or better from these people.

I know that as a muslim I can only eat halal food, period!. It is an obligation on me to seek and eat halal foods only. So the skeptic would ask me, what about the food joints which do not have halal logo, are they haram automatically?

I referred the question to my learned ustaz friend; he advised me that if you clearly see and notice that the foods are from or mixed with haram products such as pork or liquor; then they are haram to eat, period!. If you don’t see or know it after you have exercised due diligence, then eat the food with the name of Allah, it is not haram anymore. He said any food joint or eatery which mixes up or serves the halal and haram foods jointly is not halal anymore, it becomes shubhah or uncertain. And as Muslim, we are obligated to avoid the uncertain foods as we might take haram foods with them. The halal is obvious and the haram is obvious, but in between them is the uncertain or shubhah. We have to avoid it.

Therefore, Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Chillies, Fridays, Zouk, and other pubs or eateries do not have the halal certification or logo from JAKIM because they serve liquor and non-halal meat or beef together with the halal one. They do not have separate kitchens or separate counters. Believe it or not, good Muslims will surely avoid these places. So much shubhah in them.

The next skeptical question is; what about the overseas restaurants or food joints, halal or not, as JAKIM is not there obviously. What do we eat when we go overseas? The learned ustaz said, Muslim can only eat cattle which are slaughtered by Muslim, no matter where. Therefore any place which serves meat or beef which you do not know who have slaughtered them, then the foods there are not halal actually, but after you do a due diligence on them and still do not know their origin, then you can eat them with the name of Allah, they are halal to eat.

Then the final skeptical question: how much due diligence do we have to exercise? Do we need to speak to the owner before we order some foods?

The learned ustaz said; whether we like it or not, we have to do something about it, maybe check the menu or ingredients of the foods, maybe we should ask the owner or customers there, maybe we should check around first before we order something. As Muslims we cannot complain as it’s our duty. If you don’t like it, then maybe you are not a true Muslim. I think the ustaz has made his final point.

So let us all have a halal mindset then....