Warning: this column does not have a halaal stamp!

In January this year, political commentator Mohau Pheko wrote a rather ignorant article, published in the Sunday Times, about the “halaal” symbol used on various foodstuffs in South Africa. Arguing that South Africa was a secular state that should neither support nor oppose any religious beliefs or practices, she went on to claim that, in South Africa, “Christianity is the de facto official religion of the country”. Her main thrust, however, was that the use of the halaal symbol was a religious imposition on millions of non-Muslim South Africans. As I said, pretty ignorant (and, dare I say, shameful for a political commentator).

At the time, I wrote an 800-word response to Pheko which was not published. While I stand by my argument against her, I am becoming increasingly convinced that the Muslim community in South Africa is heavily accountable for making a mockery of the notions of halaal and haraam.

Halaal now, in South Africa, is understood by many people as meaning a type of food (often, even, as a “Muslim” word for curry – which implies, of course, that pap is haraam even without the vleis). In fact, as all Muslims know, the term means something that is acceptable or permissible. And, generally, Muslims know what things are permissible. Indeed, the first principle of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) is that all things are permissible unless something can be proved to be impermissible (haraam) through textual proof (from the Qur’ān or sunnah).

This, unfortunately, is not the attitude that the South African Muslim community has internalised. Hence we have numerous halaal-certifying agencies (and numerous turf battles between them): because ordinary Muslims are not willing (and have not been allowed) to exercise our own judgement in respect of such issues.

I’m not saying that these agencies should not exist; having travelled in countries tiny Muslim populations, I can appreciate the assistance of such certification. However, the level of control and regulation by these agencies is becoming obscene.

A friend of mine opened a water bottling plant a few years ago and he tried marketing his product mainly to hotels and conference centres. When I met him soon after he started his business, he proudly gave me a few bottles of water – on the house, of course. Beautiful bottles, but I was amazed that they carried a halaal stamp. “This is silly,” I told him. “You are a Muslim, you are bottling this and you know that water is by nature halaal. Why do you have to have this stamp?” It turns out that when he tried marketing his products, he ran into a brick wall. The purchasers at these businesses refused to buy his water unless it was certified “halaal”. They insisted their Muslim clients would otherwise not drink the water!

So, we now have bottled water bearing halaal stamps; we even have toothpicks proudly declaring themselves to be halaal. Because (in complete violation of the first principle of fiqh) in South Africa, of course, the water is haraam unless it can prove itself to halaal. And so too with the toothpick and all the other (obviously permissible) items we see on the supermarket shelves.

On a radio talk show on a Muslim station a few years ago, I called in to ask the representative of a halaal-certifying agency why they certified water. He responded that some of these bottling companies had parties on Friday nights and even if one drop of alcohol fell into the water, it would become haraam. I assumed from this response that these companies have their parties – with alcohol – in the area where their water bottling takes place. Very bad practice. I also assumed from the response that these halaal agencies send their inspectors every Friday night to attend these parties to monitor whether alcohol falls into the water vats. What a taxing job! The next step, I suppose, is for all our taps to have halaal stamps as well. Who know what kind of shenanigans go on at the parties at Johannesburg Water, astaghfirullah!

We are making a pious mockery of what can be very rational notions of halaal and haraam. The principle of the permissibility of all things is quite liberating in how it informs people that the world is available to you to use ethically – except for a small number of things which are prohibited and which are clear.

The Prophet Muhammad (s) is reported to have said: “Allah has prescribed certain obligations for you, so do not neglect them; He has defined certain limits, so do not transgress them; He has prohibited certain things, so do not do them; and He has kept silent concerning other things out of mercy for you and not because of forgetfulness, so do not ask questions concerning them.”

I suspect that bottled water and toothpicks falls in the category of those things about which we should “not ask questions concerning them”. Let us embrace the mercy of Allah, rather than accusing Him of forgetfulness.

The notion of halaal is also one referring to that which is wholesome and good for human consumption. I find it quite comforting to know that the best form of halaal food is that which is good for my body, in which animals have not been mistreated before they became meat on my table. I’m sure many people, Muslim and non-Muslim, would find such a notion beautiful. However, when we mock the concept by wielding halaal stamps like weapons to prevent people from eating – as we do, that beauty fades.

It is this same attitude which has reduced our understanding of the shari’ah to an understanding simply about halaal and haraam (or, more correctly, about haraam) and about punishments: stoning, lashing, amputating hands, etc. Who gives much consideration these days to the objectives of the shari’ah, principles articulated by scholars for centuries such as the protection of life or the protection of the intellect or, as some scholars argue, the protection of the environment. If we place these objectives uppermost in our minds, the way we understand shari’ah and how it should be “applied” would change radically.

Finally, let me remind ourselves about Allah’s warning. We are told in Surah 9, Verse 31: “They (Christians and Jews) have taken their rabbis and priests as lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary, although they were commanded to worship no one except the One Allah. There is no deity but He, glory be to Him above what they associate with Him!”

‘Adi bin Hatim, who had been a Christian before accepting Islam, once heard the Prophet (s) reciting this verse and he said: “O Messenger of Allah, they do not worship them.” The Prophet (s) replied, “Yes, but they prohibit to the people what is halaal and permit them what is haraam, and the people obey them. This is indeed their worship of them.”