When halal awareness becomes bloodsport; spreading of unverified, baseless claims need to stop

 

A “whispering campaign” is a secret and organised effort to spread bad rumors or lies about a person. The goal is to ruin that person’s good name and make others distrust them without the source being found out. 

That does seem to be the true of the various instances of unofficial halal watchdog groups or sites on social media using religion as a shield when casting aspersions on innocent parties trying to earn an honest living. 

An example of which was the Halal Inquiry Company direktori [sic] site which could be slapped with a lawsuit for making unsubstantiated claims against a venerated kopitiam in Segamat, Johor.

Editor’s Note: The site has since assumed a new name, Halal & Company direktori [sic].

The latest fiasco involves a well-known and much-loved ramen roadside stall near the Kuala Lumpur Central Market a.k.a. Pasar Seni run by two elderly brothers which have seemingly become victims of hearsay and conjecture, thanks to the irresponsible mutterings of a self-appointed halal inspector. 

This time the stray accusations came from the self-declared Pejuang Halal (Halal Warrior), otherwise known as Naim Malik who claimed that the establishment, Two Old Men Ramen, had knowingly used alcohol in the preparation of its dishes served to Muslim diners.

All based on hear say

Now, this is the clincher. The flag-flying halal crusader makes this claim NOT based on seeing it himself or from being presented with compelling evidence but because he was simply TOLD that such was the case. 

No proof. No evidence. Nothing. Just some shady, vague “he said, she said” justifications and the next thing, a carefully cultivated business brand is dragged through a “BKT (herbal pork rub soup a.k.a. bah kut teh)-flavoured broth”. 

The aggrieved food & beverage operators have initiated legal proceedings claiming this irresponsible spreading of falsehoods and malicious lies has damaged their reputation. 

This latest online halal status saga was shared on Threads by Наки Эзра (@nicrozman) who shook his head in dismay that the halal crusader had seen fit to make such declarations without verifying the facts. 

“This is the lot of the average Muslim who fuss that everything is haram, but fitnah (malicious lies) is exempted” was the damning conclusion here. 

Many commenters agreed that it was borderline crazy to make claims when the poster had ZERO proof. Some not mincing their words and labelling the holier-than-thou halal warrior simply lacking in grey matter. 

 

Red flags to look out for when reading such viral content – phrases such as “heard a story”, “just came to know”, “rumoured to be” are used as prefixes. 

This should be a warning that the story is without merit or basis as it is hearsay. This commenter lamented that low level of netizen mindset has led to being “stuck in a stupid cycle”. 

One fed-up netizen was of the opinion that far too many Muslim netizens were making accusations without first verifying the facts. This was giving their religion a bad name. 

 

It was quite rightly surmised that Malaysia is NOT known as a litigious country but instances such as this is causing more people to turn to the courts to seek relief. 

The trend has been clear for quite a while.

Certain sites operating under the guise of being a watchdog or awareness group highlighting businesses that are supposedly flouting JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) regulations are duping Muslim customers on the halal status.

As was the case with the Halal Inquiry Company direktori [sic] now defunct site, the page only seemed to highlight non-Muslim businesses, underlining blatant hypocrisy and racism in its agenda.

This claim of two old men serving alcohol-laced ramen to unsuspecting Muslim customers is yet another example of bad-mouthing non-Muslim businesses based on nothing but pure conjecture. 

It is irresponsible, reckless and deeply damaging to rice bowls. 

Such blatantness must be stopped because it is not just livelihoods that are at stake but communal harmony as well as such relentless bad-mouthing without basis is causing schisms to appear in Malaysian society. –  Focus Malaysia