Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, APRIL 30— The Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind Halal Trust has trashed as fake the news circulating on social media that it has certified cow urine or products which may have cow urine in it, said trust’s secretary Niaz Ahmad Farooqui in a clarification statement about trust’s Halal certificate to yoga guru and entrepreneur Ramdev’s Patanjali products.

He, however, said that the Jamiat trust has given Halal certificate to some plants and products of Patanjali where cow urine was not being used.

“This fake news is being circulated mentioning the name of a company i.e. Patanjali Ayurveda Limited. We wish to assure that all the Halal audit procedures and processes have been applied and proper investigation was done before issuing Halal Certificate to many of the plants of Patanjali Ayurveda Limited. We confirm that minimum two Muslim Halal auditors including a Food Technologist inspected various Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd plants. We also train their staff regarding Halal Compliance,” said Farooqui in the statement on Wednesday and added that “the plants adhere to the Islamic Principles and there is no deviation in this regard.”

Niaz Ahmed Farooqui

Jamiat Halal Trust secretary Niaz Farooqui said that cow urine was not being used in the plants inspected by his team.

“We also confirm that at no stage, cow urine is being used in the certified manufacturing site, neither cow urine has been found to be stored in any part of the plant inspected. Please note that any big company has multiple production sites. Patanjali Ayurveda Limited produces a few cow urine based products in separate plants, which we have never visited nor certified. However, due to transparency declaration, they had to submit details of all the products which are Haram/cow urine based. And we have that list too with us (never certified them). The certificate clearly mentions the scope of the halal certification, the list of the products manufacturing address and other details, so there is no confusion about the products certified as Halal,” he said.

We Gave Halal Certificate to Some Edible Products of Patanjali: Jamiat Trust

Talking to India Tomorrow over phone, Niaz Farooqui said that the Jamiat Halal Trust has given Halal certificate to some edible products of Patanjali.

“There is a long list of items for which we have given Halal certification. These items are in the categories like mixed fruit jam with aloe vera, juices, pineapple jam, mixed fruit jam, tomato ketchup etc,” said Farooqui.

He said that Patanjali does not use cow urine in edible products.

“There are only five products of Patanjali like phenyl and soap wherein they use cow urine and they declare it on the products. For such products, they have separate factories and premises. They don’t use it in edible items and cosmetics,” he said.

He also said that his trust gives Halal certificate to products irrespective of the faith of their owners.

“We can certify any company which produces Halal Product regardless of their caste, creed or religion. As long as the products are Halal Compliant and halal assurance system is in place we have no problem in issuing a Halal Certificate to anyone,” he said.

“Each company which is certified by us has to follow our stringent Halal documentation process which also includes a legally abiding document (affidavit) declaring to be Sharia compliant during the certification tenure.”

Jamiat leader told India Tomorrow that Patanjali has given them a legal affidavit about it.

“They have also given us a legal affidavit. If they use cow urine in such things, they will be legally held responsible. They are public limited company and they cannot do that,” said Farooqui.  

Jamiat leader claimed that several Muslim countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, UAE, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have enlisted Jamiat Halal Trust as “their trusted & accredited partner for Halal Certification in India.”

He said that the social media rumours about Jamiat Trust’s Halal certificate could be possibly because of some rivalry or bid of anti-Halal lobby.

“There may be some rivalries. Some people are against Halal. If some organization uses Halal, then this gives headache to them. There is already a case in the Supreme Court seeking ban on halal products,” said Farooqui.

“We have convinced several big companies for Halal products and told them Halal is good for everybody. We have got some success and Patanjali is a good brand among them. Some may be rival of our certification system and some may be rival of our organization. Today ours is the largest Halal certification organization in the world,” said Jamiat leader.