KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 ― Irresponsible parties are out to confuse Muslim consumers by publicising issues concerning halal status, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) claimed today.
In its Friday sermon, the federal Islamic authority pointed out that the issue have made the Muslim community anxious and confused, as it was purportedly spread by those without proper knowledge of the halal standards.
“The pulpit hopes with knowledge, we can control our behaviour from bringing up various controversial issues that commonly becomes the attention and hot topic among Muslims,” said the sermon distributed to mosques nationwide.
“What is more saddening is when the spread of the issue caused anxiety and confusion among the Muslim community especially when it is made viral by unscrupulous people with unknown facts as halal issue and so on.”
Jakim also warned that Muslims can approach syirik, or idolatry, if they try to turn what is already declared as haram, or forbidden under Islam, into halal, or permissible.
“In this matter, Dr Yusuf al-Qardhawi in his book Halal and Haram has stated that Islam equates those who ban what is halal and vice versa as the same with idolatry against Allah,” it said, referring to the Egyptian theologian and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
Jakim’s halal division fell under public spotlight in the last few weeks after an executive with US pretzel chain Auntie Anne’s revealed that their application for halal certification had failed due to, among others, concerns over the “pretzel dogs” in their menu.
Jakim’s halal division director Dr Sirajuddin Suhaimee previously told the media that “In Islam, dogs are considered unclean and the name cannot be related to halal certification”, but has since claimed he was misquoted by the media.
Media outlets had reported Sirajuddin’s remarks about the unsuitability of the term “dogs” this week, along with the department’s guidelines against halal food items being similar in name to haram products such as beer, bacon and ham, among others.
Muslim lawmakers from both sides of the political divide have also expressed their disagreement with Jakim’s decision.
Earlier this week, pork burger chain Ninja Joe was reportedly raided by Selangor and Negri Sembilan Islamic authorities over claims that its “P. Ramly” homage to local Ramly burgers was confusing Muslims over the status of its halalness.
The incidents were the latest in the growing trend of religious conservatism in Malaysia, the only country in the world that prohibits non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” and other Arabic terms.
