Anwar Buchoo (Blog)

Halal, Haram food. Doubtful ?

Recently, having come across a statement (by the Jummah Mosque of Mauritius), made me willing to write an article about this topic.

There are so many halal committees nowadays that each committee tends to claim superiority over the other. Now there’s this new one, named “Jummah masjid halal council (JMHC)”.
When you ask them about the status of Pizza Hut, KFC, Nando’s, McDonald, Debonair’s, Steers, FAIL, other restaurants, their simple answer is DOUBTFUL !
Now what’s that supposed to mean ? I wanted an answer halal or haram, and I get "doubtful".

For sometime in the past, their main problem was with KFC. All they wanted to have was the recipe of KFC before issuing the certificate and I wonder why :)
Come on, that’s its business secret. How do you expect them to share it with you ?
I’ve recently visited some Arab countries and there was KFC, McDonald’s, Hardee’s, Pizza Hut everywhere with the official halal status. Do you think KFC shared its recipe with them ? :)

There’s much hypocrisy on this subject and maybe some hidden agenda too.

When I eat at these places in MRU, I ask if it’s halal. They say yes, with the certificates. So, I eat freely without being DOUBTFUL. Some people don’t eat at these places because the JMHC or the Halal Research Committee (HRC) of Mauritius has not issued them a halal certificate.
My question : are the JMHC or HRC the only authentic halal committees on this planet ?

People tend to complicate simple things; that’s what we do best. Anyway, I think to be 100% sure that your meat is halal, you should raise the cattle yourself, slaughter it with your own hands or watch another person do it and lastly, cook it yourself.
Despite the JMHC/HRC issuing halal certificates to slaughter houses in Mauritius, how can they be sure that on any particular day the slaughtering is being done as required ? Are they present 24/7 there ?

As you see, we should do our own research too because with so much halal committees cropping, we can never be sure ! Moreover, there exist corrupt certifiers too, due to the financial gain in this sector. I was, myself, duped in Europe, by a muslim restaurant-owner, affirming that it's halal (he had certificates) and later I learnt it wasn't.

This debate will never end among some muslims; meanwhile, I’ll continue eating Pizza Hut, Debonair’s, Steers, Pizza Hut, KFC, McDo and at other halal restaurants.
God, alone, will judge me and no one else has the right to do so!

The McDo "Sega" in Mauritius

After the recent opening of the McDonald outlet at Phoenix, I decided to pay them a visit a couple of days ago. Since last year, there have been quite some manifestations from the ISKCON/Kranti groups to oppose the opening of this beef-selling outlet. The reason is same as that of McDo in India, i.e. religious conviction of our Hindu citizens and this outlet being near a to-be temple.

I was there around 18h and the McDo parking was nearly full. At the entrance, there was a paper with a notice on it saying “We are not able to sell any Beef products temporary until further notice” (ed. ongoing case in court). When I entered, I was amazingly surprised to see all the communities of the society, sitting and eating. There were many Hindus, Christians, and Muslims.

While at the queue, there were two Hindu boys in front of me waiting their turn. Suddenly, one of them started talking, a bit loud, to the other saying

Guy 1 : “this place is not too ok to sit and eat, though ...” He continued “it’s got glass panes all over and people from outside can see us”.
To which the second guy added “yeah true, if my dad comes here and sees me.. gonna be in trouble. we can try sit in the corner (not that visible from outside)”.

But, finally, there they were, all burgers on a plate and walking to a table.

I, furthermore, noticed two police officers, on duty, in front of the McDo building. It’s the first time I saw this in Mauritius, where you got 2 police officers outside a restaurant for security purpose.

On a final note, today I heard that the Kranti group is calling for a boycott of Phoenix Commercial Centre, entirely. This made me smile while thinking that if people are not even boycotting the McDo outlet there, how can you get people to boycott the entire mall ? :-)
We just got to wait for the court's decision next week (previously 29/03) and hope that everyone gets satisfaction out of this. If McDo will be forced not to sell any Beef, fair enough I think, compared to a shut-down order.

For info, I ate my meal over there in a secure, hygienic and relaxing environment. The restaurant was nearly full, inside (raining outside). I guess all the recent “segas” about McDo did a great free publicity for this American QSR.

Ena dimoun mank rol dans sa pei la !

Tout problème ki ena dans sa pei moris la, bizin ena ene zafer rélizion ki rent en jeu !

Fran tou, bane socioculturels sa pei la (tou rélizions, pa ziss ene !) mari mank rol. ena dimoun p mort san manzer/ou ek la drog (tou rélizions enkor ene foi !), mai aucain sa bane socio-sipaki-moloyo la pa pou fer naryen. zot program, invite PM dan fonction, gagne privilez pou zot ek zot ti clik, fer ene ta tapaz, gagne couvertir media ek apres ene poil na pena dan le concret !

Si ene touriss vine moris, li a croir morisien mari relizieu ek sa kantiter mouvement relizieuz ena dan sa zil la. mai pa pou autan ki crime ou delinquence p diminier. ena bane homme relizieu (couma zot apel zot !) fight pou bane zafer nonsense net ena coup, fer rier tou. vraimem bane socio-sipaki-moloyo ti bizin apel plito "communalo-politik" !

(Extrait de lexpress.mu d'aujourd'hui, ci-après)

Un front commun hindou pour protester contre le restaurant McDonald’s à Phoenix

L’ensemble des mouvements socioculturels hindous de l’île se réunit à Phoenix à 11h30 ce mardi 25 janvier. L’objectif s’organiser pour empêcher l’ouverture d’un restaurant McDonald’s à Jumbo Phoenix.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna passe à l’offensive. Elle réunit ce matin l’ensemble des associations hindoues de l’île pour dire publiquement son opposition à l’ouverture d’un restaurant McDonald’s face à son centre, à Phoenix.
Le recours à un front commun hindou était envisagé dès fin décembre. Mais la direction de la branche locale de l’International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) voulait avant tout discuter avec le promoteur du projet afin qu’une solution soit trouvée.

Il est inconcevable pour les fidèles que le fumet de boeuf parvienne jusqu’à leur temple alors qu’ils sont végétaliens. De plus, les écritures saintes hindoues décrivent la vache comme un animal sacré.

Le mouvement dit s’être adressé à la filiale du groupe Rogers - propriétaire du centre commercial de Phoenix - qui gère le site, ForeSite, le promoteur du restaurant n’ayant pas, ajoutent-ils, répondu à leurs sollicitations pour des discussions..
Une rencontre était à l’agenda vendredi dernier mais ForeSite ne s’y est pas fait représenter. ForeSite dit étudier le dossier avec ses consultants pour avoir une idée sur «les implications» du projet.

«Nous avons suivi toutes les procédures pour avoir le permis de construire le bâtiment qu’on a ensuite loué à McDonald’s. On est même allé au-delà des requirements. Le centre commercial a publié des notices dans les journaux comme le stipule la loi et on avait même installé un panneau sur le site», a expliqué Sanjiv Mihdidin, le directeur de ForeSite à lexpress.mu.

«Je ne vois pas où est le mal. Légalement, il n’y a aucun souci. Un voisin nous a écrit, on est en train de discuter avec nos consultants pour décider quoi répondre», a-t-il ajouté. Le restaurant de 250 couverts devant ouvrir ses portes à la mi-février, Hare Rama Hare Krishna ne veut pas prendre le risque de se retrouver devant le fait accompli.

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