Effect of halal issues to muslim family: Malaysian legal perspectives

Abstract

It is noted that recently the food industries responds to the needs and desires of the Muslims consumers. It has probably never been easier for a Muslim to travel the globe while retaining what has long been considered by many as the most difficult tenet to maintain-consuming halal food. The halal issues have been getting wide coverage and commonly used of lately in the Malaysian spectacular. As Muslims rank as the largest population in this country has given them many advantages. Yet things like being cheated the non-halal as halal, like marking halal as label whereas it is not, struck the sensitivity of many Muslims in this country. It should stand by itself that every Muslims must take involvement to ensure what they eat comes from halal sources- and this does not only to check on the ingredients per se, but also to observe the whole process undergone should not be contrary with the Syariah principles. It is however not easy to do such investigation since many of Muslims family buy food which has already been put in packages. Because of the difficulty in determining the halal status, it is the cause for Muslims to depend on the authority to do the check on their behalf. The full-fledged government department known as JAKIM or Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia is the said authority. However, since the requirement of halal certificate in Malaysia is voluntary and not so many being legally labeled as halal, there is still ambivalence hovering these families as many of them do not want their children to consume food which is still uncertain of its halal status. More often than not, since many cases of unlawful use of halal certificate been reported, some of these families would decline to buy processed food or food already in packages. This article attempts to view the impact of halal issues to many Muslim families and also to note whether sorting to the law and regulation pertaining halal matters will help them with this matter.