THE demand for products certified “halal”, prepared according to strict Muslim laws, goes beyond food and is extending into cosmetics.
The halal list is set to grow in the coming years with Muslims making up more than one billion of the world’s population , which exceeds six billion.
The arabic word “halal” means lawful. In the Quran, Allah commands Muslims and all of mankind to eat halal things. Among the many verses of the Quran that convey this message are:
“O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, lawful and good; and do not follow the footsteps of the Evil One, for he is
to you an avowed enemy.” (2: 168).
“O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to God, if it is Him ye worship.” (2:172).
“Eat of the things which God hath provided for you, lawful and good, but fear God, in Whom ye believe.” (5:88).
The arabic word “haram” means unlawful. The following items have been categorically spelt out as being haram by jurists in light of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad: Pigs, blood, carnivorous animals, almost all reptiles and insects, the bodies of dead animals (carcasses), halal animals which are not slaughtered according to the Islamic Law and wine.
These items and other things which are haram, should be avoided by all Muslims.
Mashbuh is an Arabic term which means doubtful or suspected. If one does not know the halal or haram status of a particular ingredient, one should avoid consuming or using the product. Examples of things considered mashbuh are gelatine (which is halal if its source is halal), enzymes (microbial enzymes are halal), emulsifiers and glycerol/glycerin.
Nowadays, in the processing of cosmetic products, we cannot escape from the issue of ingredients that originate from animals, including haram sources.
Cosmetics can be defined as articles intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the external body.
In the cosmetic substances, the products from animal sources may pose problems. For example, collagen and gelatine, which are used in cosmetic preparation, are important animal products.
The main sources of animal products in preparing cosmetics are skin and bones. The production from skins basically involves an extraction process of several stages with increasing temperatures, filtration and concentration in a vacuum evaporator.
Chicken and pork skins can be emulsified to be used as ingredients in the production of emulsion type sausages.
Another ingredient is alcohol; alcohol-free products basically mean products that do not contain ethyl alcohol. It may contain other alcohols such as cetyl, stearyl, cetearyl, or lanolin, which are known as fatty alcohols.
If ethyl alcohol is added to a product, it is normally denatured first, to prevent the ethyl alcohol in the cosmetic from being diverted illegally for use as an alcoholic beverage.
In Malaysia, some of the cosmetic products in the market have no status and they bring confusion to the Muslim consumers. According to the Direktori Halal Malaysia 2003/2004 JAKIM 2003 under cosmetics (page; 298 to 302) only five cosmetic products have halal status. They are Annese Cosmetic, Yakin Invest, Zisha Seri Guna, Clara International and Jim Pathol. What about the others?
If a cosmetic is confirmed haram, the product should be labelled “for non-Muslim only”.
The rules related to matters of halal and haram are determined on the basis of principles of moderation. For all intent and purposes, halal is excellence, as anything short of excellence is not completely halal.
The cosmetic substances basically are dependent on two things: substances used and intention of using them. The substances used should be halal. However, in a different context, for example in a war, non-halal substances may be used if halal products are not accessible. For instance, armies use dye to colour their hair to confuse their enemies.
Currently, the authorised bodies of halal food can only look from the Islamic perspective and gather information from manufacturers.
Since Malaysia will be a developed country by the year 2020, we need laboratories fully owned by these authorised bodies to conduct and monitor all the halal products containing chemical substances. Sophisticated laboratories, which are capable of conducting tests on chemical substances in a short time must be headed by Muslim scientists with chemical backgrounds from Islamic institutions.
