Meanwhile here are two stories on the grave subject of Halal. May Allah forgive us our faults and guide us to the beauty of His Religion.

When I was in New York some years back my dear local Turkish Halal butcher sold his grocery to a Turkish couple who decided to bring in beer among the goods sold in their store.

"You cannot do this and keep your 'Halal' sign and those Ayats of Qur'an hanging there," I told the young man, as his wife tended the cash register where some Turkish girlie magazines were now on display.

"I need the money" he replied. "Don't give me that," I said, "plenty of other Halal stores have worked for years without selling beer, here in New York. You and your wife are eating haram profits together with the halal," I said. "I have to live" was his last word.

Year later, I noticed that a Muslim friend of mine was displaying a bestselling book on "Your Destiny in the Zodiac signs" near the cash register of his large Beirut stationery store. "You are selling aids to disbelief in Islam?" I asked. "If we don't sell it, our neighbors will," he replied.

Lately, I visited his store again, the book was still there. "Dearest brother, if you must, sell things that attack akhlaq, not ʿaqida!" He replied again: we must live, our neighbors, etc. I told him the beautiful hadith "La takunu immaʿa" : "Do not be 'If-they-do-we-do' (If people do good we shall do good, cf. June 99 post "[6] Prophetic Eloquence"). We made a deal that he would ask his imam so that he'll "get a second opinion."

I am hoping that my friend will remove the horoscope bestseller from his store before he goes on to his SIXTH Hajj next year, in sha Allah.

Wa sallallahu ʿala Sayyidina Muhammad wa Alihi wa Sallam.

GF Haddad ©
[2000-05-01]