Chitchat ITacit Boycott of All Halal Foodstalls Owned By Kafirs In Geylang Serai Baza

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Excerpts of a long blog post: You can read the full article at http://sifted.halalfoodhunt.com/ulti...aar-even-care/



Who is responsible for the food that is served? Halal means permissible. Haram means not permissible. Both have been explained and determined in the Qur’an (the word of God) and it is the responsibility of everyone who identifies themselves as a Muslim. In Islam, we are to care for and protect each other, as per the hadith below.

Abu Ad-Darda reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever defends the honor of his brother, then Allah will protect his face from the Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection.”

Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 1931

And so, if someone says “I am a muslim and I am selling XYZ”, it is reasonable for the buyer to expect the seller to ensure the halal status of the food that he or she is selling. Based on the above, I will trust him or her and consume the food that he or she sells. If the food that he sells has somehow included non-halal ingredients (purposefully or otherwise), then I leave the judgement to Allah to hold him or her responsible and accountable for it in the afterlife.

Everyone is held accountable for the sins that they commit and the good things that they do in this life. Why am I mentioning this? Because, that’s what being a Muslim is all about; we all want to score “points”, minimise our sins and collect rewards in this life as a testament for us on the day of judgement, isn’t it?

However, this belief is not a mandate for non-Muslims. Since they do not hold the same beliefs or worldview, therefore we do not endorse any stall or eatery that is not owned by a Muslim. If the stall is not owned by a Muslim, halalfoodhunt.com (and The Halal Food Blog) as responsible publications talking about halal food, would then require them to be halal-certified before we endorse the stall or the said brand.

If you’re confused, we DO NOT certify halal. Who gives halal certification? Majlis Ugama Islam Singapure (MUIS), or the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. They are legally the sole custodian of Halal Certifications in Singapore.

That said, halalfoodhunt.com then accepts and endorses Muslim-owned stalls only if the boss is Muslim. Muslim staff alone is not enough to account for halal because a Muslim staff is not responsible for the purchasing decisions of the ingredients sold in the stall. Therefore, we only hold the owner accountable for the halal status of their own stalls.

For Muslim-Owned Businesses:
Muslim-Owned businesses are verified by asking them to submit their company details and particulars (including NRIC) to us. The owner then, has to sign a document to state that he or she will be responsible for the halal status of his or her food establishment, before we begin any marketing effort and sharing about their eatery on our social media platforms.

What we found at Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar
For the purposes of this bazaar, we have either met the owner and asked them to sign off on his or her stall to verify that he or she is responsible for the halal status of his eatery. In other cases where the owner is unavailable, we have talked to the staff present to ask if the stall is Muslim-owned. If it is, the staff can sign off on our list as proxy to indicate that the stall is Muslim-owned.


I was honestly pretty shocked that all the stalls did not have their National Environment Agency (NEA) certificates on display yesterday (as they were currently in processing) for me to double confirm that the owner of the stall is Muslim.

So you guys, when the NEA certificates are released, our tip is to CHECK THE NEA CERTIFICATE! – NEA certificates contain the name of the owner of the stall, so looking out for the “binte” or “bin” that signals a Muslim name is one way to do a quick verification (Let’s also acknowledge that not all Muslims are Malay and have the “binte” or “bin” in their names. If that is the case, we would probe further)

Stalls that don’t have Halal Certificates but say that all the ingredients used are halal or halal-certified.
Some stalls not owned by Muslims in the bazaar have tried to convince us that the food they sell are halal because they have the halal certificate for the ingredients that they use.

For this, please refer to the halal risk factors which I’ve discussed earlier. The only way that I can endorse them in good conscience, is if I literally go to their stall, and open every single freezer, unpack all their food ingredients and check for halal.

I would also need to see their menu, identify the risks, and ask for all the ingredients that they use. From there, I would need them to produce the halal certificate for the ingredients that need a halal certification for certainty.

If you’re wondering, do I have the knowledge and training to do that? Yes, I do. (Thanks to my previous work experience.)

Am I going to do that? No, I am not.

Why? Simply because it is illegal to do so and only MUIS has the authority to do that.

So, am I going to list them as halal? No.

So, what do I recommend for these stalls?

What these stall owners can do however, is get the MUIS Halal Certificate for the Short Term Scheme. Details are here.



Don’t know how to apply?

Email me at [email protected] and I will help you apply.

P. S. For now, it’s too late but I can help you for your upcoming bazaars. Do note that all pasar malam stalls can also apply for this scheme.

OK. NOW THE LIST
Ok, so now that you know where my team and I are coming from, I can now release the list to you. Please DO NOT screenshot this list and send it to your friends.

SHARE THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE INSTEAD.
Reason: We expect stalls to be writing to us to clarify on their halal status, so this list will be updated from time to time.

http://sifted.halalfoodhunt.com/ulti...aar-even-care/


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