Some of you might not know this, but the Islamic Halal standard doesn’t just apply to food – it’s also applicable to the clothes we wear.
Perhaps that is why Islamic fashion brand Zoya recently introduced what they described as “the first Halal-certified hijab in Indonesia”, the certification of which they supposedly obtained from the Muslim Ulema Council of Indonesia (MUI).
Far from impressing people, many netizens were very cynical in that they saw the certification as a shameless marketing gimmick.
According to the Quran, the hijab is for faithful women, so there’s no need for MUI approval, except if it helps them to sell the product.
Breaking news: It turns out that the hijab, which has been worn for centuries all over the world, can be Haram.
Funnily enough, MUI claimed they have never actually been in contact with Zoya, let alone given Halal certification specifically to one of their products.
“We never got clarification or confirmation from Zoya. So there is no certification. We have had no contact with Zoya,” said Lukmanul Hakim, director of Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics Monitoring for the MUI, as quoted by Kompas.
However, Hakim said that the MUI has given Halal certification to fabrics in the past, but not specifically any hijab.
So it may be that Zoya is one among many producers who make hijabs from Halal certified fabrics, but they just happen to be the first to claim it for, as many netizens believe, a marketing advantage.
