AS CHAIRMAN of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has advocated an interpretation of Islam known as Islam Hadhari, which maintains that Islam and economic and technological development are not incompatible.

His administration has also been emphasising a revival of the Malaysian agricultural sector and with this, the push for Malaysia to be self reliant in food production, Halal food production to be exact.

The Halal Journal recently met with the premier on matters that clearly excited him and are known to be close to his heart - Halal and Islam.

ABDULLAH ON THE CONCEPT OF HALAL
“Halal is something that is stressed in our religion; Halal, pure and clean. This is what we desire, and Halal is also stressed by Allah, not what is Haram. Therefore, we must strive full heartedly so that the Muslim society gets Halal food, drinks and other products; Halal, clean, pure and of high quality."

“The same goes for other consumer products, Muslims cannot use products that are made of non Halal ingredients like swine. We all know this, so to strive for the production of Halal products is actually a religious duty for us Muslims, a fardhu kifayah, something that is obliged upon us. But if we don’t have any business in terms of food production, or the production of other products including pharmaceuticals, if we ourselves don’t push for it, we cannot depend on anybody else, because non Muslims don’t really emphasised on what is Halal or what is Haram, for them it’s nothing."

“For example, they would use gelatine made from swine for medicines, but Muslims cannot use them. If Muslims were to produce these products, surely they would use gelatines that are made of vegetable sources instead of swine. In short, when we talk about the scope of Halal, in terms of consumption for the Muslims themselves, it is really enormous, and it is not confined only to food.”

ON MALAYSIA AS A GLOBAL HALAL HUB
“The government have already made its decision on this during last year’s cabinet meeting which I chaired. We have made the decision to make Malaysia as a Halal hub, to be a centre for the manufacturing of Halal products and services. And we are able to achieve this because, within the OIC, Malaysia is the most active member as compared to the others. We are also the most active in terms of volume and our value of international trade is also one of the biggest. From our standpoint as a manufacturing nation, we are also better off than most of the nations within OIC. So, we are indeed in a better position to produce Halal products and services and market them all over the world.”

ON WHETHER INTRA-OIC TRADE IS IMPORTANT IN HALAL
“It (intra-OIC trade) is extremely important. We must create partnerships to increase the number of Halal products and services. When there is partnership, businesses will grow. When it grows, Halal products will be better marketed throughout the world. So for the people who are looking, they would know where to get them.”

ON ISLAMIC BANKING
“We want to make Malaysia as a benchmark, one that gets to say what Islamic banking is about. We have started this and have taken many leads from our religion, Islam. I have also personally told the Governor of our Central Bank (Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz), to record and store whatever edicts or decisions we have made at the Fatwa Council in Bank Negara into the computer, in a webpage, for others to refer to and make references on our past successes from a management’s point of view. In that regard, we can also organise courses and seminars in Islamic banking, including its practices, procedures and systems.”

ON BRANDING AND MARKETING
“Our branding and marketing is simply weak, especially the Malays. Local food producers just do not give much concern about obtaining Halal certificates, even though whatever they producing are already Halal. We actually wanted to certify their products Halal and certified to the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, or JAKIM’s standard. They (JAKIM) have set the necessary Halal standards to be followed, and this has been accepted by the United Nations."

“When the Halal-certified products and services are produced and well received, people will start asking about the brand. But there will be certain parties out to try and use the Halal labels for their own products. And they don’t care, because they know they will profit from it. But the Halal is a fake, and this is quite rampant these days. So enforcement is crucial in this regard.”

ON JAKIM AND ITS HALAL CERTIFICATES
“I hope JAKIM will be able to change its mindset a bit; they don’t have to be too selfish in keeping their Halal certificates for their own use, but is ready to be an agency that gives out licenses and allow other parties to use their Halal certificates. This way, Malaysia can, in many ways, become a leader in producing whatever that is Halal, not just for foods but also other products and services that are required by the consumers. I believe we can move forward in this, because branding is very important. Since there are fake certificates (going around in the market), we must ensure that ours are truly genuine.”

ON THE WEAKNESS OF TODAY’S MUSLIMS
“The weakness of Muslims these days is that, they know all about Islamic teachings, they know what Allah wants from us. The missing link is wisdom, or hikmah. When no hikmah exists, any dakwah work will fail. Sometimes you even get a reactive action if we don’t have any hikmah in this field. So whatever we do, to do it good, we must have hikmah. It will give us the ability to assign a procedure, design a plan, and execute a system. Only then will our work, which is to do good and Halal in Islam, will bring benefit.”

ON HALAL AS A TOOL TO CORRECT MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ISLAM
“Whatever Muslims do, it must be done correctly, in the most proper manner possible. In doing so, others are going to see us in a different light. In terms of the food that we consume, it must be hygienic, pure, clean and of quality, Halalan taiyyibban. These are stressed by Islam, and these are the things that will be sought by everybody."

“If we produce food, products and services that satisfy these requirements, everybody will want to buy them, because it is only natural for consumers to yearn for the best, to look for whatever that is good. And when Muslims are able to produce all things good and tayyib, people will surely buy. They won’t mind because they know they are buying food that is not only delicious, but also clean, well taken care of, with good presentation and served in a proper manner.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE OR ILMU
“Islam states that knowledge is something that benefits mankind, or ilman nafiaan. Knowledge is not something that we can just create. It is created by Allah and passed on to us; we just found the knowledge. But if we talk about whether it is Halal to practise any given knowledge, then it must be knowledge that brings benefit to mankind. These kinds of knowledge are then Halal for Muslims to learn and implement.”

ON ISLAM HADHARI
“Islam Hadhari is actually a holistic approach that we have taken based on the teachings of Islam. The religion of Islam gave us guidance and teaches us to do good deeds. As with the holy book, Al Quran, often we can find various verses from Allah as well as from the Prophet Muhammad sallahu alaihi wasalam. The most important is that we must understand what is being said in the Al Quran and hadith about our life for example, about our work and about the things we should stand up for and other relevant issues surrounding our entire life."

“So, what is important in this regard is that, we must first understand and know how best we can achieve those objectives. In other words, there must be wisdom, or ‘hikmah’. This will come from within ourselves, after we have given a thorough thought about it and after we have determined the actions to take. So, if Muslims want to lead a ‘hasanah’ (fulfilled) life in this world as well as in the next, what should we do? Simply just pray and fast? Obviously there are a lot more a Muslim should strive for, as individuals, as a family member, as a member in a society, as well as all a member of other institutions we have established under the name of Islam."

“How are we to drive the economy wearing a kopiah? To drive the economy, we need a specific approach that will also drive the religion. Today for instance, Muslim countries are viewed as weak and poor since their natural resources are not developed to its full potential. Why is this happening? Lack of manpower, lack in development of human capital and lacking in knowledge. But we are not saying that the Muslim population in these countries are not good abiding Muslims. On the contrary, they also pray, they also fast and do normal work as with the rest of the Muslims in other parts of the world. But to be successful, and Islam emphasises on this, we must have an approach. So, all these ten approaches under Islam Hadhari are actually principles established under the teachings of Islam, to help Muslims achieve a more balanced and successful life, in this world and the next.”

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