Halal Eating and Drinking During Travel

Tips for keeping Halal on The Road

Every Muslim who travels or moves to a new city faces the dilemma of finding places to eat. Those Muslims who only eat zabihah meat have an especially difficult time finding acceptable local cuisine in an unfamiliar city.

For car travel and day trips, it's advisable to pack your own food from home. It's less expensive, and you know what you're eating. You can find some great recipes at the Food and Drink Channelof About.com.

If you desire or need to eat out, make sure you're eating halal!

Whether traveling for business or vacation, here are some tips that can make your trip easier and more pleasant.

Air Travel

Air travel is still the fastest and safest method of travel, as long as you are aware of the stringent security regulations put in place after 9/11.

Getting through security checkpoints with your sanity intact

Order a Muslim in-flight meal

Find the best fares and travel deals

Land Travel

Enjoy the great outdoors, see the signs of Allah in nature, and take your time exploring off-the-track sites. Land travel (car, train, etc.) offers the greatest flexibility and opportunities to see more of theregion.

Budget travel

Travel with kids

Camping

Find a Mosque & Determine Prayer Times

When you're on the road, it may be difficult to determine the area's prayer times or locate a mosque. Do a bit of research before you leave! (And check below about the rules for shortening and combining prayers while one is traveling.)

Mosque listings

Prayer times around the world

Halal Eating

For car travel and day trips, it's advisable to pack your own food from home. It's less expensive, and you know what you're eating. But if you desire or need to eat out, check these listings to make sure you're eating halal!

Find a halal restaurant

Eating in fast-food restaurants

Fiqh for Travelers

Certain Islamic rules are adjusted to accomodate the traveler's needs. When one is traveling, be aware of special rules regarding prayers and fasting.

Shortening prayers

Combining prayers

Fasting while traveling

Du'a for Traveling

Remember Allah as you embark on your journey, with these authentic supplications (du'a).

Supplications for traveling

Personal Safety

Anytime you're going to a new place, be aware of your surroundings and take necessary safetyprecautions.

Muslim community safety kit

If you think you are being followed...

Quick list of self-defense strategies

More Resources

Visit the About.com Travel Channel for all the information you need for your trip. About Travel

•Find a halal restaurant

•Order a Muslim in-flight meal

•Eating in fast-food restaurants

•Halal McNuggets in Detroit

•McDonalds Expands Halal Offerings in the UK

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Halal Eating : Use Ingredients List

Checking food labels to ensure compliance with Islam's dietary laws

With the complication of today's manufacturing and food production, it's hard to know what goes into the food we eat. Food labeling helps, but not everything is listed, and what is listed is often a mystery. Most Muslims know to look out for pork, alcohol, and gelatin. But can we eat products that contain ergocalciferol? What about glycerol stearate?

Dietary laws for Muslims are very clear. As outlined in the Qur'an, Muslims are forbidden from consuming pork, alcohol, blood, meat dedicated to false gods, etc. It is easy to avoid these basic ingredients, but what about when the ingredients are disguised as something else? Modern food production allows manufacturers to start out with one basic product, then cook it, boil it, and process it, until they can call it something else. However, if its original source was a forbidden food, then it is still forbidden to Muslims.

So how can Muslims sort through it all?

Some Muslim dieticians have published books and lists of products, from Burger King hamburgers to Kraft cheese, to indicate which things are forbidden and which are permitted. The soc.religion.islam newsgroup compiled a FAQ file using this approach back in the 1990s. But asSoundvision points out, it is nearly impossible to list every possible product. In addition, manufacturers often change their ingredients, and international manufacturers sometimes vary the ingredients from country to country. Such lists often become outdated and obsolete rather quickly.

As another approach, the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America has compiled a list of ingredients that is very helpful. You can use this list to check labels for items that are forbidden, permitted, or suspect. This seems to be the most reasonable approach, as the short list is not likely to change over time. With this list in hand, it can be very simple for Muslims to purify their diets and eat only what Allah has permitted.

Halal Certification

Halal Certification

"Stamp of approval" that a Product Meets Islamic Standards

Why Halal Certification?

Halal certification is a process by which a credible Islamic organization certifies that a company's products can be lawfully consumed by Muslims. Those who meet the criteria for certification are given halal certificates, and they may use the halal symbol on their products and advertising.

Food labeling laws around the world require that claims made on the product label be certified as true. A "halal certified" stamp on a label is often seen by Muslim customers as a sign of a trustworthy or superior product. Such a stamp may even be required for the export of food to certain Muslim countries.

Products that are halal certified are often marked with a halal symbol, or simply the letter M (as the letter K is used to identify kosher products).

Challenges

Food manufacturers usually pay a fee and voluntarily submit their food products for halal certification. Independent organizations are responsible for screening the products, observing the production process, and deciding on a company's compliance with Islamic dietary law. Governments are often not informed or involved in the Islamic requirements or standards for halal food. Thus the certificate is only as valid as the certifying organization, and unfortunately these groups vary in credibility.

Organizations

There are hundreds of halal certification organizations around the world. Their websites offer more information about the certification process. Consumers are advised to research their food sources carefully to determine the validity of any halal certificate.

IFANCA - Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America

USA Halal Chamber of Commerce, Inc.

Halal Monitoring Authority, Canada

Canadian Halal Foods

Halal Monitoring Committee, UK

AFIC - Australia

Halal Australia

MUIS, Singapore

JAKIM, Malaysia

Halal Eating and Drinking Rules

Halal Eating & Drinking Rules

Rules and Tips for A Halal Lifestyle

Halal

Muslims are allowed to eat what is "good" (Qur'an 2:168) - that is, what is pure, clean, wholesome, nourishing, and pleasing to the taste. In general, everything is allowed (halal) except what has been specifically forbidden.

Haram

Muslims are enjoined by their religion to abstain from eating certain foods. This is in the interest of health and cleanliness, and in obedience to God. In the Qur'an (2:173, 5:3, 5:90-91, 6:145, 16:115), the following foods and drinks are strictly prohibited by God (haram):

•dead meat (i.e. carcass of an already-dead animal)

•blood

•flesh of swine (pork)

•intoxicating drinks

•meat of an animal that has been sacrificed to idols

•meat of an animal that died from strangulation or blunt force

•meat from which wild animals have already eaten

Islamic Slaughtering

Muslims are enjoined to slaughter their livestock by slitting the animal's throat in a swift and merciful manner, reciting God’s name with the words, "In the name of God, God is Most Great" (Qur'an 6:118-121). This is in acknowledgement that life is sacred, and that one must kill only with God's permission, to meet one's lawful need for food. The animal is then bled completely before consumption. Meat prepared in this manner is called zabihah, or simply, halal meat.

Some Muslims will abstain from eating meat if they are uncertain of how it was slaughtered. They place importance on the animal having been slaughtered in a humane fashion with the remembrance of God and gratefulness for this sacrifice of the animal's life. They also place importance on the animal having been bled properly, as otherwise it would not be considered healthy to eat.

Some Muslims living in predominantly-Christian countries hold the opinion that one may eat commercial meat (apart from pork, of course), and pronounce God’s name at the time of eating it. This opinion is based on the Qur'anic verse (5:5) that the food of Christians and Jews is lawful for Muslims.