Lays Chips, Junaid Jamshed & Ulema; A never ending controversy

05 Jul 2009 6 Comments

by Hina Safdar in Current Affairs, Health, Pakistan Tags: E631, Halal, haram, jamia ashrafia, Junaid Jamshed, Lays, Lays Chips, Lays TVC, Pakistan, pig fat, Ulema

Lays has been facing the prevalent and incensed crisis ever struck a food product in Pakistan. The issue of using E631 flavor enhancer and pig fat has really declined the sales and image of Lays. It has become a favorite brand in no time when introduced in Pakistan. The recent addition to the story was Junaid Jamshed endorsing the brand for the first time. He urges people to eat lays as he found that they are HALAL. Daily Ummat has published around 12 stories about the Product and created hype for it insisting that Lays are Haram. After Junaid’s appearance in the advertisement, they had published a new story on Lays saying that not every bearded man is a scholar and condemn his act of declaring the product Halal.

Now my point is this;

If Jamia Ashrafia issued the product a Halal certificate already, why the debate is still ongoing?

If Jamia Ashrafia is not authorized to issue a FATWA or declare any edible product halal, why the certificate issued?

How could Lays prove that there is no haram ingredient in the chips?

How could Lays prove that there is no haram ingredient in the chips?

And many questions like this. I haven’t seen any blog post or article in favor of the product. All of them are criticizing only Lays and Pepsi. It is human psychology to address controversial issues more than a non controversial.  Is it as easy to convince a nation by just saying some haram ingredient is used in it?

Lays TVC Parody

I urge all Ulema, government and Pakistanis to reach a consensus on the issue as soon as possible. Please don’t play with the beliefs of people and mislead them by spreading disinformation of any kind. Government has to play its part now to declare the product as halal because it is the responsibility of government in an Islamic to ensure provision of HALAL food products. They must interrogate the matter and let the public know whether it is haram or not.

If found Haram Lays should be banned in the country and if not Lays should sue all the people who are involved in the controversy.

Originally written for PakFactor.com