Halal is an Islamic term and it belongs only to Muslims!
Non-Muslims cannot interfere in Halal of Muslims!
It is a cause of a deep sorrow to observe that Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, is planning to sign an MoU with the Philippines, a non-Muslim country, in order to facilitate the exchange of halal-certified food between the two countries. More importantly, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of Philippines, as a signatory party, authorizes the Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB) as a Halal accreditation body of the Philippines.
Being under the control and consist of non-Muslims, PAB cannot be acknowledged as the authority to decide whether a Halal Certification Body (HCB) is complying with Islamic rules and principles or not. A non-Muslim body has no right to teach what is Halal and Haram. This type of approach is nothing, but an insult to Muslims all over the world.
Halal is a pure Islamic term and only belongs to Muslims. Halal isn’t just a technical issue which the Philippines or any other non-Muslim countries can make up standards, formula and regulations as much as they wish. Muslims have responsibilities to Allah (SWT ). Allah has already set up all necessary rules and regulations clearly.
As Muslims, we are well aware what is Halal or Haram under the light of the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet (SAW).
EU (European Union) had started a similar attempt in 2015, which caused immense reactions from the World Halal Council (WHC) and from all Muslims worldwide. After getting the unexpected response from every corner of the world, the EU had to dismiss the organization that was supposed to be monitoring and supervising Halal.
We can observe the same desire by the Philippines government and especially, DTI. Once again, we declare that “non-Muslims cannot interfere in Halal”.
This attempt by the Philippines government has caused nothing, but shakening the international credibility of the Philippines in terms of Halal certification that has been built by the restless efforts of IDCP (Islamic Da’wah Council of the Philippines) for long-decades.
Even worse, Trust in Halal certification in Indonesia was already down due to numerous scandals of corruption and bribery inside of LPPOM MUI. Now with this new movement to invite non-Muslims into Halal certifying and accrediting, Indonesia is just adding salt and pepper to their mistakes.
Being the biggest Muslim majority country, Indonesian government should have not been engaged in such type of a relation with a non-Muslim country. By initiating these MoU meetings, the government of Indonesia has also damaged their international credibility in Halal.
Deliberately engaging non-Muslims into Halal is actually worse than their previous faults, as such an attempt will be seen as an example of non-Muslim intervention into Halal. As expressed above, all HCBs and devout Muslims have been fighting against non-Muslim engagement in Halal. Now related authorities of the biggest Islamic country in the world is flirting with a non-Muslim country for no explicable reason.
May Allah (SWT) show them and us the right path.
It is not acceptable to observe that a Muslim accepts a non-Muslim to tell the Halal and Haram to Muslims.
Our Muslim brothers and sisters living in every corner of the world can easily analyze and decide that a decision given by a Muslim who cooperates with non-Muslims to decide what is Halal or not means that the decision is not trustworthy. Comprehending the ongoing relations, Muslims would easily turn their back to Muslim governments that are eager to seek help of non-Muslims in Halal matters.
Therefore, we kindly request the government of Indonesia to step back from this MoU and preserve the right of Muslims. Continuing these meetings will only become the source of disappointment by Muslims all over the world.