Malaysia Goes High-Tech in Bid to Become Islamic Halal Hub

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, hoping to become a global hub for food and other products that are halal, or prepared by Islamic rules, plans to create an Internet portal for worldwide halal trading and certification, the prime minister said Monday. 

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told the two-day World Halal Forum that the plan envisages an Internet site for trading, certification assistance, and an online library for halal research and market intelligence.
Malaysia's state-run Halal Industry Development Corp., or HDC, signed an agreement at the forum with Microsoft Malaysia to develop technology for dealing with the international halal market. A halal designation means a product complies with Islamic principles of hygiene and humane treatment of animals, and other rules involving the production processes.

"We must broaden the horizon of halal to go beyond just food-related products and services," Abdullah said.
"The vast business and commercial potential of the halal sector is beyond doubt, with a captive market of 1.6 billion Muslims and an estimated market size of more than US$600 billion (euro442 billion)," he said. "The halal sector not only offers lucrative and tangible returns, but it is also a duty for Muslims." Abdullah said Microsoft and the HDC would create a pilot program in Malaysia before expanding it to other Muslim nations. "Malaysia remains committed to becoming a significant player in the global halal market and ultimately, to become a world halal hub," he said.

Malaysia has said it would use its edge over other Muslim nations in trading, logistics, banking and halal certification to position itself as a global center for the manufacture and export of halal products by 2010.
HDC chief executive Jamal Bidin said increasing demand for halal certification worldwide has spurred Malaysia, which imposes strict halal rules, to export such services. "Our halal certification is sought after by many countries. Malaysia is the only country in the world where certification is done by the government," Jamal told reporters.

Details of the planned Internet portal are still being completed, but Jamal said it would boost trade among the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, one of the world's most influential Muslim groups, by helping them find raw materials and sell finished halal products.

Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sawanit Kongsiri, who attended the forum, hailed Malaysia's efforts and said it would boost Thailand's own halal livestock and food industry. "One country cannot compete with the world anymore," he told reporters. "The way down the road is for community and working together, not nations competing against each other, especially neighboring countries."

Overview of Halal Industry

In today’s world the HALAL Industry is the fastest growing global business across the world. It is also an emerging market force that is attracting non-Muslims with its wholesome, hygienic and contamination-free principles is food production. HALAL ultimately has a consumer reach of more than 6 billion people worldwide. With per capita expenditure on food and beverages consistently on the rise, especially throughout the Muslim world, the estimated value for HALAL products has reached to several hundred billion USD annually. With the emergence of this new global market, the government of Malaysia saw this as an opportunity to set up the world’s first development corporation in making HALAL its major focus. AS what was mentioned by our Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi said in his opening speech at the World HALAL Forum back in 2007,”Establishing Malaysia as a Global Halal Hub has been the aim of his government for many years”. The United Nations has cited Malaysia as the best example in the world in terms of justification for the labeling of HALAL food when the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted the Codex general guidelines for the use of the term HALAL in Geneva in 1997. The Malaysia model has been regarded as the basis for the development of the HALAL food industries. Malaysia is seen as the world’s most successful example where a single HALAL standard is applied throughout the country.

Opportunity in marketing to U.S. Muslims, but some face ugly reaction

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — In the ballroom of an upscale hotel a short train ride from New York, advertisers, food industry executives and market researchers mingled — the men in dark suits, the women in headscarves and Western dress. Chocolates made according to Islamic dietary laws were placed at each table.

The setting was the American Muslim Consumer Conference, which aimed to promote Muslims as a new market segment for U.S. companies. While corporations have long catered to Muslim communities in Europe, businesses have only tentatively started to follow suit in the U.S. — and they are doing so at a time of intensified anti-Muslim feeling that companies worry could hurt them, too. American Muslims seeking more acknowledgment in the marketplace argue that businesses have more to gain than lose by reaching out to the community.

"We are not saying, 'Support us,'" said Faisal Masood, a graduate of the University of Illinois, Chicago, and management consultant. "But we want them to understand what our values are."
There are signs the industry is stirring: Faisal Masood, a Wall Street executive who organized the gathering, had attracted only 200 or so attendees when he started the event last year. This year, he had to close registration at 400 to keep from going over capacity.

The worldwide market for Islamically permitted goods, called halal, has grown to more than half a billion dollars annually. Ritually slaughtered meat is a mainstay, but the halal industry is much broader, including foods and seasoning that omit alcohol, pork products and other forbidden ingredients, along with cosmetics, finance and clothing.

Corporations have been courting immigrant Muslim communities in Europe for several years. Nestle, for example, has about 20 factories in Europe with halal-certified production lines and advertises to Western Muslims through its marketing campaign called "Taste of Home." Nestle plans to increase its ethnic and halal offerings in Europe in coming years.

In the United States, iconic American companies such as McDonald's (which already has a popular halal menu overseas) and Wal-Mart have entered the halal arena. In August, the natural grocery giant Whole Foods began selling its first nationally distributed halal food product — frozen Indian entrees called Saffron Road.

Along with new customers, however, the companies draw critics and can become targets in the ideological battle over Islam and terrorism.

Abdalhamid Evans, project director with the World Halal Forum Europe, which works with the global halal industry, said a recent backlash has prompted some mainstream businesses in Europe to keep a lower profile about their halal products or scale back their offerings.

In the U.K., after Kentucky Fried Chicken rolled out halal menu options in several dozen stores, the restaurant chain pulled the items in a few locations in the face of protests. Critics dubbed the menu "terror chicken."

Last September, the Daily Mail of London reported that many British supermarkets, fast-food chains, hospitals, schools, pubs and sporting arenas such as Wembley Stadium, were serving some halal meat and poultry without notifying the public. A large share of meat sold in Britain comes from New Zealand, where the slaughterhouses have expanded halal production as they try to boost their already robust exports to Islamic countries.

In the uproar that followed, Barnabas Aid, a group that fights Christian persecution worldwide, started a petition in Britain against what it called the "imposition" of halal. It "may be interpreted as an act of Islamic supremacy," the group said.U.S. companies have also faced some resistance, although on a smaller scale.
Last year, Best Buy Inc. was inundated with calls, e-mails and letters complaining that the company was anti-American after acknowledging a Muslim holiday — "Eid al-Adha," or the Feast of the Sacrifice — for the first time in a national advertisement. That year, Eid al-Adha fell around Thanksgiving, so the ad, a small bubble at the bottom of the page, appeared in the company's Thanksgiving flier. Critics seized on the timing in their complaints. "They used very abusive language," said Nausheena Hussain, a marketing manager for Best Buy in Minnesota. "It was pretty sad."

Best Buy executives stood by their decision. The company saw the holiday greeting as part of a larger goal of reaching consumers from different cultures. Soon, Muslims started calling to thank Best Buy and set up a Facebook page honoring the company, which continues to acknowledge Muslim holidays.

"It's a very viable customer segment," said Zainab Ali, senior marketing manager with the money transfer company MoneyGram, which ran a special Ramadan promotion this year for Muslims in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. "You just need to get over some of the fear and look at them as just another consumer."
The potential for profit is drawing more companies to the idea.

This year, Ogilvy & Mather, the global advertising firm, started an international Islamic branding consultancy called Ogilvy Noor that includes an emphasis on U.S. Muslims. ("Noor" means "light" in Arabic.) Muslims came to the United States in large numbers for doctorates, engineering and medical degrees, after the federal government eased immigration quotas in the 1960s. Studies have found that a significant percentage of Muslims are better educated and wealthier than other Americans.

Joohi Tahir, vice president of marketing and sales for Crescent Foods, the halal chicken producers based in Chicago, said Wal-Mart executives approached Crescent Foods two years ago looking for a halal chicken supplier, then invited Crescent executives to Wal-Mart headquarters in Arkansas to advise them on reaching Muslim consumers.

That same year, Wal-Mart opened a supercenter in Dearborn, Mich., an area with one of the largest Muslim and Arab populations in the country. The store is geared for Mideast consumers, with a range of halal products, including specialty foods. "Mainstream is coming to halal," Tahir said. Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz said the merchandise in each store can vary according to the needs of the surrounding community, so it is difficult to know the exact number of U.S. stores that carry halal products. But several in Michigan and at least one store in Canada have advertised that they offer some halal items. Manufacturers entering the field hope they can appeal to non-Muslims as well. Jack Acree, executive vice president of American Halal Co., which produces the Saffron Road products, emphasizes that the entrees are not only halal, but also all-natural and humanely farmed, and free of antibiotics and hormones.

The Quran and Hadith about Halal and Haram food

 

Translated verses of the Quran

“O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you, and render thanks to Allah if it is (indeed) He whom ye worship” (2:172).

“He hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swineflesh, and that which hath been immolated to (the name of) any other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (2:173).

“O ye who believe! Fulfill your undertakings.The beast of cattle is made lawful unto you (for food) except that which is announced unto you (herein), game being unlawful when ye are on pilgrimage. Lo! Allah ordaineth that which pleaseth Him” (5:1)

“Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine-flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols.

And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you and have chosen for you as religion Al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (5:3)

“They ask thee (O Muhammad) what is made lawful for them. Say: (all) good things are made lawful for you. And those beasts and birds of prey which ye have trained as hounds are trained, ye teach them that which Allah taught you; so eat of that which they catch for you and mention Allah's name upon it, and observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is swift to take account” (5:4)

“This day are (all) good things made lawful for you. The food of those who have received the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them. And so are the virtuous women of the believers and the virtuous women of those who received the Scripture before you (lawful for you) when ye give them their marriage portions and liven with them in honour, not in fornication, nor taking them as secret concubines. Whoso denieth the faith, his work is vain and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter” (5:5).

“And eat not of that whereon Allah's name hath not been mentioned, for lo! it is abomination. Lo! the devils do inspire their minions to dispute with you. But if ye obey them, ye will be in truth idolaters” (6:121).

From the Hadith

-On the authority of Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah said: “Allah the Almighty is good and accepts only that which is good. Allah has commanded the Faithful to do that which He commanded the Messengers, and the Almighty has said: “O ye Messengers! Eat of the good things, and do right..” (Quran 23:51). And Allah the Almighty has said: “O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you..” (2:172). Then he mentioned [the case of] a man who, having journeyed far, is disheveled and dusty and who spreads out his hands to the sky [saying]: O Lord! O Lord!-while his food is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, his clothing unlawful, and he is nourished unlawfully, so how can he be answered!” (Muslim).

-On the authority of Abu Ya'la Shahddad ibn Aus, the Messenger of Allah said: “Verily Allah has prescribed proficiency in all things. Thus, if you kill, kill well; and if you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to the animal he slaughters” (Muslim).

-In an incident narrated by Rafi' bin Khadij, the Prophet told Muslims who wanted to slaughter some animals using reeds, “Use whatever causes blood to flow, and eat the animals if the Name of Allah has been mentioned on slaughtering them...” (Bukhari).

-Narrated Abu Thalaba: Allah's Messenger forbade the eating of the meat of beasts having fangs (Bukhari).

-Narrated Ibn Umar: The Prophet cursed the one who did Muthla to an animal (i.e. cut its limbs or some other part of its body while it is still alive (Bukhari).