Why I found a HMC Restaurant to be Haram! (my opinion)

Have you ever been to a restaurant and found that the food is not Halal even when they claim it is?

Well in this case, that was not the case. Alhumdulillah.

The Restaurant was HMC certified so we went in for a meal. The food was great, Afghan food, first time for every thing i guess.

Why did I get put off?

Why did I think it was not right to eat there?

Any Ideas?

Asslamo Allaikum,

In my opinion HMC is a good idea and bad idea at the same time.

In Islam we are supposed to trust “a practising Muslim” so in the past we as Muslims used to go to a place and look at the individual and the environment and make a judgement call.

Now, we look for the label.

So we have Takeaways where the owner has no Sunnah, does not pray, has music blasting and we eat there after “looking at the label”.

In other words, “Taqwa of the owner” has been taken out of the equation which is a bad thing. I already know of places who are mixing HMC meat with Non-HMC meat because Takeaways and Restaurants always need meat on an urgent basis so its standard practise to get meat (specially on Friday nights etc.) from whatever source you can and this may not always be HMC.

So HMC is a solution and may Allah (SWT) reward those who are behind it.

A better solution is the Australian model which is that in Australia “Dhabiha” is defined and codified in the Law so meat which is labelled “Dhabiha” is protected by law and if someone breaks that trust he/she goes to PRISON!

In UK if someone mixes Halal/Haram or HMC/Non-HMC there is not much legally which can be done!

Second problem is the HMC business model:

1. HMC certify meat at the abattoir/slaughter house, although they have no training program for slaughter men
2. HMC then certify the SAME MEAT at the wholesaler
3. HMC then certify the SAME MEAT at the retailer
4. HMC then certify the SAME MEAT at the Takeaway/Restaurant
    

I as a consumer is paying 4 times for the certification process.

Maulana Yunus Saheb (HA) says that this is the ONLY way to ensure “Halal Status” throughout the whole chain. This is not working because people are obviously mixing HMC/NON-HMC meat and since "Taqwa" is out of the equation, HMC don't have a big enough STICK to beat people with!

On HMC site there are those who violate the rules and get their certification REVOKED and then? Nothing happens because these people remain in business and keep on selling...

Surely a simper mechanism is to:

1. Have a comprehsenive training and certification program for those who are slaughtering
2. Monitor the abattoir/slaughter house and ensure that the process is being adhered to
3. Work on enshrining the "Dhabiha" process in UK Law and ensure that it becomes a criminal offense to lie and decieve people

HMC need a STICK!

Spot on Guv'.

The entire experience needs to be "Halal"

Exactly my point.

Can you guess what my main reason was. (We have discussed this reason before, this time it was difficult, we even changed tables)

I don't know I am not very good at guessing; that's a woman's thing usually : -)

Asslamo Allaikum,

I feel very uncomfortable in "Muslim Resturants" and always have, so if we have to we get the food and eat at home.

I saw an advert once. The restuarant was boasting about it being HMC with seperate family sections and a segregated area, it all looked good and sounded great, then they topped it with "Every table has its own Ipod docking station so you can play your own Music".



Icing on the cake.


 

Pubs sell "Halal Meat" because it tastes nicer and many Non-Muslims eat it. I have been told by a Non-Muslim at work that their local pub (in Yorkshire) procure HMC meat.

Non-Muslim establishment but they trust the HMC label and get it from a butcher who is HMC-Certified. In fact this "Non-Muslim" knew about HMC because their was a discussion at their local pub and then he googled and read up on it.

: - ) I swear! I am not kidding! : - )

P.S: Off course this has nothing to do with HMC, just to show you that people trust the label...