UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PERLIS (UniMAP)

SCHOOL OF BIOPROCESS EGINEERING

SEMESTER 2
ACADEMIC SESSION 2018/2019

ERT 433
HALAL PROCESSING

ASSIGNMENT 1
COMPARISON OF KOSHER AND HALAL IN ISLAMIC
PERSPECTIVE
NAME MATRIC NUMBER
ALIA NAJWA BINTI AHMAD 151143380
SHAKRI
AMALINA SYAHIRAH BINTI 151141187
AMIR KUSIN
NURMAISARAH ADRIANA BINTI 151141237
AHMAD TERMEZE

LECTURER DR HUZAIRY HASSAN

DATE OF SUBMISSION 11 MARCH 2019
 ASSIGNMENT 1

Comparison of Kosher and Halal in Islamic perspective.

Around the world, demand for halal products and services is growing. The growing
Muslim population globally and their increasing income levels, coupled with the rising
awareness of halal in general, are among some of the significant propellers of this growth.
Halal means permissible and lawful. It applies not only to meat and poultry, but to other food
products, cosmetics and personal care products. Besides, this term also applies to personal
behaviour and interaction with the community.

According to Smith (2002), “Kashrus,” from the root kosher (or “kasher”), means
suitable and/or “pure”, thus ensuring fitness for consumption. The laws of “Kashrus”
include a comprehensive legislation concerning permitted and forbidden foods. In simpler
words, kosher is the food that are permitted by the Jews or Ahlul Kitab. The food of the
AhlulKitab must meet the criteria established for halal and wholesome food including
proper slaughtering of animals were what are the opinion by majority of Islamic scholars.
The Islamic scholars believe that verse 121 from Al-An’am says that if the name of Allah
was not mentioned upon slaughtering, Islam believers should not eat the food.

Some other opinions including Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi permitted kosher whilst As-
Syafi’e and majority of scholars only permitted the food when it is slaughtered by real
Ahlul Kitab which means that during the time of Prophet Muhammad and now it is
prohibited as there are no more real Ahlul Kitab.

Kosher laws determine which foods are fit or proper for consumption by the Jewish
consumers which are Biblical in origin and mainly from the original five books of Holy
Sriptures (the Torah). Jewish tradition teaches are written down many years later in Talmud
and this oral law is as much a part of Biblical law. Nowadays, the meaning of Biblical
kosher law have been interpreted and extended by rabbis to protect Jewish people from
violating any of the fundamental laws and to address new issues and technologies.

For Halal laws, halal dietary laws are foods that are lawful or permitted for Muslims
which is found in Quran and the books of Hadith. The basic principles of Islamic laws remain
definite and unaltered. As time flies, their interpretation and application might change
according to time, place and circumstances.

In terms of allowable animals, Kosher laws allow the food from Ruminants which are
with split hoofs that chew their cud, traditional domestic birds such as chicken, duck, and
goose. Kosher also allows the fish with fins and removable scale. The prohibited animals are
pigs, wild birds, sharks, dogfish, catfish, monkfish, and similar species, all crustacean and
molluscan shellfish. Kosher also prohibited all types of insects.

In Halal dietary laws, ruminants with split hoof such as cattle, sheep, goat, and lamb,
camels and buffaloes, birds that do not use their claws to hold down food like chickens, turkeys,
ducks, geese, pigeons, doves, partridges, quails, sparrows, emus, and ostriches are permitted to
consume (Ambali & Bakar, 2014). For the prohibited food, Halal laws prohibit pigs which are
boars and swine, the carnivorous animals such as lions, tigers, cheetahs, dogs, and cats and
birds of prey like eagles, falcons, ospreys, kites and vultures. According to verse 96 in Al-
Mai’dah, certain groups accept only fish with scales as halal, while others consider everything
that lives in water all the time or some of the time, as halal. Prawns, lobsters, crabs, and clams
are halal for most Muslims but may be detested (makrooh) by some and hence not consumed.
Fish that dies of itself, if floating on water or if lying out of water, is still halal as long as it
does not show any signs of decay or deterioration. Animals living in two natures-water and
land that called as amphibian are prohibited from consuming them. Opinions by Hanafi and
Syafie states that amphibian are prohibited because of disgust and dirty.

Next, for the prohibition of blood. In Kosher laws, ruminants and fowl must be
slaughtered by a specially trained religious slaughterman (shochet), using a special knife
designed for the purpose (chalef). The knife must be extremely sharp and have a very straight
blade that is at least twice the diameter of the neck of the animal to be slaughtered. The animal
is not stunned prior to slaughter. With respect to kashrus supervision, slaughtering is the only
time a blessing is said, and it is said before commencing slaughter. The slaughterman asks
forgiveness for taking a life. The blessing is not said over each animal.

The rules for slaughter are very strict and the shochet checks the chalef before and after
the slaughter of each animal. If any problem occurs with the knife, the animal becomes treife
(not kosher). The shochet also checks the cut on the animal’s neck after each slaughter to make
sure it was done correctly. Slaughtered animals are subsequently inspected for defects by
rabbinically trained inspectors. If found defect, animal is deemed unacceptable. Meat that
meets this stricter standard is referred to as glatt (smooth) kosher, referring to the fact that the
animal’s lungs do not have any adhesions (sirkas). The bodek (inspector of internal organs) is
trained to look for lung adhesions in the animal both before and after its lungs are removed.
To test a lung, the bodek first removes all sirkas and then blows up the lung by using normal
human air pressure. The lung is then put into a water tank and the bodek looks for air bubbles.
If the lung is still intact, it is kosher.

In Halal dietary laws for the prohibition of blood, it is prohibited for all permitted and
non-permitted animals alike. Liquid blood is generally not offered for sale or consumed even
by non-Muslims, but products made with and from blood, such as blood plasma proteins, are
available. There is general agreement among Muslim scholars that anything made from blood
of any animal, including fish, is unacceptable. Products such as blood sausage and ingredients
such as blood albumin are either haram or questionable at best, and should be avoided in
product formulations (Department of Standards Malaysia, 2018).

Hunting of permitted wild animals such as deer and elk is permitted for the purpose of
eating, but not merely for deriving pleasure out of killing an animal and by tools such as guns,
arrows, spears, or trapping is permitted. Trained dogs or birds of prey may also be used for
catching or retrieving the hunt as long as the hunting animal does not eat any of the prey. The
name of Allah may be pronounced at the time of ejecting the hunting tool rather than the actual
catching of the hunt. The hunted animal has to be bled by slitting the throat as soon as it is
caught. If the blessing is made at the time of pulling the trigger or the shooting of an arrow and
the hunted animal dies before the hunter reaches it, it would still be halal as long as slaughter
is performed and some blood comes out.

The prohibition of mixing meat and milk in Kosher laws are to keep meat and milk
separate in accordance with kosher law requires that processing and handling of all materials
and products fall into one of three categories which are meat product, dairy product and neutral
product. Neutral products are all products that are not classified as meat or dairy which are all
plant products are pareve along with eggs, fish, honey, and lac resin (shellac). However, if they
are mixed with meat or dairy, they take on the identity of the product they are mixed with; for
example, an egg in a cheese soufflé (baked dish) becomes dairy. In order to ensure the complete
separation of milk and meat, all equipment, utensils, pipes, and steam must be of the properly
designated category. Table 1 shows the conclusion of the comparison of kosher and halal in
Islamic perspective.
Table 1 : Comparative summary of Kosher and Halal.

Kosher Halal

Pork, pig and swine Prohibited Prohibited

Ruminants and poultry Must be slaughtered by a Must be slaughtered by an

trained Jews adult Muslim

Blessing/invocation Blessings are done before Blessings must be done on

entering slaughtering area each animal while
not on each animal slaughtering

Slaughtering by hand Mandatory Preferred

Stunning after slaying Permitted May be permitted

Blood of any animal Prohibited Prohibited

Fish With scales only Most fish are accepted

Seafood Not permitted Varying degree of

acceptance

Dairy products, whey Only made by kosher Only made with halal
enzymes enzymes

Plant materials All permitted Intoxicants and alcohol are

not permitted

Alcohol Permitted Not permitted

 REFERENCES
1. Smith, J., (2002). What does Kosher means. Retrieved from
http://www.koshercertification.org.uk/whatdoe.html
2. Hassan, H., (2019). Comparison of Kosher, Halal and Vegetarian, lecture notes,
ERT433 Halal Processing, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, delivered on 24 February 2019.
3. Ambali, A. R., & Bakar, A. N. (2014). People’s Awareness on Halal Foods and
Products: Potential Issues for Policy-makers. Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 121(September 2012), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1104
4. Department of Standards Malaysia. (2018). Halal Food Guidelines. Malaysian
Standard, 1500(MS 1500:2009), 8–26.