Don’t confuse “Halal” certification with Islam as it disrespects the religion.

Ask yourself – What were the origins of Islam and when did “Halal certification” begin? The latter is just a man made tool created by some latter day well meaning ‘do gooders’ in the name of religion, to satisfy personal objectives, and have snookered the followers of Islam to believe that one must consume food only if it is so certified, as otherwise the origin of the food or the method of its process is not assured. They use 21^st C food processes as the reason to justify its need to conform with the principal tenets of the religion. As the saying goes we now live in a technological age, where we just sit and get served, so we must have the restaurant also CMC/Organic/Halal Certified, we cannot eat at home because we do not have a kitchen. It is simply for the consumer to determine what certification they want, after understanding what certification means. Namely "only likely to conform to what it represents" NOT ASSURANCE.

There are millions of workers Muslim and not who eat together all over the world in Company Canteens provided by their employers, that are NOT halal certified, not necessarily owned by Muslim bosses who do not believe they are breaking their religious obligations. If you say Muslims should eat separately with food prepared by Muslims and which conform to their religion rules, then you immediately create a sense of alienation, of divisiveness and finally to discrimination. We must be inclusive, integrate, live and work in harmony together as people of one earth, no matter what our personal beliefs are. No one has exclusive rights on earth over any other!

Its association with Islam is only due to the proponents of Certification saying that the food, or whatever is given the certification, conforms to Islamic law, as lawful and so it assures the practitioner that the food they consume is in adherence to their religion. The flip side or the unsaid side is that if such certification is absent no such assurance can be given, and so the person ‘may’ be breaking this law.

Any person with common sense will know that if there is a merciful God he will not damn a person for consuming something that is NOT halal, namely Haram or unlawful, if he unknowingly does so. So for centuries practitioners of the religion consumed Halal and Haram unknowingly and obtained their God’s forgiveness for so doing. A merciful God will not punish people unfairly.

So given that background, one must have one’s common sense wits about one, and a good Muslim, will try and ensure that the meat he consumes is prepared under Halal rules, and if he does not know of the origin, rely on this certification as a means to satisfy his religious beliefs, whilst realizing and understanding that certification itself does not assure him of its fact. No amount of certification of anything can guarantee that the product conforms exactly if the people who are engaged in the business break the rules or practices.

One only requires one scandal to erupt on the misuse of the certification to put ALL CERTIFIED products in doubt, so I appeal to the people to be reasonable in the debate. In this respect I respectfully challenge the expansion of certification to include a “Whole range of products” daily expanding that are becoming certified due to passive pressure to do so even though it is assumed to be voluntary!!

ALL IT TAKES IS ONE SCANDAL BLOW CERTIFICATION IN SMITHEREENS

I would like a business man to proclaim that all his products are conform to Muslim law but he WILL NOT use the “Halal” certification tag on his products. It would be better if he is a Muslim, to show that he conforms to his teachings, and that certification IS NOT an edict from his God, but a clever marketing ploy from man. If that is done, I am sure this whole unnecessary wrap against Islam will disappear. 

For those who misunderstand, I am not questioning Islam, I am questioning 'Certification' and the future fallout, especially in Sri Lanka which will affect religious harmony and tolerance.

The implication being that this certification misuse is bad for Islam.