Halal ke?

After a whole day out with my friends, we decided to have dinner before we go back to our respective homes.
We surveyed the area for half an hour before making up our minds. Most of my friends wanted to have dinner in the only malay restaurant in the area. I insisted that the vegetarian indian restaurant is a better choice because the dishes served are cheaper and cleaner. For them, the malay restaurant is the obvious halal choice even though the kitchen located outside was visibly dirty and unruly.
"Eh, ko biar betol? Cam tak bersih je tempat ni."
"Daripada pilihan pelik ko." Lan chuckled. "Din...din... lain daripada yang lain..."
"Okay, okay, cuba perhati betul-betul. 1. Dapur dia tepi longkang. 2. Dorang simpan kuali dorang atas lantai. 3. Aku pernah makan dah kat situ. Ajinamoto banyak sangat sampai terbakar kerongkong."
"Tapi restoran tu orang melayu yang masak maka ia halal."
"Tapi takde logo halal."
Another friend broke our duo formation. "Daripada makan lauk hindu yang tak tentu halal, baik makan je tempat yang kita tahu orang Islam yang masak. Halal!"
"Halal ke?" Afiq Deen never gives up.
I'm not fussy when it comes to eating. As long as the food is clean and delicious, I'm game. To be perfectly honest, I have my own methods to determine whether or not the food I eat is haram or halal.

In urban KL, muslims take the Halal stamp for granted. It is a fact that most or more than 80% of food restaurants in KL are owned by non-muslims. Some multinational fast food chains like McDonald's and KFC are certified 100% halal but other popular western concept restaurants only have certificates for its bread but posted the Halal certificate on the counter anyway to imply that all the food in its restaurant is halal.

Restaurants that serves Dory fish got its fishes from dirty fish farms like this in Vietnam:

Some establishment feels that it is unnecessary to have the Halal stamp like gerais and roadside restaurants.

Have you been to malay stalls lately? Ever check their kitchens? It is a habit of mine to go to the toilet after eating and I notice that the toilet is always next to the kitchen. Gerai kitchens are always nearby open drains and the plates are washed on the floor. It didn't matter to me that the owner and cooks are malays because under the mentioned conditions, the gerai might as well serve pork.

I remembered Atok's self-made acronym: Ha, To, Ba. HTB in rummi.

Atok pointed out three simple things that I should consider before eating anything. It has to be Halal, Toyyiba and Barakah. For the food to be halal, it has to be within the scope of edible food in Islam and slaughtered by muslims. Toyyiba means Good. The food has to be good for you and your body. Barakah is how the food brings blessings to everyone.
(This is rich, coming from a guy who have eaten snakes, crocodiles, frogs, pork and maggots.)

15 comments:

tia said...

kawan kita pernah present satu unethical company yang jual halal pork..
pork.
mana halal.
tapi disebabkan dia nak lakukan dia punya stock,
dia pun dengan sengalnya jual halal pork..

for those yang perasan,
maybe terselamat,
but yang main amek je daging dah siap packing tu..

hanya tuhan sahaja yang tahu.

Afiq Deen said...

Afiq pernah makan halal 'pork'. It's actually flavoured soy. There are other varieties like fish, chicken etc, all made out of soy. The flavor doesn't even come from the real animal.

It's what many vegetarians and people with macrobiotic diet eats to compensate their lack of protein in their diet.

tia said...

owh yang pasal halam pork tu,
MUIS, dah explain yang benda tu tidak diluluskan pun oleh jabatan mereka..
pape pun kita kena berjaga-jaga..

siti said...

no harm eating at hindu&buddhist vegetarian restaurants.i do it all the time.obviously they are3 very strict about having any meat and alcohol in their food.and trust me the fake prawns taste like REAL prawns.so i cant believe its EVEN an issue.this is so pathetic.even for you afiq

Cynthia C said...

Siti made me reread afiq's entry. Hey, i think he was the one who wants to eat at the indian restaurant. You tak baca betul2 ni cik siti.

Afiq Deen said...

Yeah siti, you made me reread my own entry.

You probably scanned through the whole thing n misconstrued the context.

Cynthiaaaaa....!

Actually these soy products are considered as vegetables so Muis tak payah approve pun. Lagipun ia khas untuk penganut hindu. Kalau orang islam mcm afiq nak makan boleh je sebab tak was was. Lagipun makcik afiq pergi seminar macrobiotic. Agak menarik sbb kalau kita tak makan daging, kita akan jadi lebih tenang.

Matematis Muda said...

totally agree

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J said...

Sepatutnya soal halal ke tak tak payah timbul pun. Kalau org pergi oversea pun mesti akan cari restoran Vegetarian, kan? Oh, and suka pasal Halal Thoiyiba and Barakah tu.

siti said...

nope.i got the entry the 1st time i read it.the fact that its a big deal n u have to argue about it,THATS pathetic

siti said...

yeA.EXACTLY.i agree with J.if u check my ip u wuld know that im living in shanghai currently.where i eat vegetarian food all the time.but even back in malaysia my 'bananna' and 'coconut' friends would always take me to vegetarian restaraunts because its healthy AND clean

Afiq Deen said...

Writing about idiosyncracies are never considered pathetic in my book. Maybe we read different books. : D

andi said...

funny. i had this halal conversation too with a friend last night

me too not that fussy when it comes to eating place .

art said...

Dr Asri..i like his opinion..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2wnoRfyZUk

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