A news report of the “UP government crackdown on businesses using fake documents for Halal certification” has created a lot of ado, including the backlash and flak from the usual suspects, a clique that intolerantly and vehemently propounds its tolerance just for the fact that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is perceived as the “Hindutva icon” and that he unabashedly asserts his Hindu ascetic identity.

The state police have filed a FIR for the phoney branding of products as ‘halal’ in order for financial gain. The FIR filed in Lucknow names several businesses that exploit consumers’ “faith” by acquiring bogus certificates to classify various items as “halal”. Halal India Pvt. Ltd., Chennai; Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust, New Delhi; and Halal Council of India, Mumbai, are among them.

Halal is an Arabic term that implies permissibility. Halal-certified products claim to have met the standards of Islamic law and are suitable for a Muslim to partake in. Muslims consider meat obtained in accordance with Islamic principles to be halal.

The Sunnah (jurisprudence) with regard to slaughter is to make the animal face towards the qiblah, but that is not obligatory. If he slaughters it facing any other direction, his slaughter is halal, but he has omitted a Sunnah.

This entails severing the cattle or poultry’s jugular vein, carotid artery (which transports blood from the brain to the heart and vice versa), and windpipe with a sharp knife at the front of the neck. The animals must be alive and healthy at the time of slaughter, and the carcass must be free of blood. Only a Muslim can perform the slaughter. During the process, it is also prescribed to recite religious Islamic prayers, known as shahada.

“Halal also acts as a powerful tool of economic apartheid and a gateway activity for religious exclusion and eventually conversion. This excludes non-Muslims from the process. Since Hindus and Sikhs have not been sticklers to their way of slaughter so far because of greater secularisation and very little idea about how halal economics work, most of the meat sold in India is halal,” observes senior journalist Abhijit Majumdar in an enthralling article for the FirstPost.

This “abstruse” halal certification for slaughtered meat was introduced in 1974 due to the absence of any prior recorded documentation. The Muslim world expanded the scope of halal certification in 1993 to include other items. Ludicrously, halal isn’t just limited to meat; even vegetarian products like coffee, paneer, nuts, soya, et al, come with a ‘halal certification’ these days to show that they don’t include any ‘haram’ ingredients like alcohol, pig fat, and so on.

Even cosmetics that are haram, i.e. non permissible in Islam are touted with a halal certification! Our indigenous brands such as CavinKare, Daawat rice, Bikano, Goldwinner oil, Vadilal ice cream, Amrutanjan Health Care, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali, Haldiram, Bikanervala and Gujarat Ambuja Exports are compelled to pursue halal certification in order to gain a stronger presence in markets like Singapore, Malaysia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

It is time that the subject is gauged in a diligent, sagacious, fastidious and objective manner, precluding the alleged “communal tilt” that a select voice in the media, academia, or polity is trying to give the issue that only pertains to the gig economy around health and food choice of millions. Delving a bit further, one would concur that this is a global phenomenon and not merely a state-centric or Bharat-centric issue. Halal food fraud is fast gaining public interest. Consumers are no longer satisfied accepting food products certified as halal at face value, aware of the potential for false advertising or food fraud. George Christensen, an Australian politician, claims that the funds generated through the halal economy facilitate the spread of Sharia law and extremism in his country. There are even rumours of the money being used for terrorism.

In India, the halal economy is worth around $100 billion and growing rapidly by the day. Director Rupesh Paul, in his book, Fuck Off, notes, “Halal economy is a big thing here. Sharia-compliant companies and halal food indexes are rising to fame, promoting greater investment in the halal industry. This is how the funds generated from halal go back into the system and generate more produce and money through Islamic banking and financial services. This is certainly developing an Islamic stronghold over the world”.

He further goes on, “Even cosmetics were haram once. However, a significant amount of money is involved, and naturally, it has been made halal. What’s more, Domino’s, Kellogg’s, Vadilal Ice cream and many other non-halal-certified pre-existing chains and products are allowed to function in Islamic countries only when they pay a hefty sum to gain a halal certification. The money goes into strengthening the Islamic system. An entire guiding system exists for keeping non-Muslim consumers in the loop and maximising profits. It’s a pretty well-drafted and calculated move on the part of Islamic communities”.

“In a democracy like India, where the government has set up FSSAI to certify a product, it is nothing but extortion, especially for non-meaty products. Even if one takes into account the religious sensitivities of Muslims vis-à-vis halal meat, and for that, a body exclusively comprising Muslims can be set up, the government can easily set up its own halal certification centre for non-meat products and earn easy money. The government, which doesn’t mind extorting Hindu temples for money in the name of managing them while pursuing a laissez-faire approach with minority institutions, religious or otherwise, may find this idea quite appealing,” opines senior journalist Utpal Kumar in a scathing article.

We need to address a few pertinent questions without mincing words.

1. Should the Indian economy allow this Sharia-inspired parallel economy of Halal to persist, thus compromising the secular credentials of the national economy?

2. An organisation like Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind (JUH), one of the oldest halal certifying trusts in India, is constantly in the news for their legal support of the accused in terror-related cases. Even in murder cases, like in the case of Kamlesh Tiwari, bomb blasts and terror funding cases, the organisation extended legal support to the accused. Under the garb of Nehruvian secularism that we espouse as a nation-state, what are the chances of these so-called private trusts misappropriating funds (already under the legal probe) detrimental to national integrity and sovereignty when given a free run?

3. While this Islamist certification must cost a fee, how fair is it for the majority in Bharat to bear this illicit extra cost when it is completely unwarranted, untoward and unwanted?

4. Does the existence and prevalence of these quasi-certifying bodies nullify the existence of FSSAI?

5. Is it truly secular to impose a religious (communal) food choice on someone, even if inadvertently, leaving aside his consent?

6. This halal represents a form of apartheid: economic and religious. Do we need such entities that may catapult in the snapping of ties between two communities—pitting one against another—at the cost of wooing one while putting the internal peace of the nation on the altar?

7. Bharat is also known as the birthplace of religion. Where will it stop if every religion, sect or community starts seeking legitimacy for its food preferences?

Time is propitious for the other states to follow the lead of UP CM Yogi Adityanath in prohibiting the felonious halal certification.

(The article was published on FirstPost.com on November 21, 2023 and has been reproduced here)