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We are going around in halal circles these days. The debate never seems to end. Halal is touching raw nerves of many, giving way to extremisms of different kinds from religious to food and diet habits and beliefs.
It has already gone deep into politics, and there are attempts to make halal part of governance. Many say that attempts are being made to force halal down our throats, and others say we are being made to pay for it without our choice. There appears to be so many experts on halal today, even more than there are on sharia, far too many for a society that can be so easily captivated by a problem that was of little significance not many moons ago.
I’m sure there are many more things of importance to be talking about and even making public protests and having large demonstrations. But all of that is forgotten when halal comes on the scene.
Take the recent rise in fuel prices. There are economists, political analysts, social commentators and journalists who say this will have a serious impact on the cost of living, tough as it is. But hold on – the debate or discourse on fuel prices is not moving ahead. There is halal to be worried about instead.
There was an understandably huge row about a Muslim institution issuing halal certificates for a fee. The arguments quickly moved on to a cauldron of hate that threatened communal peace. We are no told that the "halalizing" process that was in practice has been stopped. This has led to a new hahal debate. Who or what will be the new authority on halal?
There were some who thought that the government should take over the task. Those who thought so did not seem to know that it is not the role of the State to issue religious certification. We are now told by the Cabinet spokesman himself that the State will have nothing to do with it. Does that push us into a new halal hiatus? Where do we go from here?
I’m surprised that the halal label was not stuck on the senior police officer who was suddenly transferred out of Moneragala for arresting those who broke the law. It would have been so easy and the political meddling would suddenly have been in the national interest, and the woman politician concerned would have become the heroine of a power front of religious opportunism.
It is also surprising that the latter assault incident at Passekudah, involving the sons of a senior minister and senior policeman, quickly followed by allegations of political conspiracies and even of assassination threats to a hopeful future prime minister, has not had a touch of halal in the whole episode. It’s so out of touch of reality in our times.
There cannot be any debate of importance if there is no halal aspect to it today. It is not issues about the burden of national debt, or of corruption in politics and governance that matter anymore. It is the impact of halal on society that seems most important.
I’m intrigued by the number of business organizations that gladly paid the money, large or small, for the so-called halal certification, and kept mum about it for many years, until the recent rise of "balavegayas" of religious fundamentalism and extremism, that do not mind bringing us all to a national disaster we could very well do without.
There is no doubt that business is meant for profit. So the owners of these manufacturing institutions that were ready to pay for the so-called halal certificate may have been well focused on the greater profit this would bring. I’m not one who believes in proportions of communities when it comes to matters of national importance. Yet, if they were only concerned about reaching to just one community, that has a right to have the products they buy branded halal, they could easily have thought of proportions in the certification and distribution of their goods. But business is not like that. It looks at the biggest and maximum profit, who cares for how others may manipulate the end result, or whether you contribute to such manipulation?
But halal is not about to leave us any sooner because there is no immediate certifying body in the country. I’m sure that "halal for export" will be the next issue to emerge, and that is something those who govern will find it hard to evade or escape. That is the certainty that halal and those for and against it will have much opportunity to mount their hobby horses of extremism and fundamentalism, drawing in the voices and import power of those abroad too.
Meanwhile those who were ranting against halal certification may seem happy at what has happened so far. But there is little being done by way of halal certification or not, to ensure that animals that are slaughtered for food, consumed by all communities, are put down in the most humane manner, and also in keeping with the laws against cruelty to animals that we have in our country. It is a halal hallucination to think that the killing of these animals is done in keeping either with faith of Islam or the laws of our land.
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