Asked about the change from halaal to "halaal friendly", the alim said: "They are using skullduggery and loopholes when they say (the place is) halaal friendly. We, as Muslims, in the Cape and South Africa, masha Allah, we have so many (fully) halaal outlets. So why should we frequent such places? We must not be deceived by these type of terminology. It is not permissible for us to frequent such places. The best is that a person stays away totally."
Asked it if was acceptable to lease out your property to a place that sells something that is not Islamically permissible like alcohol, once again, the alim was clear. "We Muslims should not just look at the money. We should also look at the harm it will cause the public. Imagine alcohol - the Quran Kareem says it is impure, it is the handywork of the Shaitan, so abstain from it."
He continued: "How can we Muslims now be renting out our premises and say 'no, these are non-Muslims that are selling it, so therefore, it is fine'? But we are receiving the money. So we are becoming a menace to society because we are allowing this on our premises." He added that it was not even permissible for Muslims to allow the advertisement of things like alcohol on premises they owned "Always remember the rule Islam gives us - that we should not be party - either directly or indirectly - to others who are commiting a sin."He further added that if a muslim business owner leased out a property to a second party who in turn leased it out to a third or forth party and on that property alcohol is sold, all revenue derived from that property by the primary muslim owner is haraam.
In a hadith related by the prophet (saw) it is mentioned that when the day of judgement comes near the muslim ummah will be divided into 73 different sects and it will be the religious scholars themselves who will be leading the people astray into the fire of jahannam.The ruling in Islam with regards to alcohol is a clear cut straight forward one and recently many religious clerics have tried to go around the issue of alcohol trying to brand it as permissable when in reality it is completely prohibited in Islam.There has also been numerous incidences recently of muslim families hosting diplomatic functions and parties whilst allowing a cash bar to be present at these functions. What kind of an example are these people setting for others? How can a person stoop so low by selling his faith and religion to simply please the whims and fancies of his non muslim atheistic counterparts to simply acquire wealth, fame and status? The South African muslim community is quick to condemn the muslim communities in other parts of the world. We are quick to condemn and brand Saudis as salafis.We look down at the Malaysian and Indonesian way of Islam as well and yet the wrong that is occurring within our own muslim communities is quite atrocious..
