UNITED KINGDOM: ‘Cruel’ Halal slaughter methods under attack

British ministers are seeking to change a law to ensure that meat slaughtered using Islamic, or Halal, methods cannot be sold without proper labelling. “unwitting members of the public” are being served Halal meat “secretly” in schools, hospitals, pubs and famous sporting venues, claiming that many in Britain deem the traditional Islamic way of preparing meat as “cruel,” including animal rights campaigners. Like Jewish kosher slaughter, the Halal method requires the butcher to kill the animal by slitting its throat, ensuring the animal is not stunned first to lessen its ordeal. Muslims are adamant that the Halal method ensures the least amount of pain possible for an animal, and is in accordance to animal welfare measures.

Bright future for Halal personal care

With a worldwide recession looming, the Halal sector is one of the few industries bucking the trend fuelled by savvy consumers increasingly demanding purity of ingredients in their personal care products.Not only is the Halal sector not affected by the recession, it has followed its own growth path, with the Institute for Personal Care Science of Australia valuing the global Halal Cosmetics market at a staggering $13 billion and growing. Muslims and non-Muslims alike are inspecting ingredients with a keen eye and making buying decisions based on purity of the products they use on their skin. Consumers across the spectrum read labels for ingredients and have become increasingly smart about what goes into their skin care, shampoo, toothpaste, hair dyes and cosmetics. By the same token, there is little difference in the Halal sector, where consumers want products which take both health and religious compliance into consideration and therefore are certified as Halal. The case for organic has been made. Today the growing demand for Halal products is following suit. 

Demystifying economic behaviour: An Islamic perspective

Humans are much more than utility maximizing machines. They are capable of using both material rationality and moral rationality to differentiate right from wrong and need reinforcement to adopt virtues influenced by an inner urge other than just material interests.

This inner urge can be reawakened by looking beyond utility maximization models to re-acknowledge the principal fact that humans are moral being than just an instrument for maximum material advancement for self.

The unbridled pursuit of greed also requires some external source of guidance than mere reliance on material animalistic instincts of a human soul. Religion provides the ethical check and call to balance material pursuits with attention to misery of the underprivileged people.

Islamic Economics and its knowledge sources, i.e. Quran and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) providing the foundation for Islamic Economics address directly the heart and remind the human being of his freedom in choosing actions and that he/she is expected to use that freedom in the manner that makes him/her worthy of eternal and complete happiness in life hereafter. This belief provides a permanent incentive to righteous behaviour even if it does not get rewarded in this life and it also provides a permanent check on wrong behaviour even if it is not codified and prohibited by the worldly institutions and law.This brings in the dynamic model of life a sea of change and truly impacts a human’s heart. It also influences the actions and reinvigorates the spirit of sacrifice and sparkles the moral being in a human.

Macroeconomists have strong disagreements for the economic explanation of events in the short run than in the long run. In the long run, there is lesser disagreement. But, if we consider the model of life in the long run, there will be no disagreement. Life, humans and their behaviour in social context has a lot of complexities which are difficult to model mathematically. But, life’s complex realities still has a deterministic end, which is relevant for all.

Everyone that comes in this world is determined to die and then be answerable for his/her actions. There is no error term to subscribe to. The model of this worldly life is in the perfect perusal of the Creator, Who knows everything as He built everything. There is no error possible in Allah’s judgment of us. We are the one responsible for our own parameters. These parameters are not exogenous to the model of life. We, performing different roles in our lives, are the ones controlling them. It is an awesome power to have it, but it is not without responsibility as it should not have been.History of economic man is fascinating. He has used the nature’s blessings to find and create new and innovative ways of maximizing utility. But, nonetheless, at all points in time, he does not feel satiated. He remains poor ‘relatively’ to the limitless desires and nature’s limitations. The dream of being absolutely apart only remains a dream in everyone’s life. But, then, everyone achieves it one day. There is one place that everyone reaches where he is not accompanied by anyone. It’s his or her grave. Belief in life hereafter is the only thing that gives meaning to this world and life and this is the most important pillar of Islamic Economics.

MALAYSIA: HDC Pakistan to organize Halal Compliance training for Pakistani companies to pre-qualify them for exports to Malaysia.

An MOU of cooperation was signed last week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during the Pakistan-Malaysia Business forum that was attended by 22 member Pakistani delegations, headed by Mr Tariq Puri, Chief Executive of TDAP. Halal Development Council (HDC Pakistan), a not-profit NGO registered in Pakistan for the development of Halal Economy and to facilitate export promotion of Pakistani Certified Halal products signed this MOU with the Islamic Food Research Centre Asia, a member of the World Halal Council, specializing in Halal Audit, Research and Training, according to Shari’ah and as per Malaysian and International Halal Standards.

Burnt bone-free 'Halal sugar' heads to Middle East

Muslims in the Middle East will soon be able to sweeten their coffee and cakes with Halal sugar guaranteed to be free from burnt animal bone powder. Keen to tap a booming market dominated by meat slaughtered in accordance with Islamic rituals, one of India's largest sugar sellers is bagging up Halal-branded sweetener made without any powdered cow bones used by some sugar refiners.

Organic Halal meat to hit shelves

Shoppers will be able to buy organic Halal meat in supermarkets within three months. It will be available in Carrefour hypermarkets across the country and some independent butchers in Dubai. Organic Halal meat has been available only from hotels and restaurants. OBE Organic, an Australian family business, plans to ship 500 kilograms of the meat each month, starting from the end of March. The company soon hopes to increase that to 1,300kg.

Organic Halal meat to hit shelves

By The Halal Journal Newsdesk (Source: The National) published 12 hours ago

Original Article Source: The National
By Caline Malek

Shoppers will be able to buy organic Halal meat in supermarkets within three months.

It will be available in Carrefour hypermarkets across the country and some independent butchers in Dubai. Organic Halal meat has been available only from hotels and restaurants.

OBE Organic, an Australian family business, plans to ship 500 kilograms of the meat each month, starting from the end of March. The company soon hopes to increase that to 1,300kg.

"Consumers in the UAE are learning about the benefits of a new organic lifestyle," said Dalene Wray, the company's regional manager in Asia and daughter of the chairman, David Brook.

"They understand that they have choices and can choose to make organic food a part of their daily diet."

Mr Brook heads a cooperative of Australian farmers with 25,000 head of cattle and more than 7 million hectares of grazing pasture - an area almost as big as the UAE.

The area is in the rich Channel Country, mostly in the north-east state of Queensland but spreading into the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales. The animals are slaughtered in a certified organic abattoir in Brisbane.

OBE's Halal certification has been approved by the Government.

"It is important that we provide the opportunity to consumers to have access to our clean, safe, Halal organic beef from Australia," said Ms Wray.

The company already exports meat to Kuwait, Egypt, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and North America.

"We will start with Carrefour in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates, Mirdif City Centre, and Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi," said Dariush Rakhshani, the manager of the meat's local distributor, Country Hill International.

"It will also be sold at some independent butchers' shops in Dubai, such as Prime Gourmet on Sheikh Zayed Road."

Organic food has grown in popularity in the UAE over the past few years.

"Overall, organic is a good way to go," said Stephanie Karl, a nutritionist at the Dubai London Clinic. "It's not always practical or available … organic food is a luxury but a great choice."