Safeway Halal Meats

There's a great post on the burgeoning muslim/halal trade industry over at Altmuslim.com. Here are some excerpts (my emphasises):

Muslims, on the other hand, have a purchasing power that overwhelms the still-small collection of businesses that caters exclusively to them (mainly Mom-and-Pop restaurants, stores, and markets). And since nothing attracts the corporate world like the smell of unharvested profits, businesses from Citibank to IKEA are wondering just how much Muslim marketing they can produce without alienating their other customers, and initial forays are meeting with some success.

Next month, two conferences on the halal industry, the World Halal Forum and MIHAS, will take place in Malaysia, a country that aims to be a "halal hub" for the world halal food industry. But among the attendees will be representatives of many non-Muslim countries, such as New Zealand, South Africa, and India, which are aiming to be the leading suppliers of halal meat to Muslims, both domestic and international.

What chance does the local Halal butcher have, for example, when Muslims can pick up shrink-wrapped halal meats at the local Safeway while they do their everyday shopping? The irony is that the Muslim consumer market is maturing faster than Muslim food and halal service providers.

Interesting no? Read the article here.

p/s: Brief hiatus in effect. Exams mah.

This post is totally blogging for the sake of blogging. Don't blame me. There's not much to do when you're stuck all alone for 3 hours in college while your friends are on the other side of the Klang Valley 'running' errands. Did I say 3, more like 3 1/2 if you take into account the time it takes before berbuka.

Side-tracking a bit here, somehow I much prefer the term berbuka to iftaar, though iftaar is of course the actual arabic word for the much-loved activity "breaking fast at sunset after refraining from eating since sunrise". Blame it on the the sentiments.

Oh yeah fasting! It's still the fasting month. The 14th (or 15th) {i think}[dependingonwhouask] of Ramadhan, the blessed month, when the gates of hell are shut for the peoples of Muhammad (s) whilst the gates of heaven are open widely. The month the Quran was sent down and revealed one night in the cave of Hira', marking the appointment of the final messenger, as a mercy to all mankind.

Also the month of bazaar ramadhan, kurma, ramadhan buffet, ayam percik (hoho, to overseas readers, read and weep hehe), murtabak, sirap bandung, kuih lapis, seri muka, bangkit etc etc.

Only those who feast, eh silap,fast can truly appreciate the sweet taste of the first kurma that enters your mouth, ending a long day of self-control or denial, followed by plates heaped with the various dishes (kuih, soup, nasi+lauk, desert,fruit) prepared for buka.

Of course its not all eating and drinking. There's still tarawih prayers to perform you know. Take your pic :8 ,20, 36, 4 rakaat (its all sunnat, some would say), but don't forget to witir. Then lets all get together at the local mamak for some teh tarik and moreh.

Fasting is not easy you know. Not eating, not drinking. How then should we fill the time between working, studying, and sleeping (oh and solat too)? Work even more? Nah,I'm so tired already. Besides with my stomach growling so much, I'm not really in the mood for more work, I think I'll just rest my head for a while. Wake me up when its maghrib ok?

"The messenger of Allah (S) said : “There are many who fast who will get nothing from the fast except hunger and thirst”"