Halaal fruit, veg – really?

IMAGINE my dismay as an Islamic historian and Muslim academic to find fruit baskets at leading hypermarkets with prominent stickers from the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Halaal Trust, declaring the contents “halaal”.

Will the MJC please explain how they made fruit like bananas “halaal”, and by what “ritual” processes do a bunch of grapes as well as apples and peaches, or spinach, parsley, etc become “halaal”? Can this priestly body inform us where in the Holy Qur’an does it necessitate non-animal products in their natural condition to be issued with “halaal” labels?

Clearly, the undemocratic and nontransparent MJC runs a sophisticated racket to bluff three important groups to support their hugely profitable enterprise. First, they bamboozle producers and retailers extracting lucrative sums from them to display the MJC’s halaal stickers.

Second, they befuddle the public in thinking that fresh fruit and vegetables require halaal verification without realising that this “religious” labelling only increases the price of goods as the suppliers pass on these certification fees to the unwary consumer.

Third, the local Muslim population has been brainwashed by the MJC into believing that Islam requires unprocessed fruit and vegetables to have halaal approval.

Is it not time that this ends and that the secret revenues of the

MJC’s halaal trust be subject to open scrutiny?