Consumer rights in halal products: a study based on legal and Syariah perspectives

Abstract

Halal business is not confined to Muslim community only. Lately, halal food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and Islamic financing services have gained much attention globally. Businesses around the world are looking to tap this burgeoning market. Within the Islamic global community of 1.8 billion, there exist many markets which have not been tapped and discovered from both cultural and business perspectives. However, there are a lot of abuses recently relating to halal in term of the logo, especially when it comes to foods and products. The questions are whether Muslims’ rights are fully protected under halal statutes and what is the rights conferred by law if they are not complying with the regulation? for example, a question about the origins of foods or products ingredients and whether or not they are complying with an Islamic requirement, and if it is not, what is the best mechanism to overcome this issue in order to protect the consumer. This paper will study on the rights of the consumer in halal products by referring to the legal statutes and also looking at the Quranic verses and Hadith to find out whether the right is stipulated in the statutes and Syara’. The finding of this paper shows that the rights of the consumer has been provided impliedly in legal statutes and also in the Quran and Hadith. This paper made some suggestions to ensure the rights of the consumer will be fully protected by laws specifically in relation to halal products and try to harmonize the rights as implemented in Al-Quran and Hadith into the Malaysian Laws.