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Al-Safa Halal
writeamir
12/31/00 at 00:47:52
Assalaamulaikum. I know this article is a bit old but I thought you guys might find it interesting. Controversy around Al-Safa's Halal continues http://www.soundvision.com/halalhealthy/assafameat.shtml Muslim consumers have a right to know the following facts about the products produced by "Al-Safa" a Canada based company. What is in a Name? When you look at the name of the company, it reads "Al-Safa." What a beautiful Islamic name! When you look at the logo of the company, it has a mosque, minaret, and date trees. What a beautiful Islamic symbol! To further win the hearts of the Muslim consumer, Al-Safa has "Halal" written in Arabic on its packages. What an alluring catchword! Furthermore, when you call at the toll free number given on the green colored flier and ads, the recording at the other side starts, with "Assalam - Alaikum" . What a beautiful greeting! After the greeting, a female voice runs the menu. The first two names that she mentions are Muslim names, as if the company is owned and run by Mr. Q and sister M. The other non-Muslim names follow these two Muslim names. Behind the facade of this outward appearance, i.e., the name (Al-Safa), Islamic symbolism, Muslim names of personnel, etc., the fact is that Al-Safa is owned and operated by a non-Muslim (Jew). There is nothing wrong in having the company owned and operated by a Jew. Muslims routinely by things produced by Jews, Hindus, and others. Muslims even buy Kosher products all the time because Quran allows Muslims to do that. Muslims are very open minded consumers. What is wrong is the deception of the identity. Muslim consumer should refuse to be fooled by such deceptions. Muslim consumer has a right to know the facts. Let the facts be known. Reciprocity between Halal and Kosher Ironically, Muslim consumers are buying the Halal products produced by a Jewish company (Al-Safa). Will Jewish consumers buy Kosher products produced by a Muslim company? The answer is and has been emphatically: Never! Many Jewish Rabbi and Kosher meat producers approached Muslim Halal meat producers and asked if Muslims can buy the hind quarter of an animal slaughtered according to the Kosher standard (Jews do not consume the hind quarter even though the animal is slaughtered according to Kosher law). When they are replied asking if the Jewish community would buy the front quarter of an animal slaughtered according to the Halal/Zabiha standard; their answer was emphatically: No! It is not a matter of bigotry. It is a matter of trust and comfort level. Halal is the identity of Muslims and Kosher is the identity of the Jews. Let each group keep their respective identities protected and catered by their own people and businesses. Halal /Zabiha Claim Al-Safa was first under the Halal supervision of ISNA, Canada (Islamic Society of North America) for quite some time. ISNA, Canada withdrew its Halal certification in August, 1999. The reason given was Al-Safa and MGI (parent company of Al-Safa) have not been able to meet the standard required for ISNA, Canada!&s certification standard. Al-Safa, on the other hand, claimed that ISNA Canada would not certify the hand slaughtered poultry which was demanded by the Muslim consumers. It is really confusing. Why would ISNA Canada not certify the hand slaughtered poultry. The reasons given by either party were vague and confusing. After dropping ISNA Canada, Al-Safa found another organization called IFANCA (Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America) based in Chicago to authenticate its Halal/Zabiha. claim. ISNA Canada is located in the Toronto area where Al-Safa!&s products are manufactured in the vicinity plants. If ISNA Canada could not supervise the production, how can IFANCA based in Chicago supervise the production of various products sitting in Chicago. The claim of "Open door policy" by Al-Safa and the claim of "strict standards for Halal food processing and marketing" by IFANCA seems nothing more than a empty slogans. In practice it simply does not work. The verification is simply next to impossible. It is only "Taqwa" on the part of the manufacturer that can guarantee the Halal claim. It is a fact that even some of the Muslim Halal stores have failed this test of "Taqwa" across North America. Are Muslim consumers then expecting a Jewish producer (Al-Safa) to pass this test? When the motive is profitability and not a commitment to Halal/Zabiha, regardless of whether it is a Muslim, Jew or any one else, the Halal claim cannot and must not be trusted. Does it make a business Sense for the Muslim community? There are an estimated six million Muslims in the North America. Halal/Zabiha is the food that they are all supposed to eat. Demand for Halal/ Zabiha food is growing rapidly. Up until now, local Halal/Zabiha stores owned and operated by Muslims were catering to the Halal/Zabiha demand of Muslim consumers. Now Al-Safa, a non-Muslim (Jewish) manufacturer has come up with a Halal line of products with a distribution network all over North America. Obviously his connections had helped him in getting these products in the American supermarkets across North America. For a Muslim producer, it is not at all possible. The local Halal/Zabiha stores are happily carrying Al-Safa!&s nicely packaged Halal line of products. Muslim consumers are happy for the convenience of those products. Al-Safa!&s products have already captured the Muslim market and are now available both in American supermarkets and local Halal meat stores across North American continent. Al-Safa started with cold cuts. It will soon get into Halal meat and Halal poultry. In fact, it has advertised for its bulk fresh poultry program (50 pound cases, gas flushed, hand slaughtered Zabiha). When those nicely packaged products will be available in American supermarkets, Muslim consumers will buy the Halal meat and poultry from the American supermarkets. Why would they spend hours waiting in local Muslim Halal meat stores? Evidently, this will dry out the local Muslim Halal meat and poultry stores. The Muslim owned Halal stores will then be wiped out and go out of business. The Muslim consumers will then be buying their Halal meat and poultry from American supermarkets. That will be the end of the Muslim producers of Halal meat and poultry. Muslim consumers will then be totally dependent on non-Muslim producers for their Halal meat/poultry supply. What to do It is halal for Muslims to buy Kosher meat, but we don't have to buy halal from Jews as well. Jewish people should consider allowing Muslims to enter Kosher meat market if they want to capture halal meat market. We understand that it is a sensitive issue for Jews as well as Muslims. Let Muslims control halal as Jews control Kosher. Fair enough? Let the Muslim consumers not be easy bait under the guise of convenience. Yes the packaging is alluring. Yes, the product is appealing; yes, the product could be Halal, although an element of doubt is there, but is it worth using it at the cost of Muslim safety, Muslim identity and Muslim business? Beyond the simple issue of Halal and Zabiha, what is the Masleha and wisdom? Get the bigger picture. Think about it. An informed consumer is the best consumer. The Halal cold cuts manufactured by local Muslims are available in the market. Buy from these local Muslim manufacturers and producers. Let Zabiha halal be a business by Muslims for Muslims. Discuss with your Imams, leaders and most of all with common Muslims. The ummah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) can never become unanimous on error. The masses have exhibited more wisdom many times and saved the ummah from grave dangers. Every Muslim must think and make choices which would be beneficial to the Ummah in the long run.

Re: Al-Safa Halal
Moe
12/31/00 at 02:16:07
salam i live in the area where al safa was located. as far as i know i heared the company went under not too long ago.

Re: Al-Safa Halal
Al-Basha
12/31/00 at 03:29:39
Salamu Aliakom, The Al Safa scandal is very shocking subhana Allah because I know a lot of families (including my own) who used to purchase their products and then stopped when we found out that they are owned by yahood. This goes to show how great the need for these kinds of services to Muslims are in North America and how the yahood have exploited this need and used it against us. Why can't there be a Muslim owned "Al-Safa"?

Re: Al-Safa Halal
humble_muslim
12/31/00 at 11:16:34
AA What's the BIG DEAL ? 1.  So what if it's owned by jews ?  Probably more than half of anything you purchase in the US has jewish connections. 2.  Have you ever tasted their stuff ? The quality is excellent, and so is the price. 3. Instead of complaining that jews are doing this, why don't those people who don't like it go and start their own As Safa style business ?  This shows how really DUMB muslims are, when they can't get into a tailor made business oppportunity for them, but the jews can. 4. Using the word SCANDAL is over the top.  There have been many so called muslim companies invlovd in real scandals over the years, such as the BCCI scandal.  That was a REAL scandal. 5. Those who think that it's a big deal, have you ever bought and eaten kosher meat ? 6.  If we want to talk about scandals, hwo about the scandal of the halal meat market in the USA?  The fact that is it SO diificult to get quaility hala meat at a reasonable price ? 7.  If Al Safa has really gone out of business, that's a doggone shame.  My kids love their stuff and so do I. Their quality is MUCH better than Tyson and co. 8. Finally, living in the USA, I thing there are many more pressing items on my mind for maintaining my deen than going into irrational and irrelavent arguments about halal things.
NS

Re: Al-Safa Halal
bhaloo
12/31/00 at 12:07:50
slm [quote] 3. Instead of complaining that jews are doing this, why don't those people who don't like it go and start their own As Safa style business ?  This shows how really DUMB muslims are, when they can't get into a tailor made business oppportunity for them, but the jews can. [/quote] I totally agree!  All these people that are complaining, why don't you go and open up a Muslim business and sell halal meats.  How embarassing that a bunch of Jews are selling halal meats and are one of the most successful companies to do this, if not the ONLY company to do this at a national level.  As far as I know the company is still selling it and I am starting to see it in stores here.  Where are the Muslim businesses? While I'm on this subject of Muslim businesses I attended a nikkah last night of an old friend and an interesting conversation was brought up at the table I was sitting at.  One man was talking about a dinner he had catered and he was getting prices from a hindu restaurant and a Muslim restaurant.  The Muslim restaurant said that the base price was $9 a person for 200 people.  If the man wanted any extra dishes such as kabobs, korma, etc. there would be an extra charge of $2 per dish.  In other words 2 extra dishes would make it $13 a person, even though the quantity of food would be the same in the $9 case and the $13 case.  The hindu restuarant said its $8 or maybe it was $9 a person, regardless of how many dishes, because he said the quanitty of food is going to be the same, people aren't going to eat more.  The hindu even asked where to buy the halal meat from. These Muslim businesses need to get their acts together.  There's a reason why people aren't buying from them, and its because people don't like to be cheated.  Of course this isn't true of many Muslim businesses, but I have seen this happen with quite a few places.

Re: Al-Safa Halal
writeamir
12/31/00 at 15:30:15
First of all, I will make du'a for the person who called Muslims DUMB. That was unfortunate. Muslim bashing is a plague in our community. The problem is not that Jews own Al-Safa. I find it disturbing that ISNA Canada will not certify them as being halal. Another problem is that many people, including me, see their advertising as deceptive. They portray themselves as being Muslim, even when you call them, yet they are not Muslim-owned. The fact that they pay their Muslim employees so poorly also disturbs me. As to Muslim-owned halal meat places, I agree that they need to improve but to say that a good one does not exist who sells packaged meat nationally is incorrect. MIDAMAR is a high quality Muslim-owned halal meat company based in Iowa. They have been awarded numerous awards but their main focus is exporting halal meat from the US to other countries. This is slowly changing though. There are other good halal places but Midamar is the biggest one. Most of the others are local shops. I know in New York, there are numerous quality places to get halal meat at a reasonable price. Those places just need to advertise more. I even came across a place that appears to sell halal frozen dinners. I am going to call them this week to find out more. Regardless of the unfortunate comment calling Muslims DUMB, many Muslims would not buy meat from Al-Safa if they knew more about them and thus I feel that it is important that Muslims have the chance to learn about Al-Safa and make an informed decision with regards to if they should purchase their food from them. I personally will not buy Al-Safa products. While we should not accept meat of a poor quality, we need to support our Muslim brothers and sisters who are selling quality halal meat. Amir

Re: Al-Safa Halal
Sara
12/31/00 at 22:22:36
no comment.

Re: Al-Safa Halal
jannah
01/12/01 at 03:01:34
"no comment"?  question.. why post that when it takes up server space :) anyway about al safa, i've never seen them deliberately lie and tell people they are muslim, everyone i know around here knows they are jewish owned. although it is disturbing that there are jews selling an exclusive product to muslims i'm not sure why people are upset over it. there are many companies, no doubt with less effective publicity as al safa, that do the same thing. almost all the stuff i bought in saudi.. janamaz's, tasbeeh's, clothes were made in taiwan or some such place.. i doubt that it was made by muslims... the real issue i think here is not al-safa but it should be that muslims should buy muslim as much as possible in order to support muslim businesses and each other. it really pained me to see mcdonalds and kfc in mecca.. why doesn't some muslim person open up a clone of something like that and keep the $$ there instead of sending it to those franchises.. i wonder why muslims don't frequent local places instead of dying for bizza hut or whatever....anyways i think our goal should be to support muslim businesses, if we can't then we should go for the next best thing which is fulfilling our deen and eating halal food, whoever profits from it...

Re: Al-Safa Halal
Al-Basha
01/14/01 at 18:41:47
Salamu Aliakom, The issue that I have with it is the fact that Muslims were decieved into thinking that this was a Muslim enterprise. IE, the name of the company, picture of the masjid on the box, the green color of the box, the arabic writing on the box. So how was anyone supposed to know that the company is owned by a Yahoodi? So what happens if the Yahood decide to make an "Islamic" publishing company and sell Islamic books under the guise of being Muslim? The Halal meats issue is well known yes, but I'd rather buy meat from the Muslim guy rather than the yahoodi. Also about opening up a restaurant etc, I know a lot of ppl who have tried doing this but they end up being gobbeled up by the big names like Mcdonalds, BK etc. I'm not saying that is right but thats the honest truth. On a side note, there's a page called http://www.zabihah.com/ where you can find local zabeeha restaurants in your area. Also they have a database going, so if you don't see a restaurant you know of in there, put it in there. My point about Al-Safa is that it's all about deception ... Wa Allahu A3laam
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