Whats ruling to eat cheese wraps/burgers at restaurant where we don’t know if the cheese is halal?
Bismillahi Ta’ala
Walaikum Assalam Warahmatullah
Many things should be kept in mind when approaching restaurants. Some time back I replied a general question about restaurants with the following guidelines.
- Meticulously check their certification for suppliers. ALL suppliers should be certified halal from a genuinely acceptable certification like HIC and HMA. There are many others which themselves are dubious and merely being a printed certification is not sufficient to render one’s trust onto them.
- In commercial setup word of the owner is not completely sufficient. His position is in conflict of interest. It is for this reason he must go out of the way to prove his claim through all suppliers, as well on-site prep etc.
- Mere certification of supplier is also not sufficient. Restaurants use other items, condiments, products which all have to be acceptable. Imagine a halal certified source of fish and chips, but the fish batter is beer batter. Certainly wont be halal, but the certification on the wall will show that fish is halal sourced.
- Restaurants providing mix menus, where some parts are halal and others not, are most likely to have cross-contamination. These facilities should be completely transparent for someone wanting to check their kitchen to see how they keep halal prep and haram prep separate.
These are just some of the concerns. The short of it is that unless the restaurant comes with personal recommendation from a very high authority or source who has no personal gain from it, you may trust their testimony. But generally do not take the word of the owner himself.
Having said all of the above, keep in mind that it is not impolite, wrong or against civil discord for you as a customer to seek clarification from a restaurant about their ingredients and items. Especially, when you are paying them to receive a service and product which you will consume. Always ask the restaurant until you are content beyond reasonable certainty that what you are about to consume is Halal Suitable for you.
Wallahu A’lam
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi