A lot of discussions have been going on over the Halal certification issue. In previous articles we have explained how the Halal meat industry practises discrimination against non-Muslims and eventually cuts off non-Muslims from jobs and employment, just to maintain the religious requirements of the Halal process.
Many companies, Islamists, and Halal proponents have clarified that the Halal certificate is also there for non-meat products like vegetarian food items, cosmetics and other FMCG goods. There have been claims from some elements that Halal certification is just a certification for ‘purity and authenticity’, and a Halal certification (on non-meat products) does simply imply that the product is ‘good’.
Why do we need a Halal certificate anyway? And more importantly, what is the justification behind the certification apart from religious belief?
There are many questions that this claim raises.
There are existing certifications by the government
If we start accepting Halal certificates on products, does that mean the existing government certifications on consumer products like ISI, and FSSAI are not enough? Is there a transparent, scientific and well-defined method that decides the so-called purity, or goodness of the products? The answer will be no because Halal certification is issued by religious Islamic organisations, for example, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in India, whose areas of speciality include providing legal assistance to terrorists and murderers.
Halal certification is purely religious, even in non-meat products because it considers whether the said products contain any ingredients that are prohibited in Islam. The very idea is discriminatory in itself because the basis of the certification here is a religious belief, whether a certain ingredient is ‘allowed’ in the Islamic faith or not.
Where does it stop?
We have explained earlier how the whole idea of Halal certification is discriminatory towards other communities. It imposes a religious belief on non-followers too. Halal certification thus encourages a parallel economy. In a secular country like India, where over 80% of the population is Hindu, and where numerous religious beliefs thrive along with several cultures, the very idea of Halal is outrageous.
If a Halal certificate is there for non-meat products, and a considerable section of the population wants it on a range of products like cosmetics, non-meat food items, and other FMCG products, where does it even stop? What if this need for the certification is extended next to, say, railway station buildings, buses, clothes, rubber, petroleum products?
If one community demands Halal certification on products, and the government allows it, what is going to stop other communities from demanding similar certifications? What if the Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists demand consumer goods to be ‘certified’ fit for consumption only after they have been okayed by their respective religious authorities? What if the majority Hindus demand it too?
Isn’t this similar to extortion? A ‘certified’ system of ‘hafta wasooli’?
There are already existing government-specified norms, quality parameters and regulatory requirements that companies have to meet to get their products certified fit to be marketed. So why is this parallel system of ‘certifying’ them for one particular community is even continuing? Since the government has nothing to do with it and does not mandate it? Isn’t this just a means to make companies shell money to ‘buy’ that certificate to meet the demands of a certain community? Isn’t this a sophisticated version of “pay us 25,000 Rs every month, or you cannot open your shop in our area”?
Why does the government even allow it?
FSSAI doesn’t give Halal certificates. In India, there are several religious bodies that issue the so-called certificate to products, deciding their ‘purity’ as per the Islamic faith. The main Halal certification bodies in India are
- Halal India Private Ltd
- Halal Certification Services India Private Limited
- Jamiat Ulama-E-Maharashtra- A state unit of Jamiat Ulama-E-Hind
- Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust
So, there is an entire parallel certification process that is operating outside the ambit of the respective state and national authorities. The government of India is allowing bodies affiliated with one particular religion to issue quality of supposed religious purity and admissibility to consumer products.
Does this not undermine the entire idea of having a government body’s certification process for the quality and standard of goods? And why does the government of a secular democratic republic where Hindus are in majority and numerous faiths like Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism exist in significant numbers is even allowing one particular faith to run its own certification business?
Does the Akal Takht give its stamp and certification to consumer goods in exchange for a fee? Do companies need to pay the Vatican to have their products cleared for consumption by Christians? Does the Dalai Lama issue his stamp and seal to products that are to be used by Tibetan Buddhists? And where do Hindus even apply?
Why is there a system of parallel economy, running with the government’s blessings in ‘secular’ India, especially for one community? Just because they demand it? How is this even fair?
Conclusion
It is futile, and even unfair to an extent to target private companies that have sought the Halal certificate to market their products, to Muslims. The onus of the issue is on the government, to either mandate that the government certification is enough for any company to sell their goods or explain why they have allowed a particular community to demand a parallel certification mechanism in a so-called secular country.
