Enforcing Islamic Dietary Laws on non-Muslims

In Kerala, A Christian farmer named Shaji Varghese was allegedly assaulted by some Islamic fundamentalists for selling non Halal meat. The incident took place in Meenangadi of Wayanad district.

As per reports, Kisan Mitra,a  farmer’s collective which has around 6,000 members in Kerala had come up with an initiative to provide non-halal meat on the occasion of Easter Sunday. And the reason behind this was to supply good quality meat to the masses, as the shoddy standards of halal Meat in Kerala are quite renowned.

This initiative received acclamation from the public, which rattled Islamic fundamentalists. Thus, to secure their monopoly; they trashed Shaji and force-fed him raw meat. They also set ablaze the vehicle carrying non-halal meat. This happened when Shaji went to sell around 150 kg of non Halal beef and pork in the area.

Halal is related to Islamic dietary law, which categorizes certain products like food products, meat products, cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals under the tag Halal (permissible or lawful) as per the Quran. It is mentioned in a Hadith that the prayer of a person is rejected by Allah if the food consumed is non-halal ie haram (prohibited or forbidden). Muslims are only allowed to eat meat that has been prepared according to Islamic law.

The rules are as follows:

1. The slaughterer must be a sane adult Muslim.
2. At the time of Slaughter the animal must be alive and healthy.
3. The slaughterer must say Quranic verse called Shahada or Tasmiya before making the cut, to acquire god’s consent.
4. The animal must be killed by cutting the throat with one continuous motion of a sharp knife.
5. The cut must sever at least three of the trachea, esophagus, and two blood vessels on either side of the throat.
6. The spinal cord must not be cut.
7. Maximum blood must be drained from the animal’s body before further processing.

These days almost all Companies are getting their products halal certified so that their products can be consumed by the followers of Islam as well, which constitute around 25% of the world’s population. Today, the Halal food market constitutes 19% of the world’s food market.

Getting your product halal certified requires several steps such as application; verifying Documentation, processing, handling, and product distribution, Storage, display and product serving, Cleanliness, sanitary and food safety, The overall aspects of the premises, Tools, apparatus, and machines, Packaging and labelling; and finally certification. This process requires more capital, and the certification costs money itself. Thus, the cost of the product increases.

Also, Slaughterhouses that are Halal certified don’t provide employment to Non-Muslims. All this led to the exclusive lucrative business of Halal meat and thus the establishment of a Muslim monopoly in the meat trade.

Thus, to refrain from spending this additional sum of money, to initiate Non-Muslims in this sector, and to supply fresh non-halal meat to the Non-Muslim citizens; some organizations in Kerala initiated the production of non-Halal meat.

Reportedly, The Non-Halal meat sold by Kisan Maitri has become very popular among consumers in Wayanad due to its high-quality standards. Fearing the end of Halal domination in the meat sector, Some Islamic Fundamentalists tried to crush their trade by the means of these beastly attacks and threatening them to death for selling Pork, which is Haram according to Islam.

DISCLAIMER: This article reflects author’s view point. Goa Chronicle may or may not subscribe to views of the author