I "heard" lots of things also. It doesn't mean a thing without evidence or a reliable source. so do you have any of those? if not then remember the Ahadeeth and verse on spreading what you hear without verifying.
HMC is a charity based organisation and therefore simply do not have the manpower, or funding to be able to police a truly halal experience. They ensure the meat/poultry in itself is Halal to the best of their ability, as in this day and age, it's safer to trust a sticker than it is to trust a mans word. Anything beyond the meat itself, cannot be left to HMC and is down to our own taqwa as Muslims. A HMC sticker in the window doesn't mean they endorse any fitna that goes on inside the store or the integrity of the people working there. They strictly are in the business of the product, and Allah knows best.
An HMC Certified Eat in Restaurant, this time with a Belly Dancer!
Now you're all going to say HMC only certify the meat and poultry :)
The standards need to change - the whole experiance needs to be Halal.
At this rate, One may suggest that we might as well just go to a local Pub and eat HMC certified food there! Better than the belly dancer - just don't have alcohol served on your table :(
I am not sure what to make of this thread.. so a restaurant should only be a certified as Halal. If all the staff are dressed in Sunnah, they all pray their 5 Salahs. All the cooks are in a state of Wudhu at all times. And they recite Surah Ikhlas whilst they are cooking.
The restaurant should have no music, and all the seating areas...should have strict purdah and private cubicles with curtains...so as not to catch the gaze of non-mahrams.
We aren't living under any khilafat so not yet anyway.
But when a family want to go out for a break from the norm and find a restaurant that is guaranteed halal, surely they shouldn't expect women dancing in bikinis!
Family should not go out to a restaurant in the first place...fairly recent bidah that began sometime in the mid to late 90's.
I worked in restaurants in the late 1980's to early 1990's. On and off over a period of 5 years.
This is in a muslim populated area of Birmingham area saturated with 5o or so restaurants if not more.
Only once do I remember ever seeing a muslim family visit a restaurant I worked in.. That too was some family from out of town.
All the customers where mainly non-muslims that visited muslim restaurants.
People where perfectly happy eating as a family at home from the 1970's to mid 1990's.
For that matter very rarely saw Sikh or Hindu families coming to eat at restaurants either.
If Auntiejees wanted a break from the routine...old unclejees simply took them for the weekly shopping at a major Supermarket.lol.
I am not sure if that Supermarket environment was too halal either mind you. With the criteria you have set.
Then there was a trend in the late 1970's where every house made jelly with cream as desert when guests arrived. Until everyone found out jelley contained something called gelatine.Even with being vigilant haram still managed to seep through out of naivety.
Takeout was buying a bag of potatoes spending a couple of hours peeling and dicing and frying.
To make homemade chips. Fish fingers were like a bonus.
So enough of this biddah of eating out...its got to the stage where people order takeaways everyday. And home cooked food is a novelty for them.
I don't see any halal place that is empty or have very few Muslim's in them.
Especially HMC certified places. They are rammed with Muslim families.
Yes in London it was the same. It was unheard of for Muslim families going out to eat.
I think since the young generation became Haajees and they saw a different approach to living and eating out, things changed a lot. At least in London it did.
I've seen the same lifestyle change in India and Pakistan too. Families going out to eat.
This particular place we were at was HMC certified with a secluded / netted area where there was privacy to some extent and it was kept dark. Yet the belt dancer was able to be seen and heard, Astagfirullah.
Back in the days when there used to be bazaars, even in the old days, it's become line that on a daily basis for some.
For others they really do want to take a break from the norm.
In fact, I know someone who works 7 days a week and she still finds time to cook for the family. Her husband works 5 days a week but longer hours, so they feel like talking time out and they try to keep it as halal as possible.
I guess they might be better off going to the cinema and watch a kids movie. There would be less Haram going on there and it would still be lesser of the two evils. Sadly
Such a shame really.
By the way, it wasn't a local place to us, we happened to drive through and it was getting late, so we thought we were in a bit of luck when we saw the HMC poster.
So misleading!
There's more chance of having a halal experience in a kuffar place.
We went to a Halal certified restaurant but activities such as Music and belly dancing were taking place. Is it Halal to eat at such an establishment?
The certification is by a well known body run under the guidance of Ulama.
Or should an alternative establishment be considered which although does not carry a certification but offers Halal meals in a holistically Halal setting.
Jazakallahu Khayran
-
GT1645
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
هو الموفق
حامدا و مصليا و مسلما
الجواب و منه الصواب
The certification of the poultry and meat and the management of the business are two separate entities. It is the responsibility of the Muslim to ensure that the food and the environment is islamically sound.
Hence he should eat in those establishments that are certified by a reputable organisation led by scholars and it is managed by islamically minded proprietors who do not engage in immoral behaviour.
Well someone told me when Allama Iqbal came to Europe to study. His father warned him about all the haram that was the norm there,.. to be vigilant and protect himself from falling into sin.
Allama Iqbal apparently replied "You are throwing me into the ocean yet asking me to avoid getting wet."
If you go to a restaurant expecting a halal experience...then that is quite naive to say the least. Akin to someone diving into the ocean and being surprised when they get wet.
Some answers have to be politically correct whilst others who genuinely try their best to provide Halal in in their chains are shunned away because they have other origins or are not Muslim Organisations.
The whole HMC thing is a SCAM in my opinion. Any Scholar from their organisation who wishes to challenge me are more than welcome. My first task would be to invite to dinner, guess where? ;) (If they agree, I'll need to get details from Abu Mohammed about the location)
Innocent people are dragged in by their STUPID posters calling their meat and poultry halal where as nothing else is even considered.
I was in a Muslim Turkish Fish and Chips shop once and there was an inspector there checking if the cheese was Halal. Double standards? Then he started bragging about "We want to ensure everything is Halal" LIES!!
I'm losing faith in these HMC certifications.
If they want to be HMC certified, keep the certificate hidden until asked for, then brag about how Halal their food is.
So many people have been forced to go HMC due to public demand. This has inadvertantly made music acceptable and slowly belly dancing will become the norm too.
And for all us Hanafi's out there - HMC certified restaurants DO NOT always serve Halal FOOD.
So be careful not to eat sea food if and when you go there because you will find crabs, squid and other Haram things being served to you.
The certification of the poultry and meat and the management of the business are two separate entities. It is the responsibility of the Muslim to ensure that the food and the environment is islamically sound.
Hence he should eat in those establishments that are certified by a reputable organisation led by scholars and it is managed by islamically minded proprietors who do not engage in immoral behaviour.
This would make many places Halal to have a takeway from ;)
Some places are certified by reputable organisations - the enviroment is what you would get in the streets or shopping areas - thus under this analogy, so many places are more Halal than these HMC ones.
If you choose to fish in the deepest oceans, in the cover of darkness, during the stormiest of weathers. With tidal waves that are as tall as mountains. The chances of swimming back to safety are remote. The risk of drowning is inevitable.
Far better to purchase the fish from the market cook it at home, in a safe and contented environment.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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