By: Dr. H. Anwar Abbas, M.M., M.A.
Deputy Chairman of the MUI
The human body consists of physical and spiritual bodies, both of which have needs. The physical body has needs, such as food and drink intake. Meanwhile, the spiritual requires holy, noble, and good things. Therefore, when you want to consume something, it must be good for the physical and spiritual. Food that can make the physical and spiritual good certainly comes from food and drinks that are halal and thayyib. This is very much obligatory. The physical, heart and soul will also be suitable for halal food.
Halal food is permitted or halal for consumption by Muslims according to the food rules set out in the Islamic religion. The concept of halal food is related to the processing method, the ingredients used, and the fulfilment of specific requirements determined by the Qur’an and the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad SAW.
In addition, consuming halal food is also a form of obedience to Allah SWT. Consuming halal food is also a condition for prayers to be answered by Allah SWT. A hadith tells us that for someone who consumes food that is not halal (haram), his deeds of worship will not be accepted by Allah, his prayers will not be permitted, his life will never be calm, always be filled with restlessness and anxiety and is uncertain. “Whoever’s body grows from (food) that is haram, then the fire of hell is more worthy of burning him.” (HR. Ath-Thabrani).
Many people do not know about the halal and haram products they consume. Departing from this, halal preaching becomes an essential thing to remind and invite Muslims to consume only products that have been certified halal and to follow religious guidance. What is happening now is that there are still many Muslims in Indonesia who are less concerned about the halal aspect. Even in small amounts, consuming haram will undoubtedly have a significant dangerous impact, both in this world and the hereafter.
Food allowed in Islam to be consumed must also be thayyib, which is good for the body and human health and must have good content and benefits for the health of the body. This can be obtained from food that has high nutritional and nutritional content. You should not eat food that is harmful to the body, health, mind and life of humans, for example, food that contains a lot of fat so that it is dangerous or food that doctors do not recommend because of certain diseases for someone.
The food consumed dramatically affects a person’s physical and spiritual health. From a biological perspective, the food consumed is a source of energy for movement and nutrition for developing and repairing body cells. Even so, consuming food that is not thayyib will also hurt the body, it can cause disease, for example. Therefore, besides halal products, the thayyib side and food safety also need to be considered.
The benefits of consuming halal and thayyib food include obtaining the pleasure of Allah SWT, avoiding sources of disease, providing energy, always guarding the heart, receiving rewards, answering prayers, providing good sustenance, strengthening faith, maintaining prayer and obtaining peace.
A halal certificate is needed to ensure that what is consumed is truly halal and thayyib. A halal certificate ensures that the composition of the ingredients meets Islamic law’s provisions. So, business actors cannot just use ingredients, mainly to avoid mixing ingredients with unclean and haram. (ZUL)
