In support of bodu bala sena :

MAKING A MOUNTAIN OF A MOLEHILL

M.Haris Z Deen Ph.D, MBA. BSc., LLB (Hons)., FRICS

“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error………..” (Al-Qur’an Surah 2; verse 256)

The Bodu Bala Sena in their summit held in Maharagama on Sunday February 17, 2013, issued ultimatums on many important issues, some of which are worthy of discussion. The main issues inter alia were:

1. That only the Sri Lanka Standards Organisation had the legal authority to issue Halal Certificates and that Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics and Christians should refrain from consuming products which have the Halal Certificates issued by All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema

2. Putting an end to the constructing of mosques using funds sent by certain Middle Eastern Countries, monitoring of such fund flows to the country,

3. Deporting the representatives of all fundamental groups,

4. Abolition of birth control operations,

5. Imposing a ban on sending female migrant workers to the Middle East,

6. Safeguarding the historical places of Buddhist worship

When one analyses the statements and the above ultimatum it does not appear that they were either opposed to Halal Certification of consumer items, but their concern is that such certification has been forced upon businesses by the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema (ACJU). The Bodu Bala Sena perceivably would not have any objections if the certificates were issued by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute which apparently had the authority to do so. From any businessman’s point of view if such certification is issued by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute it would give genuine legitimacy for the purity of the products marketed by businesses apart from satisfying the concern of the majority population of this country.

A family having a meal

The Bodu Bala Sena might have got it wrong when they assert that the Halal Certification was forced upon the businesses by the ACJU. If that was the case the ACJU would certainly have been acting against what All’ah commands in the Qur’an which I have cited in the opening lines to this article.

Middle Eastern countries

I had the opportunity of discussing this particular issue of compulsion with an elderly Buddhist monk in Maharagama on Friday just after the Jummah prayers, and explained to him to him that there was no such compulsion by the ACJU and also that they were only doing this voluntarily. The Reverend Monk with a hearty laugh retorted, ‘if that is the case, why is there a need to charge different fees from different businesses based on their turnover, when the same certificate costing the same amount is being issued’. I had to agree with the respected monk if that was the case it cannot be accepted. If what the honourable monk says is true, the ACJU is clearly in error.

Nevertheless it is very encouraging not only for Muslims but also to the business community that the Bodu Bala Sena is not opposed to the issue of Halal Certificates if it was done by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute instead of the ACJU. The government can now act on this and provide a source of additional revenue to the Sri Lanka Standards Organisation by issuing Halal Certificates for those businesses interested in expanding globally.

The second issue of ‘constructing mosques’ using funds sent from certain Middle Eastern countries, I believe is a naïve contention, because I having worked and possessing extensive experience in the Middle Eastern countries can authoritatively confirm that transfer of funds for mosque construction and Madrasa’s are totally banned in those countries after 9/11. If at all such funds are being sent here they have to be surreptitiously transferred. To me this is a good suggestion by the Bodu Bala Sena which the government must take into serious concern and ban the use of any funds from Middle Eastern countries for its infrastructure development, building of hospitals, Universities and housing schemes etc., which have been constructed on funds obtained from the Kuwaiti Development Fund, and King Faisal Foundation. It would certainly be a shame if these sources of funding withdraw their support to the government of Sri Lanka. It would be a very good thing if the Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic and Christian subjects of Sri Lanka who are migrant workers in the Middle East heed the call made by the Bodu Bala Sena and immediately return to their motherland, because there is no way that they can avoid eating Halal Certified food after March 1, 2013 being in the Muslim Middle East.

This will also help the cause promoted by them because monies earned by them from Middle Eastern countries will immediately cease on their return and the Sri Lanka government can look for other areas of foreign exchange earnings.

I am all for ‘deporting the representatives of all fundamental groups’. All these fundamentalists, whether they are Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics or Christians, must be rounded up and deported. Where to is a question that the Sri Lanka government must decide. The Andamans I believe are as yet available. This is a good suggestion by the Bodu Bala Sena which the government must seriously take into account. The fourth major issue is the ‘abolition of birth control operations’. Who said that this is against Islam or Muslims? All Muslims, I am sure will join me in supporting this ultimatum, because birth control is considered a social evil by Muslims. It is only permitted under special circumstances. I would go further to suggest the closure of all clinics that offer birth control and abortion practices.

Buddhist Sacred places

Most certainly, the government must take immediate steps to implement the fifth ultimatum of the Bodu Bala Sena to ban the sending of Sri Lankan females to the Middle East for any kind of work. They might be subject to the wrath of the families affected, but nevertheless the Sri Lanka government can rest assured that there would not be any more Rizana’s to defend.

The last thing on my list of major issues is the protection of Buddhist Sacred places. This is the only issue I take exception to because, from time immemorial successive governments including the Portuguese, Dutch and English colonialists have ensured the protection of the Buddhist Sacred places. The growth of a Bo Tree however caused is considered a sacred thing and a statue of Gauthama Buddha is placed there with great reverence and without any objections from anyone. Thus this I believe is a misjudgement.

There were few other provocative ultimatums like the banning of the Niqab (face cover) worn by Muslim women. This is an issue of conflict among Muslims themselves, therefore I refrain from commenting on this.

It is clear that what started as a concern of the majority Buddhist Community in Sri Lanka has now become a controversy. The Sri Lanka Parliament is fraught with something that should not be an issue. What appears to be sought by the proponents of the Halal Certification matter, which is and should not be an issue, is to whip up communal discord between Muslims and the Sinhala people.

Both sides the Muslims, who has hitherto failed to explain the issue in its proper perspective to the Buddhist people and the politicians trying to get political mileage out of nothing by causing discord should take the blame if the matter gets out of hand. The President has made it clear in all the speeches he made during the Independence day celebrations that he expected to see all Sri Lankan communities Buddhists, Tamils, Christians and Muslims live in harmony and that he would not stand and tolerate anyone trying to whip up trouble between them.

Lankan housemaids at the airport

Some politicians are using the parliament as a platform for this hate campaign claiming parliamentary privilege to do so. It is my intention to put the records straight in respect of the Halal matter as far as the Muslims are concerned.

Halal and Muslims

It is also important to point out that the Holy Qur’an explicitly prohibits Muslims from compelling others or even each other in matters connected with religion. Against this background, let us examine what the position of the Muslims is before we can make any judgement upon them.

The first problem seems to be connected with the word ‘Halal’. People in the West, Europeans, Americans, Canadians or any others for that matter are very clear about the concept of “Halal” as much as they are clear about “Kosher” or vegetarianism. Then why is it a strange term for the Buddhists in Sri Lanka? In my view it is not because the common Buddhist person in the street or neighbourhood does not know it, it is the politician who is testing the intelligence of the Sinhala people. This aside, “Halal” is an Arabic word meaning what is permitted (lawful as far as Islam is concerned) as against “Haram” which means not permitted (or not lawful in Islam).

This term although applied in the strictest sense to food and drink, it applies to all matters of daily life. It is very important to understand this. In other words, “Halal” and “Haram” are Islamic legal doctrines of permissibility and taboo in every matter concerning the conduct of a Muslim’s daily life.

It concerns marriage with whom a Muslim can be married to, as follows: “Do not marry unbelieving women, until they believe: A slave woman who believes is better than an unbelieving woman……..”(2:221); “…………., Marry women of your choice, two, three or four; But if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one………….(4:3).

“…………. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the people of the Book, revealed before your time …………(6:5)

A “Halal” certificate is not required to seek out Muslim women or chaste Christian or Jewish people for marriage by a Muslim. The Hijab itself perhaps is the ‘Halal’ certificate for Muslims to recognise the woman he can get married to.

What is forbidden ‘Haram’ as regards marriage and conduct is as important to understand as marriage. “The adulterer cannot have sexual relations with any but an adulteress. And the adulteress, none can have sexual relations with her but an adulterer or an idolater. To the believers such a thing is forbidden”(24:3). Therefore, if the (mis)concept of the rabble-rousers is true, then all chaste Muslims must obtain ‘Halal’ certificates to prove that they are chaste. A white skull cap will not satisfy as most men use the white skull cap as a camouflage to hide their misdeeds. The ‘Halal’ certificate perhaps is the only way. What a shame?

As for trade and commerce, Islam has encouraged fair and honest trading in the following Qur’anic verses:

“Deal not unjustly, and you shall not be dealt with unjustly” (2:279).

“God loves those who are fair and just.” (49:9)

“Eat not up each other’s property by unfair and dishonest means.” (4:29)

“O you who believe! Be upright, for the sake of Allah, in testifying for fairness; and do not

let the hatred of a people urge you to be unjust, be just (since) that is closer to piety. Fear

(from displeasing) Allah, verily Allah is Aware of what you do.” (5:8)

The Holy Prophet (PBUH) has emphasised the honour and gradation given by Allah to those honest merchants as follows:

“A truthful and trustworthy merchant will be in the company of the Prophets, the upright and the martyrs” (reported by Tirmidhi).

“Allah shows mercy to a man who is kind when he sells, when he buys and when he makes a claim (reported by Bukhari).

“The generous man is near Allah, near paradise, near men, and far from hell, but the miserly man is far from Allah, far from paradise, far from men, and near to hell. Indeed, an ignorant man who is generous is dearer to Allah than is a worshipper who is miserly” (reported by Tirmidhi).

It does not say that these people must hang a ‘Halal’ certificate around their necks to say that they are truthful, honest and/or generous men.

Qur’an and ahadith are particularly insistent on the need for careful and correct weights and measures. Allah warns those who take full measure but give less to others:

“Give a full measure when you measure out and weigh with a fair balance” (17:35).

“Give full measure and full weight in justice, and wrong not people in respect of their

goods” (11:85)

“Woe to those that deal in fraud. Those who, when they have to receive by measure from men, exact full measure. But when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than due. Do they not think that they will be called to account?”(83:1-4)

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) instructed the owners of measures and weights, “You have been entrusted with affairs over which some nations before you were destroyed” (reported by Tirmidhi).

The Quran does not tell the Holy Prophet (PBUH) or Muslims to issue Certificates to say that the particular trader deals in compliance with the ‘Halal’ requirements. It is the Office of Fair Trading or any other relevant government authority which ensures that the right weights and measures are used.

The controversy (if one can call it as such) is therefore concerned with food and other products permitted for Muslims to consume.

There is considerable misunderstanding not only among non-Muslims, but also within the Muslim community about the concept of “Halal” and “Haram”. The Ulema (Islamic scholars) not only in Sri Lanka, but in most countries I have travelled have failed to clarify the concepts as Islamic legal doctrines not only connected with food, that too meat only, but to the whole aspect of a Muslim’s life. Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi with excellently dealt with the subject in his book The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam(1985) published by Shorouk International.

Halal – not for meat only

Having explained the extent which the Islamic legal doctrines of “Halal” and “Haram” covers, we now turn to the area of contention concerning “Halal” Certification. I have extensively dealt with the commercial exploitation of the “Halal” certification process by businesses to get into the global market. Anyone who cannot see through that is perhaps blind as a bat.

The Qur’anic requirement about permitted (‘Halal’) food is as follows:

“O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, Lawful and good; and do not follow the footsteps of Satan for he is to you an avowed enemy” (2:168).

“O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah, if it is to Him ye worship” (2:172)

“He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then he is guiltless. For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful” (2:173)

“………………….. Lawful unto you for (food) are all beats of cattle with the exceptions named………………… (5:1)

“Forbidden for you (for food) are dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah, that which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly )eaten by a wild animal unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars). (Forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows; that is impiety. ……………., But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, Allah is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful” (5:3)

“They ask thee what is lawful to them (as food): Say: ‘Lawful unto you are (all) things good and pure; and what ye have taught the beasts and birds of prey, training them to hunt in the manner taught to you by Allah. Eat what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of Allah over it and fear Allah; for Allah is swift in taking account” (5:4)

“This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them ……………. (5:5)

“O ye who believe; make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, but commit no excess, for Allah loveth not those given to excess” (5:87)

“Eat of the things which Allah has provided for you, lawful and good, but fear Allah, in Whom ye believe” (5:88)

“So eat of (meats) on which Allah’s name hath been pronounced if ye have faith in His Signs” (6:118)

“Why should ye not eat of (meats) on which Allah’s name hath been pronounced, when He has explained to you in detail what is forbidden to you – except under compulsion of necessity? But many do mislead (men) by low desires without knowledge. Thy Lord knows best those who transgress” (6:119)

The above verse of the Quran excellently amplifies those who desire to create mischief without knowing the truth.

“Eat not of (meats) on which Allah’s name hath not been pronounced. That would be impiety ………. (6:121)

“Say: ‘I find not in the Message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be dead meat or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine. For it is an abomination or what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than Allah’s. But (even so), if a person is forced by necessity without wilful disobedience nor transgressing due limits, thy Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (6:145)

In the above verse Allah has for the third time ‘rubbed’ the message in very clearly as to food that is permitted, including by his absolute wisdom and generosity the freedom for those forced by necessity to adopt the necessary course of action without transgressing the limits.

In the following verses Allah perhaps wishes to close the issue once for all for He says:

“So eat of the sustenance which Allah has provided for you; lawful and good; and be grateful for the favours of Allah. It is he whom ye serve” (16:114)

“He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked, but if one is forced by necessity without wilful disobedience nor transgressing due limits then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (16:115)

“But say not for any false thing that your tongues may put forth, ‘This is lawful, and this is forbidden,’ so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper” (16:116)

Perhaps this verse is addressed by Allah to the halal Certificate issuing authorities!!

The problem

The problem as far as I can see is that ‘Halaal’ certification has been ‘recommended’ – I say recommended because it is not a must, that businesses obtain ‘Halaal’ certificates for any product at all. ‘Halaal’ as pointed out in the foregoing paragraphs does not concern meat foods only. It is necessary for a Muslim to ensure that all foods, particularly processed foods, pharmaceuticals and non-food items like cosmetics are also ‘Halaal’. More often these products contain animal by-products or other ingredients that are not permissible for Muslims to eat, drink or use on their bodies.

I have seen in Sri Lanka, bottled water retailed by a company in Meegoda – ‘Pearldrots’, contained the ‘Halaal’ logo signifying that the water produced by this company does not contain any animal matter or animal fat component used for preservation. I did not find the same insignia in other water. Does it therefore mean that other water cannot be drunk by Muslims? I sincerely cannot understand the logic of this.

These are the problems that opponents of the ‘Halal’ Certification process highlight. However, it can clearly be seen by any right thinking person that businesses are ready to take advantage of anything to gain consumer confidence in their products.

The solution

There is a solution though, which the government can impose upon every manufacturer of food and other human consumption products, irrespective of whether they are for eating,

drinking, applying on the body or used as medicine. They must be made by law of prosecution to indicate a clear list of ingredients used identifying whether they are animal or vegetable products including preservatives used. Somewhat like the ‘E’ numbers used to identify such ingredients in England. Then the ‘Halal’ Certification process will be superfluous and only businesses who desire a slice of the global market can request it and most certainly pay for it.

If the above suggestion is adopted, then the Jamiyyathul Ulema can address the issue to Muslims only informing them of the different additives that contain non - ‘Halaal’ components as they are doing now.

This I believe will be a good compromise.

The writer is an Ex.Co Member of the Union of Muslim Organisations in UK and Eire and a Trustee of the Welwyn – Hatfield Islamic Society, UK.

References:

Al-Qaradawi; Y – (1985) – The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam - Shorouk

Deen; M.H. – (2012) - Shariah in Britain-The Biblical Forbidden Fruit? -United PC- Austria

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Blog: http://www.harisdeen.com