Allah SWT has made it compulsory for every Muslims to consume food that is halal (lawful) and of good quality with sufficient minerals and vitamins as needed. These two aspects that are halal and of best quality will not only ensure physical health and alertness but will also be a push factor that will help to increase the quality of ones taqwa (God-fearing) and syukur (Gratefulness) toward Allah SWT. This matter has been clearly mentioned in sentence 172 of Chapter Two (Al-Baqarah - The Cow) in the holy Qur’an.
“ O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to God, if it is Him ye worship”. (2:172 Yusuf Ali translation).
Definition of Halal and Tayyib
Definition The word halal and tayyib have been mentioned repetitively in the holy Qur’an. However, it’s understanding by many Muslims is shallow to say the least. Many understood that food is halal as long as it does not contain pork or liqour. The word halal in Arabic means something that is permisible (Ibrahim mustaffa et.al. 1989). From the perspective of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh), the word means a choice that is allowed by the Islamic law (syari’at). That is one has a choice either to do or not to do it. In another word, it is synonym with another arabic word ”mubah” (Sanu, 2000). The opposite is haram which means totally not allowed or forbidden. According to the fundamental of Islamic Jurisprudence (Usul Fiqh) it is defined as something that must be avoided according to the Islamic law (Ibn Abd al-Barr, 2000). Both terms however are a part of the principles of Fiqh. There maybe changes acording to place, time and situation. However, each differences must be based on the due process of ijtihad (decision making process). Based on the language definition, the word tayyib has been traditionally translated as pure (Ibn Rajab, 1980), good and superb[1] 1 . The opposite of it is ”al-khabith” which means something that is not good, not perfect, bad, rotten and bring harms (al-Marbawi, 1990). It connotes bad quality, imperfection and impurity.
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Extract from International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 1 No. 3; December 2010
Topic: The Concept of Halalan Tayyiba and Its Application in Products Marketing :
Authors : Anas Bin Mohd Yunus Lecturer Faculty of Comtemporary Islamic Studies Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin 21300 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia; Dr. Wan Mohd Yusof Bin Wan Chik Lecturer Faculty of Comtemporary Islamic Studies Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin(lecturer), Mahani Binti Mohamad Lecturer Faculty of Language and Communication, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin(lecturer)
The writers are of the opinion that the word tayyib can be aptly translated as ‘with quality’ or ‘surpassed standard quality’ in context of modern usage of the word quality.
