An overview of the Halal industry in the Gambia with Islamic perspective: challenges and opportunities

This study discusses an overview of the halal industry in The Gambia which is the smallest country in mainland Africa. Halal Industry has emerged as a new sector in the global economy, the industry is worth 2.3 trillion U.S Dollars. It is currently dominated by Southeast Asia with Malaysia and Indonesia taking the lead, followed by other continents like the United States of America, Europe, and Africa. Islam is believed to have been practiced in West Africa since the 7th Century amounting to over 12 centuries of Islamic influence in the region. The Gambia is a country with a 95 percent Muslim population, necessitating consumer awareness of halal products and services. There are currently no established halal education institutes in The Gambia, which has had a significant impact on Muslim consumers' awareness of halal standards, spanning from local farmers to food vendors, local consumers, processing industries, and importers. The lack of formal halal education institutions stands out as the most noticeable challenge. However, the vibrant Muslim population offers the highest opportunity. The paper is compiled from primary and secondary sources including government agencies, private firms, local consumers, journal articles, books, etc to find out the awareness of halal products, opportunities, and challenges

The Role of Prophetic Food in The Prevention and Cure of Chronic Diseases: A Review of Literature

Islam is the way of life. It exists in each and every moment and action of an individual. Muhammad (PBUH) is the finest of all examples in every aspect. In Islam, halal and tayyib food is important for individual prosperity and wellbeing. This is because food intake has the potential to influence human growth in terms of akhlaq, morality, and psychology. This paper studies the significance of consuming prophetic food as a healthy diet. A few highlighted issues will be discussed, such as the increasing rate of chronic diseases that have become high causes of death, as well as unhealthy eating habits amongst Malaysians regardless of age and background. Undoubtedly, the ability of nutrition and functional food from the practice of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has proven to be one of the best ways to prevent and cure most chronic diseases with the low side effects. This paper discusses how prophetic food helps in resolving global health issues and combating chronic disease. These issues are extracted from the literature by thoroughly studying published work and research. Finding shows that there is a presence of high medicinal values in prophetic food and evidence provided in The Holy Quran and Hadiths is proven scientifically through available research and citations. The paper provides valuable insights to the Prophetic food consumption among Muslim consumers and the halal industry

The use of FTIR and Raman spectroscopy in combination with chemometrics for analysis of biomolecules in biomedical fluids: a review

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy are complementary techniques, typically called vibrational spectroscopy. Both techniques allow simple, rapid, non-destructive, specific, providing fingerprint spectra, and real-time analytical method for analysis of molecules in different states. Besides, these methods are simple without any excessive sample pre-treatment, therefore, they are sometimes called as “green analytical methods”. Biofluids have several biomolecules such as lipid, protein, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. These biomolecules can be used as biomarkers to detect some types of diseases, since biomolecules are in direct contact with the human organs. FTIR and Raman spectra of biofluids are complex in nature, therefore sophisticated statistical techniques, known as chemometrics, must be used to solve the analytical problems related to quantitative analysis purposes. The objective of this review is to show the capability of FTIR and Raman spectroscopic techniques in combination with chemometrics techniques to analyze the biomolecules in biofluids through an extensive literature review. During performing this review, several databases in Science citation index, Scopus PubMed, and Google Scholar related to the topics are identified and downloaded. With the present review, it is known that FTIR and Raman techniques are rapid method for screening certain diseases by identifying the level changes of some biomolecules. In the future, this method will be widely used for clinicians as new diagnostic tools for many diseases

Unani medical tourism in India: scope, influential factors, development strategies

India is highly prosperous in a wide network of both conventional and alternative medicinal range. The term medical tourism has become famous due to its urgent necessity and desperate requirement among medical seekers. Herbal healthcare therapies are rapidly gaining ethical significance to suffice the medical tourists’ needs. This paper focuses on the amalgamation of Unani medical system with tourism. Furthermore, it identifies the components of health in Unani system along with the factors determining medical tourists to choose this therapy with both domestic and international respondents. Finally, this study concludes with elements affecting travel frequency among medical tourists and the scope of Unani medical tourism in India. Thus, striving to find the best solution to promote Unani tourism and a healthy lifestyl

Overview of halal freshwater aquaculture system: Malaysian perspectives

In line with the increasing halal demand around the world, one of the sectors that attract the halal world attention is the freshwater aquaculture for fish food. The demand goes higher day by day as the marine catch start to deplete and world needs an alternative to suffice the demand for protein supply. This paper discusses the overview of current freshwater scenario in Malaysia and reported issues regarding the depreciation of halal of freshwater fish exposed by media for the last few years up until the recent time. The issue of water pollution which is synonymous in freshwater aquaculture activity is also briefly discussed. Moreover, this paper also outlines the potential issue that is often overseen even by the farm operator in order to obtain the halal farm certified. Solution is also given in this paper by proposing the application of halal block chain technology in freshwater aquaculture sector. The methodology used is mainly the library research from various reliable sources, such as database and search engine that cover selected journals and information regarding the subject matters, including references from local or international fisheries authorities. Expert views focusing on block chain technology through article writing in mass media are also taken as a reference. The discussion in this paper hopefully can provide a clearer view on the reality of issues faced by the freshwater fish aquaculture sector as well as provide a good potential solution by the application of disruptive technology of block chain system in accordance with the government recommendations in Industrial Revolution 4.0

Conceptual Paper on Halal and Haram: Systems Level Approach

Purpose: Islamic, as well as modern literature, on the issue of halal/haram (permissible and prohibited), primarily circulates around the product’s ingredient aspect, categorizing a particular object specifically into one of the mentioned dichotomist heads. On contrary to the usual individualistic consumer/product-centric approach, this paper discusses several macros, systems-level models, which follow the top-bottom approach. Methodology: A discourse, through conceptual framework analysis, this paper discusses the concept of halal and haram, to understand the nature and antecedents to the concepts as narrated in the revealed texts of Quran and Hadith.  Findings: It is proposed that although the terms of halal and haram are elaborated extensively in literature, there are several gaps in the understanding of the concept at the systems level. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive understanding through conceptual framework of halal/haram using the conceptual analysis method, which grounds into Islamic literature to trace the phenomenon’s major concepts and dimensions at various systems levels, such as society and environment. Conclusion: The research would enrich the understanding of how the Creator has created filters to provide the believers the best to consume and balances the cosmic systems through commandments to individuals, compliances to which supplement and support the Islamic lifestyle and Islamic social structure and sustained global development

Fiqh approach in halal logistic operation

Currently, the rapid growth of the global halal industry is encouraging all nations to compete in halal production activities. Generally, halal food integrity revolves around unlawful (haram) issues and the risk of contamination including smell, taste and colour changes of the goods. These issues demand careful adherence by all parties including the suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers. Needless to say, it involves movement and logistics services. Halal logistics can further be expanded to include halal logistics hub, halal logistics transportation, halal logistics route, and halal logistics management. Due to the progressive development of the halal global industry, there are various halal related issues specifically on the extension of the handling process of the halal related products from farm to fork. Thus, this study attempts to illuminate the issues in the scope of halal logistics and its integrity whereby the consideration of the Islamic principles and its requirements will be analyzed under the purview of Maqasid al-Shariah. It adopts a qualitative research methodology, whereby descriptive and explanatory approaches are used. This study believes Fiqh approach can serve as a benchmark to constitute a sufficient measure to address the issues properly

The standard elements for Muslim friendly accommodation premises / Siti Syahirah Saffinee … [et al.]

Muslim-friendly hotels are targeted to provide shariah complaint and comfortable rooms especially for the Muslim guests. This is in line with the encouragement of good hospitality in Islam. However, even though there are nearly 3000 hotels in Malaysia, only less than 10% are considered as Muslim friendly. Therefore, this study investigates the elements that constitute a Muslim-friendly hotel. Based on the discovered elements, this study proposes a standard and comprehensive Muslim-friendly hotel audit checklist which is significant as a guidance for players of the industry as well as the relevant authorities such as the government, municipals, religious authority including the certification bodies. The checklist is important to avoid the misconspetion among the consumers

Conceptual paper on Halal and Haram: systems level approach

Purpose: Islamic, as well as modern literature, on the issue of halal/haram (permissible and prohibited), primarily circulates around the product’s ingredient aspect, categorizing a particular object specifically into one of the mentioned dichotomist heads. On contrary to the usual individualistic consumer/product-centric approach, this paper discusses several macros, systems-level models, which follow the top-bottom approach. Methodology: A discourse, through conceptual framework analysis, this paper discusses the concept of halal and haram, to understand the nature and antecedents to the concepts as narrated in the revealed texts of Quran and Hadith. Findings: It is proposed that although the terms of halal and haram are elaborated extensively in literature, there are several gaps in the understanding of the concept at the systems level. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive understanding through conceptual framework of halal/haram using the conceptual analysis method, which grounds into Islamic literature to trace the phenomenon’s major concepts and dimensions at various systems levels, such as society and environment. Conclusion: The research would enrich the understanding of how the Creator has created filters to provide the believers the best to consume and balances the cosmic systems through commandments to individuals, compliances to which supplement and support the Islamic lifestyle and Islamic social structure and sustained global development