'Halal Tea' : Ludicrous Dietary Orthodoxy

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 24 July 2023 Vande Bharat Express finds itself embroiled in controversy as a video from the train has surfaced on social media. The video shows a passenger refusing to use tea packets with halal certification. The conversation between the passenger and an official quickly escalates into a heated argument, with the latter asserting that these products are vegetarian. Apparently, the passenger himself recorded the video, and he can be heard questioning the official. The video has since gone viral, sparking massive outrage on Twitter. The video begins with the passenger asking the official why the packet of masala chai offered to him is halal-certified. A video of a passenger and a railways staff arguing over halal-certified tea has gone viral. ------ Now what's this Halal Tea? Is it a new joke? 'Halal' (Dhaai Chhuri in common parlance among the butcher community) is a religious process hither-to confined to the flesh of an animal in terms of its consumption as per Islamic rules of consuming meat. Kosher is the same in Judaism. But tea or veg products never fell under halal certification. Even Jews who're too particular about their Kosher meat, don't stretch this dietary compulsion to vegetarian products, much less an innocuous beverage like tea. So, why this new Nautanki (charade) of Halal Tea or Halal veg snacks and eatables on trains and flights? When 85 percent of people in India have nothing to do with halal, who has made this mandatory? If Muslims have the right to take umbrage at non-halal (Jhatka) meat, Hindus also have the same right not to consume anything with a halal tag even if that happens to be something as simple as a cup of tea. The Hindu passenger on Vande Bharat Express argues that the month of Sawan is going on. So, he won't eat, drink or accept anything that's dietary unacceptable in Hinduism! Alas, all tarred with the same brush! Whether Hindus or Muslims, all are the same; equally brain-dead and devoid of any logic. Religion has totally destroyed our rationality. To quote Steven Pinker, world's most remarkably effective apologist for atheism: Religion soils all that it sits and shits on. I've no better expression in my armour. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/-halal-tea-ludicrous-dietary-orthodoxy/d/130289 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism