Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows: Most if not all oyster sauces would contain oysters or derivatives thereof. According to Hanafis, only fish from the sea creatures may be consumed. Oysters etc. are of the mollusc category and therefore deemed impermissible by the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. This impermissibility cannot be equated with that of Haraam pork etc. since the latter is proven through Shar’ie text whilst the former is based on juristic interpretation and deduction. Furthermore, according to the Shâfi’iy and other mathâ-hib, oysters are deemed Halaal. And Allâh knows best! Was-Salaam Consumer Department

Assalam o Alikum, I am living in Pakistan. An uncle from USA brought me a chocolate as gift. The chocolate includes an ingredient called PGPR Emulsifier. The chocolate is Kosher Certified. I want to know if Kosher is trustworthy; and it’s certified products; including chocolate and meat, are halaal for us? Kindly reply me as soon as possible Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows: The question of reliance on a kosher stamp as a guarantee on the Halaal status is hazardous and a slippery slope to follow, a path that we would not unconditionally recommend. Whilst there are similarities in certain of the rituals, there are many differences that one may not be aware off, some of which we have listed below. 1. Islam prohibits all intoxicating alcohol whilst wines are regarded as kosher. The kosher mark cannot make it Halaal. 2. Gelatin is considered kosher by some Jewish authorities regardless of its source of origin. Muslims consider gelatin prepared from pork and non-Halaal slaughtered animal origin as Haraam. Therefore food items with kosher symbols on products such as marshmallows, yoghurts etc are not automatically Halaal. 3. Enzymes irrespective of their source are acceptable in cheese making and carry the kosher symbol whilst enzymes of pork origin are Haraam to Muslims. 4. Jewish law permits use of pork bristle brush in food preparation whist it is Haraam for Muslims. 5. Islam considers the entire cattle or sheep as Halaal if it is slaughtered in accordance to the Shari’ah whilst Jews do not use the hind quarter. Jewish people do not accept Halaal as kosher. Muslims accept and believe as an article of faith, the role of all the previous Prophets (Peace be upon them) and the scriptures revealed through them, it relies on the final verse of the final revelation revealed to the final Prophet (Peace be upon him) in his farewell pilgrimage to put matters into its proper perspective. In the verse revealed it was stated “this day have I perfected your religion for you and completed my favour upon you and chosen for you Islam as your religion.” [Surah 5: Verse 3] The final divine laws of Islam are indeed perfect and best for followers. Consumption of Halaal increases spirituality and benefits us both now and in the Hereafter. There is no need to be dependent on any other sets of laws for convenience. We do hope this explanation would suffice. Also view our website for further information pertaining to Halaal / non-Halaal products. www.sanha.org.za Was-Salaam Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows: SANHA does NOT approve of gelatine from China. Was-Salaam Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows: In terms of information at our disposal Pringles non-meat variants are Halaal suitable.

Muhtaram, Assalamu ‘alaykum w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
Based on SANHA’s experience acquired from certifying of local soft drink manufacturers (both Muslim and non-Muslim owned); together with Coca Cola’s “free from”
legal disclosure; and guidance from the Malaysian Government Halaal Department (who have certified Coca Cola and Pepsi as Halaal), our Ulama Council members had considered Halaal suitability status for their products.

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:

1. E-124 – Halaal suitable
2. E-354 – Mushbooh (could be derived from wine sources or synthetic sources)
3. E-999 – Halaal suitable

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
Ajinomoto is a biochemical manufacturing company that manufactures various product such as amino acids. They are famous for MSG, i.e. mono sodium glutamate. If this is the salt referred to then, from the information we have, the product from this company is certified as Halaal.

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

I want to inquire about two things whether they are usable or not.
First is “Cetearyl Alcohal” and the second one is “Alcohal Denat”?
“Cetearyl Alcohal” is used in Beauty Soap named “LUX” which is frequently used in our country, Pakistan and “Alcohal Denat” is used in “Nivea Lotion”, which we are using now-a-days.
Kindly confirm me about these, whether we should continue to use or stop it?

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:

The alcohols used in creams / cosmetics etc. are denatured and furthermore are NOT from the ‘khamr-asli’ category which is najis (napaak and impure) thus the use of such perfumes, colognes, soaps etc is permissible.

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
As with all franchise restaurants it is essential that the franchise company make full disclosures and formalise an agreement with SANHA which binds the franchisor to a host of conditions inter alia:

• to ensure that all suppliers are Halaal approved;
• not to introduce any new item to the store without obtaining express approval of SANHA;
• to only supply certified/approved products to stores;
• that only Muslim-owned stores be given the option to operate Halaal stores etc. etc.

McDonalds has not made the required disclosures to SANHA and have not formalised an agreement with us hence we cannot give any assurances for their stores

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
In terms of information at our disposal the said Mars chocolates are Halaal suitable.
Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

Assalam u Alaikum
My son is in Makkah Mukkarma these days, for his fard hajj. He is a 15 year old youngster, who wants to enjoy everything there. We will really appreciate if you can tell us details about the famous Al-Baik Chicken, if it is halaal or not.

Muhtaramah, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:

Regrettably, we have no jurisdiction nor possess in-depth information on these outlets, their sources of meat and ingredient supply etc. and therefore cannot comment on their Halaal Status or otherwise.

It is alleged that many hotels / restaurants etc. use imported meats from Europe, Brazil etc. One should therefore be cautious.

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

We wish to open frozen yogurt parlor in Karachi, Pakistan. We have contacted different supplier in this regard in USA and they all say that they are Kosher certified but not halaal Certified. Our knowledge tells us that all Kosher certified products are halaal Certified but all halaal Certified products are not Kosher certified. Is this correct?

azakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:

The question of reliance on a kosher stamp as a guarantee on the Halaal status is hazardous and a slippery slope to follow, a path that we would not unconditionally recommend.
Whilst there are similarities in certain of the rituals, there are many differences that one may not be aware off, some of which we have listed below.
1. Islam prohibits all intoxicating alcohol whilst wines are regarded as kosher. The kosher mark cannot make it Halaal.
2. Gelatin is considered kosher by some Jewish authorities regardless of its source of origin. Muslims consider gelatin prepared from pork and non-Halaal slaughtered animal origin as Haraam. Therefore food items with kosher symbols on products such as marshmallows, yoghurts etc are not automatically Halaal.
3. Enzymes irrespective of their source are acceptable in cheese making and carry the kosher symbol whilst enzymes of pork origin are Haraam to Muslims.
4. Jewish law permits use of pork bristle brush in food preparation whist it is Haraam for Muslims.
5. Islam considers the entire cattle or sheep as Halaal if it is slaughtered in accordance to the Shari’ah whilst Jews do not use the hind quarter.

Jewish people do not accept Halaal as kosher.
Muslims accept and believe as an article of faith, the role of all the previous Prophets (Peace be upon them) and the scriptures revealed through them, it relies on the final verse of the final revelation revealed to the final Prophet (Peace be upon him) in his farewell pilgrimage to put matters into its proper perspective.
In the verse revealed it was stated “This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed my favour upon you and chosen for you Islam as your religion.” [Surah 5: Verse 3]

The final divine laws of Islam are indeed perfect and best for followers. Consumption of Halaal increases spirituality and benefits us both now and in the Hereafter. There is no need to be dependent on any other sets of laws for convenience.

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
Kindly be advised that Centrum manufactured in Pakistan is the only variant which carries our Halaal endorsement. The other Centrum products imported from USA and other countries do NOT carry any Halaal approval and the likelihood of pork gelatine being used cannot be ruled out.
We have information from Pfizer that their Centrum products do contain animal gelatine including pig source. Muslim should exercise great caution and restraint.
Was-Salaam

I have found post on Facebook about Mountain Dew cold drink. It says “Are you a Mountain Dew addict? Then know what you’re drinking!” BVO is a toxic chemical that is banned in many countries because it competes with iodine for receptor sites in the body, which can lead to hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease, and cancer. The main ingredient, bromine, is a poisonous, corrosive chemical, linked to major organ system damage, birth defects, growth problems, schizophrenia, and hearing loss.
“There’s flame retardant in your Mountain Dew. That soda with the lime-green hue (and other citrus-flavored bubbly pops) won’t keep your insides fireproof, but it does contain brominated vegetable oil, a patented flame retardant for plastics that has been banned in foods throughout Europe and in Japan.
Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, which acts as an emulsifier in citrus-flavored soda drinks, is found in about 10 percent of sodas sold in the U.S.
“After a few extreme soda binges — not too far from what many gamers regularly consume – a few patients have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine,” according to a recent article in Environmental News.”
http://goo.gl/Hj44r
Kindly advice if it is true.
Wassalaam

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Kindly read the following link:
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/bvo.asp

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

Muhtaram, Wa ‘alaykumus-Salaam w.w
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
SANHA only certifies Magnum ice cream made in South Africa. Unfortunately, we do not have information on Magnum products made in the U.K.
Was-Salaam
Consumer Department

SANHA only approves M & M’s made in Malaysia.

Question: Some people are spreading that two brands in our local markets Oye Hoye and Lays contains E631 thus making them Haraam. The message is circulating the social media. Kindly let us know what is the stance of Sanha Pakistan. So that a layman like me can reply to these messages.

Muhtaram, Assalamu Alaykum
Jazakumullah Khairan for your email correspondence and for the opportunity to be of service to you. We advise as follows:
We are aware of the rumors against Lays snacks products in Pakistan.

Since SANHA has been assisting the Pakistani food manufacturers with Halaal regulatory service for the past one Decade, we were contacted by Pepsico to conduct an audit of the factory and verify Halaal compliance.

After an in-loco inspection at the Lays plant in Lahore and in-depth evaluation of the ingredients used, we are pleased to confirm that their ingredients are Halaal compliant.

The ingredient in question, E-631 is derived from TAPIOCA STARCH, a plant based raw material which has been certified Halaal.

Consumers are advised Tobe wary of such malicious rumors and urged not to circulate any such mail until the information has been verified and confirmed by a reputable expert authority.

Regarding the Oye Hoye you are suggested to wait a few more days, it’s under evaluation, once we evaluate it we shall announce via our website, WhatsApp post.

Was-Salaam
Consumer Department