On 5th April 2021, leftist digital media outlet The News Minute (TNM) published an article in which it claimed to ‘exactly explain’ what Halal certification means.
As always, the TNM article peddled half-truths under the cloak of being ‘secular’ overlooking the dangers that Halal poses.
The article goes on to make a case for Halal saying that ‘halal just means that the products are hygienic and non toxic.’
“The halal certification guarantees that the food is unadulterated and is also prepared in accordance with Islamic law”, the article read citing a Muslim professor from Osmania University.
The article also cleverly distorts the imposition of an Islamic practice on non-Muslims by turning the table against those resisting the imposition.
“This hate propaganda has confused many who genuinely do not understand what halal certification means”, the article read.
Worse, the article goes on to justify the Islamic practice of blowing into food, at a time when COVID-appropriate behaviour is being emphasized from all quarters.
It goes on to peddle a propaganda against those resisting the Islamic hegemony over non-vegetarian food with their usual dog-whistles like “Hindutva”, “right-wing BJP” and so on.
This article on Halal by TNM reeks of hypocrisy and exposes that its principles of – diversity, inclusion, social justice, secularism, gender equality, resisting hegemony – are only directed to deride only one particular faith.
So, here’s what the TNM explainer on Halal didn’t tell you or conveniently overlooked.
1. Halal Is Islamic Hegemony Over Non-Muslims
The Halal sign can be seen in almost every restaurant today. For a meat to be halal, the slaughterer must be a Muslim male. He must recite Islamic prayers while slaughtering, and the head of the animal must be aligned towards Kaaba during the slaughter.
Imagine you are a non-Muslim going to a restaurant to have non-vegetarian food. With most of the restaurants declaring that they follow the halal method of slaughtering, you don’t have the choice to eat meat that is not slaughtered in the halal way. You will only have to eat the meat that was cut by a Muslim man in the Muslim way.
This shows how a significant Muslim population is able to impose their religious beliefs over a non-Muslim population.
By imposing Halal, native culinary diversity is killed ultimately leading to monoculturalism, as is the case with Islamic society.
But TNM will not talk about how Islamic practices like Halal are threaning cultural diversity while they keep ranting about ‘Hindu hegemony threatening tribals’, cultural appropriation of folk deities by Brahmins and so on.
2. Halal Killing Is Animal Cruelty
Unlike Jhatka, where the head of the animal is severed with one blow with a sharp object, Halal tortures an animal to death until the last drop of blood has been drained out.
In the Halal method of slaughtering, the animal or the bird is killed by cutting through its jugular vein, the carotid artery and the windpipe that drains out all the blood, leading to its slow death.
The barbarity that the innocent animals are put through is unimaginable. Watch the video below at your own discretion.
3. Halal Effectively Discriminates Non-Muslims
Since Halal meat can only be cut by Muslim men, non-Muslims are effectively shunned out of employment and doing business. If restaurants declare themselves to be Halal compliant, Hindu, Sikh and Christian butchers, in particular, will find no demand for their products, thus leading to the monopolisation of the meat business by Muslims.
Many large food chains are Halal-only. In 2019, McDonalds India confirmed that all their outlets serve ONLY HALAL meat.
If every other eatery imposes Halal, which is already happening, it will inevitably lead to Islamization of food as it directly attacks the culinary choices of non-Muslims.
4. Halal Is A Misogynistic Practice
How does it matter if a meat is cut by a man or woman? Afterall, it is going to be consumed by everyone.
“Why can’t a Muslim woman chant the Islamic prayer and cut the the meat?” asked no left-liberal ever.
The cutting of meat, though being a secular act, will be seen as a custom or practice inherent to the faith in the case of Halal by the likes of TNM. Questioning it would be ‘haraam’, forbidden.
But they will all poke their nose and raise their flag of rebellion championing gender justice into a sacred pilgrimage site like Sabarimala, because why not! Hindus are secular and only Hindus should be secular.
4. Halal Funds Islamic Terror
Unlike Islamic countries, India does not have a government body that issues Halal certification. It is done by different bodies like the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, Global Islamic Shariah Services (GISS), and Halal India Private Limited.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind is notorious for providing legal assistance to terrorists and murderers. The legal cell of JUH had fought for the accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, the 2006 Malegaon blasts and the Aurangabad Arms haul case.
There are several other cases that has been listed on the JUH’s website which it is fighting for on those accused of terrorism.
This includes several Lashkar-e-Taiba and ISIS conspiracy cases. The organization is also legally aiding those accused in the Ahmedabad Serial Blast Case 2008 and the 26/11 Mumbai attack case (Syed Zabiuddin v/s State of Maharashtra).
The JUH has been successful in getting some of the terror accused acquitted with more than 192 acquittals since 2007.
Many of them were not acquitted because they were found innocent but due to technicality or inaction or poor police investigation.
And guess what? It is the non-Muslims who are inadvertently funding the activities of JUH by eating at Halal restaurants or using Halal products.
It is not just TNM. Many of their brethren in the media space with the same ideological and political leanings have been trying to buttress or white-wash if atrocities are committed by one particular community. It can be seen happening with the incident in Gorakhnath Temple where a Muslim youth brandished a weapon and attacked policemen shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. The stark difference and the ‘secular’ bias can be seen in how they covered the man who opened fire at Delhi’s Jamia University and the Gorakhnath Temple incident.
While it is an individual/organization’s discretion to voice for issues that they hold dear, it is dishonest to take people for a ride giving them half-truths while coming across as a ‘reputed’, ‘credible’, ‘unbiased’ media.
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