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Last Updated: Sep 25th, 2006 - 11:36:04 |
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Everybody is going to follow Malaysia, I’ll guarantee you that. People will look up and say “Oh, we didn’t know this was going on”.
Mohammad A. Rahman |
Malaysia withdrew its Halal certification from nine slaughter houses in Australia in July last year. They found the Australian abattoirs were non-compliant with the conditions set forth by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) on the Halal slaughter of the animals. These conditions were changed under the Malaysian Standard on Halal MS1500:2004 launched in August 2004.
The procedure in question now is stunning. JAKIM only allows the use of electric stunning, while the Australian industrial standard uses pneumatic or mushroom stunning, a procedure demanded by the animal rights groups in Australia.
As a follow up to the import ban of Australian beef by Malaysia, the Australian Quarantine Inspection Services (AQIS) and the Australian government invited the respective Malaysian delegates from JAKIM and the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia to check their slaughter houses and identify which procedures needed modification. Reports and feedbacks were exchanged and JAKIM’s findings were presented to the Malaysian Fatwa Council for approval.
The Halal Journal met up with the Halal Coordinator of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), Mohammad A. Rahman to find out the views from Down Under. AFIC is Australia’s main Islamic umbrella body responsible for Halal food products certification, media monitoring and publisher of the Australian Muslim News newspaper and other educational material on Islam as well as assisting in welfare and community initiatives in Australia.
How does AFIC feel about the issues of stunning and thoracic sticking used by the Australian abattoirs?
It’s simple- stunning, AFIC doesn’t like it. But because of the laws of the country, we have to respect it and say it’s alright so long as Halal is not being compromised. We have come to a conclusion that as long as the animal will be able to get up within 10 seconds after stunning (if you don’t cut the throat), then it is okay. So we do random, uninformed checks. But if I had the power to change it, then I would have done something. But you know, the abattoirs, you would be surprised, if you tell them to do the right thing, they will do it. But if we tell them, don’t worry, you’re doing the right thing, then they will carry on. You have to set the standards for them. So it doesn’t matter what they believe, but it’s what we want. It’s like the car mechanic shop, you’ll say to them, I want the car to run properly, no matter what you have to do, this is what I need. So, we should be the ones setting the standards. We are doing the work of Allah and I am 110% sure that if Allah is with you, Insyallah, everything will turn out alright.
Are the laws of Halal being compromised, now that we have allowed stunning and thoracic sticking?
It actually depends on the importing country really, the buyer. JAKIM is saying what they are saying now. It all depends on them really. It’s what the buyer wants and usually the seller has to oblige. But the strange thing is, ritual killing is acceptable for certain groups. For kosher meat for example, lambs are being killed without the use of stunning. It dies very quickly and the blood is all out, so the meat is even tastier and tender. We are forgetting that, we are going away from the mainstream.
According to Islam, yes, we are compromising it but it is the responsibility of the buyers. If they say, no we’re not going to do as you ask, then you should go to others who can. And there are a lot of other people doing them right now, even in Australia. There are smaller slaughter houses all over Australia that are growing organic beef. The animals are Masha Allah, very tasty and very tender.
How can your organisation help the Australia abattoirs deal with JAKIM?
Everybody is going to follow Malaysia, I’ll guarantee you that. People will look up and say “Oh, we didn’t know this was going on”. At least it will wake us up; there is no doubt in my mind. We have already told AQIS that Malaysia is starting the ball rolling and they should oblige. We have got calls from Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), Majlis Ulama’ Indonesia (MUI), several key parties from Dubai and the UAE - they are all looking into it. This will be a good case study for the Muslim world and I am glad Malaysia has set the precedence in this regard.
What is AFIC’s main concern nowadays in terms of Halal?
Halal is more than just saying Bismillahi Allahu Akhbar and cutting the throat. It is actually more than that. Is the animal itself is Halal? For instance, now in Australia they are feeding the animal with palettes, which is essentially waste meat to feed it back to the animals. This means that the animal is now a carnivorous animal and carnivorous animals are Haram for Muslims. How many days do you have to wait until this goes through the system? Who has got the knowledge? If you don’t want to do it now (stop feeding the animals), you will compromise a little bit every day. By the end of the day, our food is compromised. So we really need hikmah (wisdom) in this sort of things.
The way I look it, working for Halal is something like building a mosque: if you die, the mosque will become your sadakah jariah. If you feed people, Muslims or non Muslims, for the sake of Allah, this jariah will come to you in the after life. How big is that? It is like investing money and relaxing. And Halal is not a light issue, it is very serious. It will contaminate your body.
What are your views on the current development of the global Halal industry?
There is no doubt in my mind that Malaysia is going to be the next Halal Hub for the world. Give it one or two years, Malaysia is definitely going to achieve that status. Malaysia can use Australia’s meat and the quality of meat we have is very high. I suppose you got issues at the moment, with the stunning and thoracic sticking and we’re trying to work on that. As an Islamic body, we have got some say in the Government because our chairman is a religious advisor to the Prime Minister’s Department.
Tell us about other work AFIC is currently doing.
We are trying to paint a positive picture about Islam, and Halal is just one of the main functions that we do in AFIC. We don’t make much money out of it, but moral obligation is very important. We have five or six very big and very good schools and our school in Sydney is top two percent in the country.
We also organise interfaith dialogues once every fortnight or every month where we will invite Jews and Christians to sit down and discuss on a topic. They would come to our mosques and we go to their church or synagogue, and they are working hand in hand with us. If not of the interfaith dialogues, Muslims would have a lot of problems in Australia. When we had the London bombings, people reacted straight away so, when somebody was doing something wrong to the Muslims, the Christians and Jews would stand up for us and say “leave them alone.”
Like the last stabbing incident at Bondi Beach last year, AFIC was quick to condemn it, especially the burning of church. Now we have this Prophet’s cartoon and we were quick to put it up, condemning the publication. We work hand-in-hand with the Government, so anything that is detrimental to Islam, we protest it to the Government straight away. Alhamdulillah, because of these public relation exercises, people are looking at Muslims in a different way in Australia.
What is the next big project on AFIC’s agenda?
Alhamdulillah, we are going to have an Imam’s Conference early in March and we are inviting religious leaders from all over the Muslim world. The reason for this conference is to ask the Government of Australia to give recognition to the ulama’s of Australia because these people have a lot to contribute to our society; they are an important part of our society. With this regard, the Prime Minister has agreed, giving full support for us. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will be there, so will the Immigration Minister. We have also invited MUI and MUIS, and we have also invited JAKIM and several key figures from Malaysia. We want them to come into our Fatwa Committee and help us and make us even stronger. If you don’t have a strong back, you can’t carry heavy stuffs. It’s as simple as that. At the end of the day, our goal is to make sure everybody is doing the same thing and the right thing. This is our aim and we are working very hard on that, believe me.
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