Halal Monitoring Services 

Halal Monitoring Services, a branch of Shariah Board of America (Rahmat-e-Alam Foundation), is a non-profit independent Halal monitoring organization which:

  1.  Certifies and monitors only hand-slaughtered Halal meat according to the principles of Zabiha Halal.
  2.  Monitors the whole chain, from the slaughterhouse, to the distributor, to the retail store or restaurant.
  3.  Makes sure there is no mixing with non-certified meat at any level of the supply.
  4.  Has an independent team of experienced Ulama running the service.
  5.  Generates a network of certified slaughterhouses, grocery stores and restaurants, currently spanning over several cities across 13   states in the US
  6.  Makes proper monitored hand-slaughtered Halal easily accessible throughout America.
  7.  Provides all of services free of cost.
  8.  Has provided services since 2005

HMS works hard to:

  1. Increase awareness in the general public about the importance of eating Halal.
  2. Helping Muslim businesses in acquiring certified and monitored hand-slaughtered Halal meat throughout the US.

Click here for more information about HMS.

What is Zabiha?

Zabiha are the rules of slaughtering an animal to make it Halal for consumption. The Conditions of Zabiha:

  1. At least THREE out of the FOUR main veins of the throat MUST be cut.
  2.  Mentioning the name of Allah at the time of each slaughter
    1. “Eat not (of meats) on which Allah's name has not been pronounced, and surely it is a sin…” (al-An’aam : 121)
    2. . Any animal upon which Bismillah is not mentioned intentionally at the time of slaughter, is considered maitah (carrion, or dead meat). Maitah is just as haram as pork.
  3. The butcher must be a Muslim or Believing Ahlul Kitab
    1.  If one does not know who slaughtered the animal, further researched MUST be done before eating

Note: If ANY ONE of the above conditions is not fulfilled, the meat will be HARAM for consumption.

What is Halal to eat ?

  1. Halal is that which is permissible and lawful in Islam.
  2. Haram is what is impermissible, unlawful or prohibited in Islam.

The basic dietary laws for Muslims are:

  1. ONLY that which is tayyib (pure) is Halal (al-A’raaf:157)
  2. That which is khabeeth (impure) is Haram (al-A’raaf:157)
  3. That which is tayyib is Halal, and that which is Halal is tayyib (al-Baqarah:168)

Some Basic Principles of Eating Halal:

  1. The general ruling in all things is that it is permissible (allowed), unless proven otherwise.
  2. The principle ruling in meat is that it is impermissible (haram), unless proven otherwise.

Difference between Halal and Zabiha

  1.  Those animals declared as “Halāl”, if they have been slaughtered according to “Zabīha” rules, only then is consuming their meat is “Halāl”.
  2.  If they have not been slaughtered as per the rules of Zabiha, that meat cannot be called “Halāl”. It would be considered as “maitah (Carrion)” which is equally haram as pork.
  3.  There is no difference of Zabiha & Halal in the Quran, Sunnah or any other Fiqh text.
  4. There is NO DIFFERENCE between HALAL and ZABIHA HALAL. Zabiha is required to consider meat Halal.
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What does HMS certified means ?

  1. Properly Hand slaughtered by Muslim
  2. Bismillah on each animal
  3. Random, unannounced inspections are conducted frequently
  4. Business premises, invoices, merchandises, sales/production records, fridges, etc. inspected to guarantee no         mixing with non-Halal
  5. Ingredients and processes of all products/menu items are fully inspected to ensure purely Halal
  6. Whole chain of supply is monitored, from the slaughterhouse to the supplier to the store