Personal experience of mine shows that the term 'halal' has always been a contention as well as cause of displeasure among classmates/friends when it comes to places of communal eating. Sometimes, I wonder if it is out of ignorance (despite Singapore being touted as educating its young on its multi-cultural/religious mythology) or just plain idiocy.
Some questions include: - Can you eat pork if it's halal?
- Can we eat at places where they only sell seafood? [fish and co, sushi parlours]
- Why Malays must eat only halal food is it?
Firstly, the definition of halal is not just that we cannot eat pork. Halal meat involves the draining of the blood from the animal first before the meat can be butchered. In addition, at the point of slaughter, there is a prayer to be said to signify that the animal is meant for consumption (and not for sacrifice or presentation for the God etc). With that said, sometimes even halal establishments are questionable, as highlighted in an article on Macdonalds here.
Islam's stance on what is permissible to eat and what is not, is clear. There are strict rules when it comes to meat regarding what is allowed and what is forbidden. In Surat Al-Maida (The Table) Allah says:
"Forbidden to you (for food) are: AI-Maytatah (the dead animals -cattle-beasts not slaughtered), blood, the flesh of swine and the meat of that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allah or has been slaughtered for idols etc, or on which Allah's Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering and that which has been killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a headlong fall or by the goring of horns - and that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal - unless you are able to slaughter it(before its death) and that which is sacrificed (slaughtered) on AnNusub (stone altars). [Forbidden] also is to use arrows seeking luck or decision, [all] that is Fisqun (disobedience of Allah and sin). This day, those who disbelieved have given up all hope of your religion, so fear them not (but fear Me. This day, I have perfected your religion for you completed My Favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But as for him who is forced by severe hunger, with no inclination to sin [such can eat these above-mentioned meats], then surely, Allah is All Forgiving, Most Merciful”
Here, I would like to share some of the findings that Professor Robert McKinley, from the Michigan State University, presented during a workshop conducted at NUS on the above mentioned topic.
He presented a case study on the social significance of food (especially halal food) in Malaysia (and Singapore in this context) and sought to bridge the tie between food, political significance as well as identity.
McKinley made a substantial point in his observation that Muslims in Malaysia (and Singapore as well) have adopted stricter rules in their observation of dietary restrictions because of rising affluence. The Quran ( The holy book) states that God forgives his mortals should they have to resort to non-halal food in times of difficulties like famine, war etc.
As such, with increasing affluence in the modern society nowadays, many middle class Muslims are becoming more self conscious about their dietary restrictions. Even seafood which has no Islamic restrictions becomes suspect when the food establishment does not have a halal sign at its door. This is the case with Fish and Co and to Sakae Sushi.
To take the latter case, Sakae Sushi has opened a new chain of halal Japanese cuisine restaurant called Hei Sushi at Downtown East and Sembawang shopping centre. The rationale of this is to facilitate the process of halal certification. For an eating establishment to be deemed as halal, all its crockery, utensils, cooking area etc have to be cleaned and often changed if they had cooked pork previously. [However, I do feel this may be stretching it a little too far. I've always wondered why halal establishments serve non-Muslim customers if their concern was that the utensils/food etc are to free of pork residue. I mean... if someone just had suckling pig before coming to the restaurant for a drink with his Muslim friends, wouldn't he be contaminating the cup with his pork-flavoured saliva?]
Food restrictions have become an ascriptive identity of Muslims and to not follow these rules are to be labelled as deviant. Such is the same when Muslims are caught eating during the fasting month. The concept of halal and food regulations brought about by the Islamic faith has gained a prominent feature in our society. Most non-Muslims are aware of those restrictions and as a sign of good will will usually try to accommodate As such, they will express surprise [and I suspect psychological analysis of labelling the deviant] when a friend exercise a lax in these restrictions.
These outwardly forms of religious identification becomes synonymously linked with ethnic identification. As with the last question, Malays in Singapore are almost always automatically classified as Muslims. Often, I escape such judgements because most people cannot tell if I'm Malay, Chinese and lately, Filipino.
Personally, I do not strictly eat at halal places. My belief is that in our current state of development, we have to place our trust on others to slaughter and prepare our meat and i suspect that some methods are not as "halal" as I would like them to be so "halal" is something that someone else has determined for me and not something that I am certain completely. Although with that said, I try my best to buy halal meat in the supermarket (and I worry how easy this would be when I move overseas - any thoughts on this anyone?).
My belief in food is that everything that is created by God is wonderful and as such should be tasted at least once. Everything should be consumed in balance and in controlled quantities. Why do we need to put in place such arbitrary divisions that separates Muslims who eat halal, Muslims who don't eat halal and everyone else? I know of some friends who don't even want to sit at the same table if their non-muslim friends aren't eating halal food.
Has religion really become so pervasive that we are no longer able to make our own choices anymore?
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