By Mariah West

A lot of us have seen the word "halal" on food tags and restaurant establishments, but not all of us know what it really means. Our Muslim bpals base their selection on this word because it indicates what is permissible for them to purchase or consume. For a country that has inhabitants with mixed religious affiliations, that term is just as significant.

Muslims in Islamic countries don't have problems eating in halal restaurants and picking up halal products as most likely than not, they are halal-certified. But for those who are in nations that have various religious groups, the term is not as rampant as they would like. Good thing that more establishments are now becoming conscious of their customer's orientations.

The word halal simply means legal, which implies that if a restaurant claims they are halal-certified or a food product has this word on its tag, the preparation of their items is in accordance with the Islamic law. Muslims, therefore, are allowed to use or consume the product.

Just what are allowed in Islamic law? For meat , the way in which an animal should be killed must be swift. When slaughtering an animal, its windpipe and gullet must be cut and done quickly.

If halal means legal, haraam is the opposite. Muslims are not allowed to eat haraam foods, such as alcoholic beverage and pork. A halal-certified eatery and a halal-approved food item should not contain such ingredients. Also, they should be careful withhow they make the food, avoiding any contamination. If a spoon was already used for a meal with haraam ingredients, it should not be used any longer to prepare halal-approved meals.

Haraam items also comprise of blood, birds of prey or carnivores, animals killed in the name of any god but Allah, corpse of an animal, or those that have been sacrificed to another idol.

Halal-certified establishments should conform to the Islamic dietary laws. And because some products are difficult to determine whether they are halal or not, there are Muslim groups who certify food items as halal for buyers. Those products with halal authentication are used as ingredients by halal restaurants, just to make very certain that they are thoroughly following the laws.

Nowadays, more and more food establishments not run by Muslims still make great effort to follow Islamic dietary laws. Those food establishments show that they value and respect all their consumers, regardless of their religious faiths.

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One Response so far.

  1. Abdul says:

    Islamic Dietary Law divides the food in 05 categories: Halaal, Haraam, Makrooh, Mashbooh and Najis. No edible item falls out of these categories.

    For more information: www.sanha.org.pk
    This website explains the dietary laws that Muslims have to follow.

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