The Tinubu administration signed a partnership agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on how Nigeria can benefit from the global halal economy valued at above 7 trillion dollars.
Since that news broke, some persons have written to express their fears and suspicion, some others see it as an Islamization( a word many people now bandy about without substantiation)strategy.
Halal means “permissible” in Islam, as against “haram” which means unlawful or bad. Halal is an Islamic principle that governs what Muslims eat, drink, how they are prepared. It has extended to businesses and finances too. Broadly speaking, it is an Islamic ethical principle that guides a range of things.
Let’s use meat as example. A meat is halal if it is slaughtered and prepared following specific guidelines. Part of the guidelines says the animal must be cut incisively and decisively such that it’s death is instant, the blood must be drained. Any animal subjected to some torture or pain before it’s death becomes haram. This is to avoid animal cruelty.
Halal is also about forbidden things like pork, alcohol. Under the halal principle, a Muslim avoids alcoholic drinks and products that contain alcohol.
Let’s assume that Panadol for pain relief has alcohol in it, a Muslim will see it as haram. Yet, Muslims do need pain relievers, so they invest in pharmaceutical companies that make pain relievers without alcohol, and that is regarded as halal. Same goes for food products.
Islamic financiers and governments will invest in businesses that produce food commodities that avoid ingredients considered haram.
In financing, Islam forbids playing the usurer, so you have Islamic banks that share profits rather than lend money based on interests, Islamic banks are interest free, all these are part of the halal principle.
Now, what I have done so far is to explain what halal means from my own understanding, you can Google and do more research.
The federal government didn’t collect loan from Saudi Arabia for halal, the federal government signed a partnership with Saudi Arabia on how to boost halal in Nigeria so that Nigeria can also benefit from it, it is a staggering 7 trillion dollars global economy.
What this means is that if any group of people decide to open a beverage or meat processing factory that uses the halal guidelines, they will receive capacity building, expertise and maybe funding too from Saudi Arabia. Their products will have access to the Saudi market among other things.
Brazil is not just a Christian country, it is almost totally a catholic country until recently when non catholic denominations started making some inroads there. Yet, Brazil is the highest exporter of halal meat in the world. It means that Brazil slaughters cows in a halal way and exports them to Muslims across the world and smile to the bank. That’s halal economy and economics.
You don’t have to be a Muslim to run a halal business, you also don’t have to eat halal products to sell them to those who eat them. It is business or economics and not religious pilgrimage.
Countries register halal businesses. Britain is the global leader in Islamic banking. Australia, the USA and many others recognize halal businesses both on individual levels and corporate levels.
I know that in Nigeria, ordinary animal easily becomes a spiritual or demonic being once we call it ‘bush baby’ and we are told it will rip your hearts out. A cobweb becomes demonic attack. The human like cries of cats elicit holy ghost fire. In Nigeria, normal and natural things become strange and spiritual.
That’s why I’m sharing this with you before your WhatsApp group and social media warriors turn halal into haram. In Jewish religion, halal is kosher, it started with the jews and as Christians, we share scripture and traditions with the jews.
This is not a defense of a government policy, it is an elucidation of a global phenomenon. Whatever you make of it is yours.
