The halal industry is\narguably one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The economic\npotential of the industry has attracted not only the Muslim countries, but also\nnon-Muslim countries and their conglomerates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main factor that\ndrives the halal industry is the growing demand from Muslim consumers and\ncommunities who look for products and services which are manufactured according\nto Islamic precepts. Furthermore the halal market is no longer exclusive to\nMuslim consumers as the demand also comes from non-Muslim communities who acknowledge\nthe inherent qualities embedded in halal products and services. Nowadays, the demand\nfor halal is not only confined to food and beverages. Muslim consumers now are\nalso looking for the halalnessin\ntheir fashion, tourism, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, media and entertainment as\nwell as other service sectors such as logistics, financing etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, State of the\nGlobal Islamic Economy Report 2018\/2019 estimated that 1.8 billion Muslims\naround the world spent a whopping amount of US$2.1 trillion in various\nlifestyle sectors. The details of spending by sector are as follows: food and\nbeverage at US$1.3 trillion; clothing and apparel at US$270 billion; media and\nentertainment at US$209 billion; travel at US$177 billion; pharmaceuticals at\nUS$87 billion and cosmetics at US$ 61 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The motivation behind\nthis halal quest comes from a prophetic tradition which reported by Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) who narrated that the Prophet (Peace Be\nUpon Him) said, \u201cSeeking halal is a fard<\/em> (an obligation or duty binding)\non every Muslim.\u201d The hadith clearly implies that it is compulsory for every\nMuslim to seek halal earning. However, it should be noted that not only the\nlivelihood of a Muslim must be halal, but the products and services on which it\nis spent must also be halal and permissible according to Shariah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to meet the\ndemands and satisfy the tastes of the buying public of the halal market segment,\nindustry players have made various efforts to ensure their produce are of\nquality and most importantly, fulfil conditions and requirements set out by the\nIslamic law. Even some of the manufacturers go the extra mile by subscribing to\nhalal standards which require stringent compliance with guidelines and\nprocedures stipulated by the certification bodies such as, in the case of\nMalaysia, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) and Department\nof Standards Malaysia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The appetite of\nMuslim consumers for halal products and services is worthy of praise and highly\ncommendable. Nevertheless, questions arise on the Muslim consumers\u2019 purchase\nand use behaviours: Is their consumption behaviour in line with the principles\nlaid out by the Shariah? To what extent is the consumption behaviour of Muslim\nconsumers who vigorously demand for halal quality products and services truly halal\nfrom the perspective of Shariah? If there are proponents of halal industry among\ncountries eyeing to gain\neconomic benefits from the industry, then should there be\nmovements that propagate halal consumerism among Muslim consumers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Business Dictionary<\/em>, consumerism refers\nto organised efforts by individuals, groups, and governments to help protect\nconsumers from policies and practices that infringe consumer rights to fair\nbusiness practices. Generally, several accepted basic consumer rights have\nexisted such as the right to safety (i.e. protection from hazardous goods), the\nright to be informed (i.e. availability of product information and protection\nfrom false or misleading claims), the right to choose (i.e. absolute right to\nbuy any goods or services of his choice that are available in the market) and the\nright to be heard (i.e. the right to voice complaints and to be responded to by\nbusiness and government authorities efficiently and responsively). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering that such\nexplanation of consumerism put the responsibilities to serve the rights of\nconsumers on manufacturers, service providers and authorities, therefore, hardly any emphasis is given to consumers in\nensuring that they also play their role in creating a holistic consumerism\nenvironment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, for halal\nconsumerism, all parties and in the context of this article, Muslim consumers,\napart from having to know their rights, they should also ensure that their\nconsumption behaviours are in tandem with values promulgated by Islam. This is\na very important point that is often forgotten by the halal community in their\nhalal ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, the\nwholesomeness of the concept of halal should not only appear in the aspect of\nmanufacturing and production, but also embraced by consumers and reflected in\ntheir consumption acts and practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In matters pertaining\nto food, fashion and lifestyles, for example, Muslim consumers should avoid the\nelements of waste, impulsive purchases or buying what are not necessarily needed.\nHowever, many Muslim consumers fail to internalise the true concept of halal in\nthese aspects as there are evidences showing the contradiction between what the\nconcept tries to promote and what is observed in reality. For instance, while\nMuslims are concerned with halal foods, it appears that at the same time they\nalso indulge in prohibited acts such as being wasteful and extravagant in\neating and spending. In Malaysia, this phenomenon is glaring throughout the\nmonth of Ramadhan and during the Hari Raya festive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a conventional\ncontext, consumerism is often associated with shopping and consuming. Consumers\nbelieve that through consumerism (i.e. shopping and consuming) they not only can\nsatisfy their physical but also emotional needs. Propelled by persuasive\nadvertising and marketing strategies initiated by capitalist producers whose\nincentive is profit, consumers somehow or rather compulsively spend their money\non things just because they are trendy or to keep up with the Joneses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, if consumerism\nis not based on divine teachings, it could also lead to environmental\ndegradation and ecological imbalance. This is the consequence of combined manufacturers and consumers\nactivities who overconsume and overuse natural resources in the name of\nconsumerism and industrialisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the global\nconsumer society, not all Muslims can defy the influence of mainstream\nconsumerism. Perhaps this is the reason why some of them fail to integrate the\nwholesomeness concept of halal in all aspects of consumerism activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are various\nverses of the Quran and hadith of the Prophet prohibiting Muslims from being\nwasteful, extravagant and improper in the use of Allah\u2019s bounties. In a general\nprohibition of the practice of waste, Allah Almighty says to the effect in surah al-Isra\u2019 <\/em>verses 26 and 27: \u201cAnd give to the near of kin his due and (to)\nthe needy and the wayfarer, and do not squander wastefully [26]. Surely, the\nsquanderers are the fellows of Satan and Satan is ever ungrateful to his Lord\n[27].\u201d On the abstaining from extravagance and worldly display, Allah says to\nthe effect in surah al-A\u2019raaf<\/em>, verse\n31: \u201cO children of Adam! Attend to your embellishments at every time of prayer,\nand eat and drink and be not extravagant; surely He does not love the\nextravagant.\u201d\n\nIndeed, the concept of halal and halal\nconsumerism should be looked at from a much wider perspective. The overzealous\nadoption of the concept by certain quarters has made it to only become an\nindicator on whether something could be consumed or utilised by Muslims.\nEfforts should be carried out to educate Muslim consumers to realise that\nbesides concerning the halalness of food and drinks they consume, they should\nalso align their consumption behaviour with the tenets of Islam such as\navoiding being wasteful (tabzir<\/em>) and\nextravagant (israaf<\/em>), spreading\nevil\/corruption on earth (ifsad fi\nal-ardh<\/em>); caring for others, being grateful to Allah for all the bounties bestowed\nupon His servants etc. The internalisation of the Islamic traits in a Muslim\u2019s\nconsumption behaviour would definitely contribute significantly to the development\nof the halal ecosystem as it indirectly impacts the supply sides (i.e.\nmanufacturers and service providers) to act and adjust according to their market conditions\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The halal industry is arguably one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The economic potential of the industry has attracted not only the Muslim countries, but also non-Muslim countries and their conglomerates. The main factor that drives the halal industry is the growing demand from Muslim consumers and communities who look for products The main factor that drives the halal industry is the growing demand from Muslim …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-225","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}