Malaysia intent on furthering Halal progress in Pakistan

Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah with participants at the International Halal conference organised by the Sindh Board of Investment. PHOTO: PPI

Malaysia is ready to share its experiences with Pakistan to develop its Halal industry, according to Halal Industry Development Corporation Malaysia Chief Executive Dato Seri Jamil Biden.

Addressing an International Halal Conference on Tuesday, Biden said, “You do not need to spend 30 years, as we want to see you emerging as a big player in the global Halal market in coming years. We are ready to share all our experiences with Pakistan.”

Biden, part of a nine-member delegation, at the Halal Conference 2011, said, “Malaysia has made some very strict laws for the industry, keeping in mind that Halal means ethical.”

He also said Brazil and Australia constitute 65 per cent of the world Halal beef exports, informing that no Muslim country had made its mark in a $2.1 trillion global market.

“What is more noticeable is that Brazil, the world’s largest Halal chicken exporter, actually exports 65 per cent of its chicken to the Arab world,” said Biden.

He explained that the mindset of consumers was changing, as people now laid more emphasis on the origin of ingredients in halal products. “Halal standards must be better than global standards like in labour laws and environmental pollution, because halal means ethical,” he asserted.

Other Malaysian experts underlined that Malaysia exported more than $9 billion worth of Halal products – a figure that is continuously rising. They explained that there are currently more than 3,800 companies in the Malaysian Halal sector that are registered with the government.

Halagel Group of Companies Managing Director Mohamad Yakob Munshi Deen said that only one per cent of the world’s gelatin production is Halal, adding that it was fortunate Pakistan produced most of this.

He said that his company had witnessed phenomenal growth, and would now turn its focus to Halal manufacturing in order to produce toothpastes and coffee.

The held conference was the commitment of Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) and Halal Industry Development (HDC), to effectively implement the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on December 1, 2010 with a view of developing the Halal sector in Pakistan. The conference marks the first time that the Government of Pakistan has collaborated with Malaysia in the sector.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah offered his support to local investors in developing the Halal industry, saying Sindh presents huge prospects for investment in the dairy, livestock and fisheries sectors.

Global Halal Traders gather in Malaysia amid Muslim population growth

Kuala Lumpur. Figures from the global halal food industry are gathering in the Malaysian capital to discuss ideas to expand the industry supplying food that complies with Islamic religious law, currently valued at $2.3 trillion annually.

The 10th Malaysia International Halal Showcase, running from today until Saturday, is being held in the Southeast Asian nation where around 60 percent of the 28.3 million people are Muslim and sophisticated infrastructure, facilities and policies have been introduced to entrench its status as a global halal hub.

The global Muslim population currently stands at 1.8 billion people and is growing at about 1.8 percent a year, according to Wong Lai Sum, chief executive at the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, the government body organizing the event.

“When you have a population that continues to grow, especially in Muslim countries, where the population demography tends to be young, consumption levels are going to expand,” she said.

Under the laws of halal, which means “permissible” in Arabic, a Muslim must only eat meat from livestock slaughtered across the neck by a sharp knife. The phrase “in the name of Allah” must also be uttered when killing the animals. Principles of halal also extend to Islamic teaching in daily life and prohibit the consumption of alcohol and gambling.

Wong said the exhibition will make potential buyers more aware of halal, expanding the global distribution networks of halal products.

Beyond food, the halal industry also spans the finance sector, cosmetics, clothing, pharmaceuticals and the transportation of goods.

Nabil Imam, the owner of United Food, a US company that imports halal goods from Malaysia, attended the event because he said the industry is growing in the United States, despite the nation’s recently sluggish economic performance.

“The halal food market in the US is booming. It is growing because the Muslim population is growing,” said Imam, whose company has been distributing halal food for 20 years.

United Food sells 600 halal food items in New York under the brand Basma, delivering the goods to local distributors, supermarkets and hypermarkets.

At the Kuala Lumpur event, Imam said he was looking for suppliers for halal palm oil products as well as packaged instant coffee.

The World Fair Trade Organization, which represents countries in the developing world and estimated the global halal food industry size at $2.3 trillion annually, forecast that the global Muslim population will reach 2.2 billion by 2030.

Malaysia has surpassed Indonesia, the nation with the most Muslims in the world, in developing Islamic products. Malaysia has developed the halal industry with regard to offering consumer products and nonfood products, standardizing certification, offering finance, facilitating packaging and arranging distribution.

“Indonesia should learn from Malaysia, they have set a benchmark from the upstream to downstream,” said Iwan Agustian, a director at Indonesia’s Dwimitra Semerbak Artamulia, a company that distributes Semerbak Coffee Blend product to more than 600 outlets. “I come here to get some inspiration, secure some halal raw materials, as well as reaching some potential buyers.”

In Indonesia, companies seeking to label their products as halal must seek the approval of the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI).

Analysts have said that the Indonesian government has taken a piecemeal approach to developing the nation’s halal industry, despite 90 percent of the country’s 240 million people identifying as Islamic.

The global halal industry has contributed to the controversial practice of the export of live cattle, often in poor conditions.

Stock markets in Muslim lands rally during Ramadan – study

Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar marked with fasting and prayer, is also an uplifting time for stock markets in predominantly Muslim countries, according to a study by the University of New Hampshire.

Stock markets in Oman, Turkey, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Malaysia, Bahrain, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia generated average returns of 38 percent during the month of Ramadan over the years 1989 through 2007, according to the report compared with their average 4.3 percent returns the rest of the year.

Ahmad Etebari, a professor of finance at the university in Durham, New Hampshire, who was lead researcher on the study, said he was surprised by the finding.

“Fasting is quite an ordeal during those long summer days in the Middle East,” said Etebari, who was born in Iran. “I expected to see the opposite.”

Since Ramadan is determined by a lunar calendar, its starting date varies from year to year. Etebari found that the markets he analyzed performed strongly, regardless of the timing of Ramadan.

Etebari concluded that the rally resulted from greater optimism during Ramadan. “This is behavioral,” Etebari said. “It stems from psychology.”

Observance of Ramadan is expected to start on or about Aug. 11 and finish on or about Sept. 10.

In the Middle East, Dubai’s main index and Abu Dhabi’s benchmark are both down so far this year, while stocks in Indonesia, an officially secular country that has the world’s largest Muslim population, are up about 20 percent.

“The implication of our find for investors is obvious,” Etebari said. “Investors seeking fast profits in the Muslim world should try to profit from the fast.”

High rate of divorce in Malaysia a worry

Malaysian society is plagued by rising divorce rates as new statistics show that a Muslim couple gets divorced every 15 minutes, a phenomenon that threatens social cohesion in the growing industrial country.

“They expect people to do everything for them,” Malaysian Shari`ah lawyer Halimatunsa’diah Abu Ahmad, told the Jakarta Post on Friday, May 27.

“They are spoon-fed and expect to be rewarded all the time,” Abu Ahmad added, blaming young couples for failing to understand each other’s obligations.

The warning rates, issued from the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), showed there were 27,116 divorces in 2009, up from 17,749 in 2005.

Though Muslim Malays compromise only 60 per cent of the population, they made up about 82 per cent of total divorces in Malaysia.

Officials have blamed many reasons behind the soaring phenomenon, including irresponsible spouses, health, social and financial problems, third-party interference, religious background and cultural differences.

Irreconcilable differences, provided by Jakim as one of the top factors for Muslims divorce, included “disrespectful towards spouse, communication problems, selfishness, laziness, unwilling to help and psychological issues.”

The government blames the rising divorce rate on neglect of Islamic teachings.

“If they can’t even perform their five daily prayers, imagine how hard it is for them to carry out their duties and roles as husband and wife,” Mashitah Ibrahim, deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said last month.

The Facebook social networking site popped up as one of the top reasons for divorce.

“For every five divorce cases I see, two or three will have been caused by Facebook,” the Shari`ah lawyer, Abu Ahmad, said.

“That is where they rekindle their old relationships with their first girlfriend or boyfriend.”

In Islam, marriage is a sacred bond that brings together a man and a woman by virtue of the teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Each partner in this sacred relationship must treat the other properly and with respect.

Divorce is not at all viewed favourably in Islam and is discouraged unless warranted by valid reasons.

Solutions

Young couples who went through divorce, had their own reasons, mainly blaming the breakdown of their marriages on the strains of modern life.

“There isn’t any effective communication between spouses, especially when both are working and have children,” said a 40-year-old advertising director, who is divorcing her unfaithful husband after 15 years of marriage.

“They are busy with their own lives and their children’s lives.”

The speedy, tough modern life was making it too hard for young couple to hold onto their marriages.

A 37-year-old business planning manager said his wife asked for a divorce after nine years because he was “too busy with work”.

He also said that it was “tough” for the couple to live in Kuala Lumpur on his 5,000 ringgit ($1,650) monthly salary.

A similar problem in Singapore was solved after the government managed to reverse the trend of rising divorces by raising the legal age of marriage to 21 from 18.

The number of Muslim divorces in Singapore dropped by 17 per cent over the last five years scoring only 1,626 divorces last year.

Facing the serious social disease, Jakim was planning a campaign to create more awareness on the roles of spouses, parenting skills, family education and how to handle finances.

State religious departments would also offer counselling for troubled couples. Muslim couples already go through three-day pre-marriage courses.

But some feel the new campaign will not do much.

“Any initiative by the government in the form of education has many advantages,” the 40-year-old art director.

“But I don’t think it has anything to do with religion or faith per se. It’s a society problem.”

Malays, mostly Muslims, make up nearly 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 28 million population.

Malaysia offers the image of a model Muslim country, heading towards the status of developed nation with huge buildings, beautiful cities and a fast track economy.

Malaysia launches “green” Islam initiative

Confirming the importance of ecological protection in Islam, a new book will be launched in Malaysia on conserving the environment with an Islamic perspective, citing verses of the Noble Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) sayings.

“This book is produced as a reference for Muslims, particularly leaders who are imam, religious speakers and teachers who can help in the effort to conserve the environment,” Mustapha Hassan, director-general of the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim), told Malaysia Star on Monday, May 21.

“Citing Qur’anic verses, hadiths and parables of prophets as well as presenting comprehensive facts, the handbook can benefit all levels of society in contributing to the protection of the environment and wildlife in Malaysia,” he added.

Realizing the threats towards the environment and wildlife species, the new book, prepared by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia and Ikim, will be launched next July.

This book is produced as a reference for Muslims, in particular leaders who comprise of people such as Imams, religious speakers and teachers in efforts to champion environmental issues.

Mustapha said the publication was in line with Ikim’s function, which is to carry out research on the role of Islam and Muslims in facing challenges due to the ever-changing global situation.

“Through this handbook, we would like to emphasize that problems and issues related to the environment and wildlife have relevance to Islamic teachings,” he said.

Preparing for the book, Ikim authors visited two WWF Malaysia project sites for endangered species.

These sites include the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex in Gerik, Perak, and Setiu, Terengganu.

“Both locations are habitats for various endangered species including the two national icons, the Malayan tiger and turtle, which will be given particular focus in this handbook,” Mustapha said.

On-going Efforts

The project was introduced as a continuation and an extension to the on-going activities carried out based on the Islamic approach in wildlife species conservation.

“Among the efforts made by WWF-Malaysia with the local communities, together with IKIM include the preparation of a Friday sermon text entitled ‘Environmental conservation is our Collective Responsibility’ for 428 mosques throughout Terengganu in 2008,” WWF-Malaysia’s Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Dr. Dionysius Sharma, told WWF website.

“In Jeli, Kelantan, we started a similar initiative with a sermon entitled, ‘Animals are creatures that need protection’ which was delivered by a local Imam.

“A workshop which was participated by Imams and religious teachers was also organized in Perak,” he added.

WWF-Malaysia (World Wildlife Malaysia),is a national conservation trust which currently conducts more than 75 projects that encompass various environment protection aspects.

Since 1972, WWF-Malaysia has been actively conducting important conservation projects, such as saving endangered animal species such as tigers and turtles, to protecting our highland forests, rivers and seas.

Is Bosnian Islam going the way of Malaysia?

When Bosnian diplomat Ensar Eminović provocatively declared “Saya buatan Malaysia” (“I am a product of Malaysia”) to the Malaysian press last year, his assertion must not be simply seen as an attempt at securing investments.

It is, in fact, symptomatic of the shape of things to come. With a significant number of its top leaders educated in the Southeast Asian nation, Bosnia-Herzegovina is on a steady course to becoming the Malaysia of the Balkans.

Eminović figures among some 300 Bosnian elites who have graduated from Malaysian universities. Unofficially coined the “Bosnian Mafia” in Malaysia, this highly influential group comprises “ambassadors, CEOs of major companies and up-and-coming politicians” by Eminović’s own admission.

As they work towards rebuilding a nation ravaged by the Balkan wars of the early 1990s, this group’s most significant impact will be on Bosnian religiosity, especially its society’s imaginings of Islam.

After all, most were trained at the state-sponsored International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), whose prerogative is to “integrate Islamic revealed knowledge and values in all disciplines” so as to bring about “the restoration of the Ummah’s leading role in all branches of knowledge”.

If Bosnia’s appropriation of Malaysian Islam continues, then its practice of public Islam could develop in several ways.

First, Bosniaks (or Bosnian Muslims who make up about 45% of its nearly 4 million population) might embrace the “otherworldly” but inclusive aspects of Malaysian Islam inspired by Sufi mysticism. Second, they could import a reformist version of Malaysian Islam that does not see a conflict between modernity and faith, which has been championed these days by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Here, the IIUM has produced progressive Malaysian Muslim figures like human rights lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

A third option is a heightened sense of Islamic consciousness promoted by the IIUM, whose raison d’être makes it a strong propagator of the “Islamisation of knowledge” project. This strain of Islamic thought was first conceptualised by the Malaysian Islamic thinker, Syed Naquib Alatas, and later expanded by the Palestinian philosopher Ismail al-Faruqi.

Islamisation upholds a dichotomy between disciplines that are “secular” (for example, economics and Marxism) and those that are “Islamic” (like tawhid or studies on the oneness of God). It aims to reinterpret the former according to ethics of Islam, giving birth to new fields like Islamic literature and Islamic science.

There is some indication that Bosnia is opting for Islamisation over Sufism and reformism, at least officially.

Three Malaysian Islamic banks have reportedly set up operations in Bosnia this year. Meanwhile, a Malaysian state-linked firm last year signed an agreement with the Širbegović construction firm to codevelop Bosnia’s first halal park. It sees this investment as paving the way for Malaysian companies to “tap the markets to other countries in Europe, particularly when Bosnia becomes part of the European Union, within the next five years”.

Islamisation is also underway in Bosnia’s higher-education sector. Islamic leaders led by grand mufti Mustafa Cerić are working closely with the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) to establish an Islamic university. A close partner of Malaysia’s IIUM, the IIIT is a US-based non-profit organisation working towards Islamising “secular” spheres. It was first set up with seed funding from the Muslim Brotherhood.

While most Bosniaks traditionally see Islam as a cultural identifier, it is not unlikely that the Islamic turn of its elites will trickle down to the masses as faith leaders report a sense of religious revival among its rural folks.

The implication for Bosnia’s future is twofold.

Locally, leaders must endeavour not to let Bosnia degrade into social tension the way Malaysia had. The latter saw Islam assume an ethnic slant to politically differentiate Muslim Malays as natives from non-Muslim Chinese and Indian minorities as settlers in an us-versus-them dichotomy.

Last weekend’s elections, though, have shown some encouraging signs on the part of Bosniaks, with most voting for the moderate Bakir Izetbegović over the nationalistic Haris Silajdzić. The former is a strong propagator of dialogue between the nation’s deeply divided ethnic groups. However, the spectre of ethnic conflict still hovers as Bosnia’s minority Serbs voted for the hardliner Milorad Dodik, who favours separatism of Bosnia’s Serb-run Republika Srpska.

Given that ethnic strife between Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks had characterised the Balkan conflict, there is a real danger that Islamisation could reignite this.

Complications may also emerge on the regional front. With the last European Union election seeing more right-leaning, even Islamophobic, parties gain seats, Bosnia’s pseudo-Malaysia Islamisation could also see its bid for EU membership go the way of Turkey.

The onus to prevent these now lies on Bosnia’s young Turks to appropriate Malaysian Islam judiciously

Malaysia leads the way in moves to standardise global halal certification

Malaysia is helping to set a global standard for halal certification for the multi-trillion dollar industry.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that four modules of Global Halal Standard had been published to standardise the certification process.

He said it was timely to come up with such standardised format as JAKIM (Malaysia Islamic Development Department) only recognised 15% of the halal certificates issued by 300 bodies across the globe.

“The Malaysian government is offering our expertise and years of experience in halal certification and standards development.

“Malaysia seeks to amplify our role by working towards the development of global standards,’’ he said in his keynote address at the 5th World Halal Forum at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Monday.

The International Halal Integrity Alliance (IHI), an initiative born out of the World Halal Forum, had published the modules in accordance with international benchmarking and best practices, he said.

Najib said JAKIM (Malaysia Islamic Development Department), Standards Malaysia, and various international stakeholders had helped formulate the modules.

Najib also said the IHI was poised to be the global halal authority, with the mandate given by the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Najib said the global halal products market was estimated at USD2.3tril (RM7.59tril), excluding the Islamic banking sector.

Najib said the bulk of the halal market share comprised food and beverage industry (67%) followed by pharmaceutical (22%), and cosmetic as well as personal care (10%).

“If we include the services sector for the halal market, and we should give this serious consideration, the potential size of the total market is astronomical,’’ he said, adding that the halal sector also encompass logistics, tourism and fashion industries.

Najib said a series of international events including the 5th World Halal Forum, 3rd World Halal Research summit, and 7th International Halal Showcase (Mihas) had been lined up in conjunction with Halal Malaysia Week.

He said Halal Week Malaysia had attracted deals and transactions worth RM2.2bil in 2008 and RM3.23bil last year.

“This year the figure is expected to exceed RM3.8bil,’’ he said. Najib said Halal Week Malaysia firmly positions Malaysia as a beacon of the Global Halal Industry, adding Malaysia is also a global player in the Islamic Finance sector.

Najib was also pleased to note the number of participants from Western world increased by the year.

This year’s forum attracted 900 participants from government and private sectors across the globe to discuss and deliberate various issues of significance to the halal industry.

Malaysia intent on furthering Halal progress in Pakistan

Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah with participants at the International Halal conference organised by the Sindh Board of Investment. PHOTO: PPI

Malaysia is ready to share its experiences with Pakistan to develop its Halal industry, according to Halal Industry Development Corporation Malaysia Chief Executive Dato Seri Jamil Biden.

Addressing an International Halal Conference on Tuesday, Biden said, “You do not need to spend 30 years, as we want to see you emerging as a big player in the global Halal market in coming years. We are ready to share all our experiences with Pakistan.”

Biden, part of a nine-member delegation, at the Halal Conference 2011, said, “Malaysia has made some very strict laws for the industry, keeping in mind that Halal means ethical.”

He also said Brazil and Australia constitute 65 per cent of the world Halal beef exports, informing that no Muslim country had made its mark in a $2.1 trillion global market.

“What is more noticeable is that Brazil, the world’s largest Halal chicken exporter, actually exports 65 per cent of its chicken to the Arab world,” said Biden.

He explained that the mindset of consumers was changing, as people now laid more emphasis on the origin of ingredients in halal products. “Halal standards must be better than global standards like in labour laws and environmental pollution, because halal means ethical,” he asserted.

Other Malaysian experts underlined that Malaysia exported more than $9 billion worth of Halal products – a figure that is continuously rising. They explained that there are currently more than 3,800 companies in the Malaysian Halal sector that are registered with the government.

Halagel Group of Companies Managing Director Mohamad Yakob Munshi Deen said that only one per cent of the world’s gelatin production is Halal, adding that it was fortunate Pakistan produced most of this.

He said that his company had witnessed phenomenal growth, and would now turn its focus to Halal manufacturing in order to produce toothpastes and coffee.

The held conference was the commitment of Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) and Halal Industry Development (HDC), to effectively implement the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on December 1, 2010 with a view of developing the Halal sector in Pakistan. The conference marks the first time that the Government of Pakistan has collaborated with Malaysia in the sector.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah offered his support to local investors in developing the Halal industry, saying Sindh presents huge prospects for investment in the dairy, livestock and fisheries sectors.

Malaysia plan to standardise halal standards as market expands

A Malaysia-based group is drafting halal standards to give Muslim countries a framework to regulate a $2 trillion global industry ranging from food to finance.

The global halal industry is regarded as a vast but difficult market with the substantial Muslim population outweighed by the use of disparate sharia standards, differing levels of development across Muslim countries and a lack of regulatory infrastructure.

The International Halal Integrity Alliance is working on guidelines relating to the use of sharia-compliant pharmaceuticals, finance and processed food which would be completed by year-end, its chief executive officer Darhim Hashim said.

“We, as Muslims, are not in control of the supply chain,” he said on the sidelines of a halal forum.

“We cannot say that we can accept everything that comes into the country is halal so at the very basic level is some kind of import regulation. That in return leads to a standard.”

Darhim said the alliance has published seven other standards which include the regulation of sharia-compliant restaurants, cosmetics, lab testing and animal slaughtering which have been ratified by the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a grouping of 56 Islamic countries.

The alliance’s members include certification bodies from Europe, India, the Phillipines, Cambodia and Australia.

The halal industry has been overshadowed by the Islamic finance sector in recent years as the petrodollar boom sparked a rush for sharia-compliant assets. But the large global Muslim population is seen as offering growth opportunities for the industry.

Malaysia rated most Muslim-friendly destination

SINGAPORE — Malaysia has been rated the world’s top Muslim-friendly holiday destination in a survey that listed Egypt, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Singapore as runners-up.

The study by Singapore-based Muslim travel consultancy Crescentrating ranked countries on how well they cater to the growing number of Muslim holidaymakers seeking halal — or Islam-compliant — food and services.

It used criteria including the level of safety in a country, the ease of access to halal food and prayer facilities, and whether hotels cater to the needs of Muslim guests.

On a scale of one to 10 in which 10 is the best score, Malaysia came out number one with a grade of 8.3 among 50 nations surveyed.

Egypt was in second place with 6.7, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Turkey both with 6.6. Saudi Arabia was in fourth place with a score of 6.4 and Singapore was fifth with 6.3.

Indonesia, Morocco and Jordan scored 6.1 to tie in sixth place, trailed by seventh-place Brunei, Qatar, Tunisia and Oman, all with a score of 6.0.

Crescentrating chief executive Fazal Bahardeen said the survey was taken from the point of view of the traveller, meaning that it measured the ease of access by Muslim tourists — not locals — to halal food and facilities.

“Malaysia is one of the few countries where you can find a prayer place in almost every location — be it a shopping mall or the airport,” Fazal told AFP.

He said that while Malaysian authorities have been focusing on the market for several years, Indonesia — the world’s most populous Muslim nation — has not done as well.

“The main problem for Indonesia is that it’s not straightforward for a Muslim visitor to find halal food availability. For locals it’s probably not an issue.”

Saudi Arabia figured as a holiday destination for the first time since the survey started in 2011 because more Muslims use their holidays to go there to perform the Umrah, a minor pilgrimage, Fazal said.

In terms of cities as a shopping destination, Dubai pipped Kuala Lumpur for the number-one spot, according to the survey which rated the presence of halal food and prayer facilities at shopping malls.

Istanbul, Jeddah, Singapore, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, New Delhi, London and Doha completed the top-10 shopping destinations.

Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport were rated among the friendliest to Muslim travellers.

Spending by Muslim tourists is growing faster than the global rate and is forecast to reach $192 billion a year by 2020, up from $126 billion in 2011, according to a study by Crescentrating and another company released last year.

Malaysia hotels cater to Muslim tourists

On the sixth floor of an upscale hotel in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Ampang, Quranic verses are piped through loudspeakers in the hallway 24 hours a day.

In the guestrooms, a Quran sits on the bedside table, and garments for men and women to wear while praying are neatly folded on the bed. In the bathrooms, a dedicated ablution tap is provided for guests to perform the ritual cleansing that Muslims must complete before praying.

Known as the “Islamic floor”, these rooms are reserved for Muslim guests only.

Downstairs in the lobby, the call to prayer sounds five times a day, calling guests and staff to the surau, or prayer room, where one of the hotel’s four resident imams will lead the faithful.

The De Palma group, which claims to offer Malaysia’s first Sharia, or Islamic-compliant hotels, is one of a growing number of tourism operators around the world seeking to appeal to the burgeoning number of Muslim travellers who represent one of the fastest-growing tourism markets globally.

“People are looking for something which suits their lifestyle,” said Muhamad Azmir Bin Abdul Rahim, operations manager at the three-star Ampang hotel, one of the group’s four properties in Malaysia. “They feel that they need to come and stay here where they can get all these things like the halal food and the surau.”

Growing market

As incomes rise in many Islamic countries, more Muslims are seeking to holiday in places where they can meet the requirements of their faith – and it’s about much more than simply leaving pork and alcohol, considered forbidden in Islam, off the menu.

From providing prayer rooms at shopping centers to making hotel pools available only for women at certain times, more tourism operators are striving to meet the growing demand for services that are halal, or permissible under Islam.

It’s a market they can ill-afford to ignore.

In 2011, Muslim tourists spent $126bn on holiday-related expenses, a figure expected to grow to $200bn by 2020, according to CrescentRating.com, a website offering “halal-friendly” travel information that produced a research report on the market earlier this year with DinarStandard, a US-based marketing research and advisory firm that focuses on Muslim markets.

“These travellers are becoming much more adventurous in wanting to explore more destinations, and as long as you provide them with at least the basics, they will travel,” said Fazal Bahardeen, founder and chief executive of CrescentRating.

The report found that Muslim tourists contributed 12.3 percent of global travel expenditure in 2011, up from just 3.5 percent in 1995, making them the second-fastest-growing tourism market in the world, behind Chinese tourists.

Mr Bahardeen said while the largest number of Muslim tourists came from the Gulf countries, Muslims in Southeast Asian nations like Indonesia and Malaysia are also travelling more, along with Muslims living in Western Europe.

He said the key things for tourism operators to consider when trying to attract Muslim tourists is the need to make halal food easily available and to provide prayer facilities.

“If you have a shopping center or a theme park where you want them to spend eight hours, you better have some halal food and prayer rooms,” said Mr Bahardeen, adding that hotel rooms should also have the qibla – an arrow indicating the direction of Mecca.

As competition for Muslim tourist dollars intensifies, Malaysia claimed the top spot by attracting the most Muslim tourists in 2011, according to the CrescentRating report.

Mr Bahardeen said Muslims felt comfortable in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, because most food was halal and tourists wearing Muslim attire fit in easily with locals.

While Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were the next most popular destinations, many countries with minority Muslim populations also featured in the top places for Muslims to visit, including Singapore, Russia, China, France, Thailand and Italy.

In Australia, the Gold Coast – the city renowned for its beaches and theme parks in the state of Queensland – is also trying to draw Muslim tourists. It has opened prayer rooms in shopping malls and theme parks, and some leading hotels provide halal food and copies of the Quran in guest rooms.

For the past three years, during the fasting month of Ramadan, the government has helped organise for Muslim tourists to break fast together at one of the city’s leading hotels.

The effort appears to be paying off, with Queensland recording a 28 percent increase in the number of visitors from the Middle East in the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year, according to Tourism Queensland.

“Muslim travelers appreciate that we understand their cultural differences and needs,” said Andrew Oldfield, Tourism Queensland’s marketing manager for Gulf countries. “It leaves a lasting impression and hopefully will be a small part of larger stories and positive experiences that travellers take home with them and will encourage repeat holidays or other family and friends to visit us.”

Special nuances

Mr Bahardeen said Thailand was also actively courting Muslim tourists. Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has opened prayer rooms and made halal food available in public areas and transit areas, while spas are trying to attract Muslims by emphasising privacy, with separate areas for men and women, he added.

Mr Bahardeen said while some airlines like Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines sourced their food from kitchens that were halal-certified, many of their competitors needed to do more to cater for Muslims. He said finding space to pray onboard could often be a problem.

“If you ask them, they often let you pray near the door or near the kitchen,” said Mr Bahardeen, whose website provides a calculator to help travellers work out prayer times when travelling across time zones.

While awareness of the need to cater for Muslim guests is slowly growing, Malaysia’s De Palma Hotel group realised the market’s potential earlier than many of its competitors.

It began providing services specifically for Muslims in 2006, and now attracts mainly Muslim guests from Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United States, Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore and India as well as Malaysia.

Female staff are required to wear a headscarf, all food is sourced from suppliers who have had their produce certified as halal, and the pool is open specifically for women for a few hours every morning.

Religious scholars and imams from around the world often give lectures in the prayer room, and every Tuesday night guests can attend a free session where Islamic scholars translate the Quran from Arabic into English.

At the reception desk, guests can leave queries about Islam in a box marked “Ask Ustaz”, or religious teacher, who answers their written queries via email or phone.

Mr Azmir, the operations manager, said the hotel group was considering expanding overseas in places such as the Middle East, Korea and Myanmar.

“What marks us apart from the other hotels is the Islamic concept and in time to come, I hope there will be more Islamic hotels,” he said.

On a recent afternoon in the hotel coffee shop, where green signs on each table provide prayers in Arabic and Malay, Amran Anuar, a Malaysian living in Britain, said he appreciated not having to worry about whether the food was halal when staying at the hotel.

He also likes not having to go far to find a prayer room when it’s time to pray. “I think it’s a good idea they have this kind of thing,” he said.

‘Malaysia declared ‘top Muslim tourist destination’

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia has been declared a top tourist spot for Muslims, according to an independent study. The study came to the conclusion based on the number of trips by Muslims, and declared that the top destinations for Muslim tourists are Malaysia, Turkey and UAE.

According to The Star, the next six destinations are Singapore, Russia, China, France, Thailand, and Italy, the Global Muslim Lifestyle Travel Market: Landscape & Consumer Needs Study survey conducted by United States-based marketing research firm DinarStandard said. In the report, Malaysia was highlighted for catering to Muslim tourists’ needs.

Almost 67 percent of the Muslims surveyed said that having halal food options was the most important factor in choosing a travel destination, the report said. According to the report, the study estimated that the Muslim tourism market was worth 126.1 billion US dollars last year, or 12.3 percent of the world’s outbound tourism expenditure.

The survey had 992 Muslim tourist respondents between May and June and was produced in partnership with the Singapore-based Crescentrating travel portal, the report added.

Malaysia rated most Muslim-friendly destination

SINGAPORE — Malaysia has been rated the world’s top Muslim-friendly holiday destination in a survey that listed Egypt, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Singapore as runners-up.

The study by Singapore-based Muslim travel consultancy Crescentrating ranked countries on how well they cater to the growing number of Muslim holidaymakers seeking halal — or Islam-compliant — food and services.

It used criteria including the level of safety in a country, the ease of access to halal food and prayer facilities, and whether hotels cater to the needs of Muslim guests.

On a scale of one to 10 in which 10 is the best score, Malaysia came out number one with a grade of 8.3 among 50 nations surveyed.

Egypt was in second place with 6.7, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Turkey both with 6.6. Saudi Arabia was in fourth place with a score of 6.4 and Singapore was fifth with 6.3.

Indonesia, Morocco and Jordan scored 6.1 to tie in sixth place, trailed by seventh-place Brunei, Qatar, Tunisia and Oman, all with a score of 6.0.

Crescentrating chief executive Fazal Bahardeen said the survey was taken from the point of view of the traveller, meaning that it measured the ease of access by Muslim tourists — not locals — to halal food and facilities.

“Malaysia is one of the few countries where you can find a prayer place in almost every location — be it a shopping mall or the airport,” Fazal told AFP.

He said that while Malaysian authorities have been focusing on the market for several years, Indonesia — the world’s most populous Muslim nation — has not done as well.

“The main problem for Indonesia is that it’s not straightforward for a Muslim visitor to find halal food availability. For locals it’s probably not an issue.”

Saudi Arabia figured as a holiday destination for the first time since the survey started in 2011 because more Muslims use their holidays to go there to perform the Umrah, a minor pilgrimage, Fazal said.

In terms of cities as a shopping destination, Dubai pipped Kuala Lumpur for the number-one spot, according to the survey which rated the presence of halal food and prayer facilities at shopping malls.

Istanbul, Jeddah, Singapore, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, New Delhi, London and Doha completed the top-10 shopping destinations.

Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport were rated among the friendliest to Muslim travellers.

Spending by Muslim tourists is growing faster than the global rate and is forecast to reach $192 billion a year by 2020, up from $126 billion in 2011, according to a study by Crescentrating and another company released last year.

Malaysia hotels cater to Muslim tourists

On the sixth floor of an upscale hotel in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Ampang, Quranic verses are piped through loudspeakers in the hallway 24 hours a day.

In the guestrooms, a Quran sits on the bedside table, and garments for men and women to wear while praying are neatly folded on the bed. In the bathrooms, a dedicated ablution tap is provided for guests to perform the ritual cleansing that Muslims must complete before praying.

Known as the “Islamic floor”, these rooms are reserved for Muslim guests only.

Downstairs in the lobby, the call to prayer sounds five times a day, calling guests and staff to the surau, or prayer room, where one of the hotel’s four resident imams will lead the faithful.

The De Palma group, which claims to offer Malaysia’s first Sharia, or Islamic-compliant hotels, is one of a growing number of tourism operators around the world seeking to appeal to the burgeoning number of Muslim travellers who represent one of the fastest-growing tourism markets globally.

“People are looking for something which suits their lifestyle,” said Muhamad Azmir Bin Abdul Rahim, operations manager at the three-star Ampang hotel, one of the group’s four properties in Malaysia. “They feel that they need to come and stay here where they can get all these things like the halal food and the surau.”

Growing market

As incomes rise in many Islamic countries, more Muslims are seeking to holiday in places where they can meet the requirements of their faith – and it’s about much more than simply leaving pork and alcohol, considered forbidden in Islam, off the menu.

From providing prayer rooms at shopping centers to making hotel pools available only for women at certain times, more tourism operators are striving to meet the growing demand for services that are halal, or permissible under Islam.

It’s a market they can ill-afford to ignore.

In 2011, Muslim tourists spent $126bn on holiday-related expenses, a figure expected to grow to $200bn by 2020, according to CrescentRating.com, a website offering “halal-friendly” travel information that produced a research report on the market earlier this year with DinarStandard, a US-based marketing research and advisory firm that focuses on Muslim markets.

“These travellers are becoming much more adventurous in wanting to explore more destinations, and as long as you provide them with at least the basics, they will travel,” said Fazal Bahardeen, founder and chief executive of CrescentRating.

The report found that Muslim tourists contributed 12.3 percent of global travel expenditure in 2011, up from just 3.5 percent in 1995, making them the second-fastest-growing tourism market in the world, behind Chinese tourists.

Mr Bahardeen said while the largest number of Muslim tourists came from the Gulf countries, Muslims in Southeast Asian nations like Indonesia and Malaysia are also travelling more, along with Muslims living in Western Europe.

He said the key things for tourism operators to consider when trying to attract Muslim tourists is the need to make halal food easily available and to provide prayer facilities.

“If you have a shopping center or a theme park where you want them to spend eight hours, you better have some halal food and prayer rooms,” said Mr Bahardeen, adding that hotel rooms should also have the qibla – an arrow indicating the direction of Mecca.

As competition for Muslim tourist dollars intensifies, Malaysia claimed the top spot by attracting the most Muslim tourists in 2011, according to the CrescentRating report.

Mr Bahardeen said Muslims felt comfortable in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, because most food was halal and tourists wearing Muslim attire fit in easily with locals.

While Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were the next most popular destinations, many countries with minority Muslim populations also featured in the top places for Muslims to visit, including Singapore, Russia, China, France, Thailand and Italy.

In Australia, the Gold Coast – the city renowned for its beaches and theme parks in the state of Queensland – is also trying to draw Muslim tourists. It has opened prayer rooms in shopping malls and theme parks, and some leading hotels provide halal food and copies of the Quran in guest rooms.

For the past three years, during the fasting month of Ramadan, the government has helped organise for Muslim tourists to break fast together at one of the city’s leading hotels.

The effort appears to be paying off, with Queensland recording a 28 percent increase in the number of visitors from the Middle East in the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year, according to Tourism Queensland.

“Muslim travelers appreciate that we understand their cultural differences and needs,” said Andrew Oldfield, Tourism Queensland’s marketing manager for Gulf countries. “It leaves a lasting impression and hopefully will be a small part of larger stories and positive experiences that travellers take home with them and will encourage repeat holidays or other family and friends to visit us.”

Special nuances

Mr Bahardeen said Thailand was also actively courting Muslim tourists. Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has opened prayer rooms and made halal food available in public areas and transit areas, while spas are trying to attract Muslims by emphasising privacy, with separate areas for men and women, he added.

Mr Bahardeen said while some airlines like Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines sourced their food from kitchens that were halal-certified, many of their competitors needed to do more to cater for Muslims. He said finding space to pray onboard could often be a problem.

“If you ask them, they often let you pray near the door or near the kitchen,” said Mr Bahardeen, whose website provides a calculator to help travellers work out prayer times when travelling across time zones.

While awareness of the need to cater for Muslim guests is slowly growing, Malaysia’s De Palma Hotel group realised the market’s potential earlier than many of its competitors.

It began providing services specifically for Muslims in 2006, and now attracts mainly Muslim guests from Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United States, Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore and India as well as Malaysia.

Female staff are required to wear a headscarf, all food is sourced from suppliers who have had their produce certified as halal, and the pool is open specifically for women for a few hours every morning.

Religious scholars and imams from around the world often give lectures in the prayer room, and every Tuesday night guests can attend a free session where Islamic scholars translate the Quran from Arabic into English.

At the reception desk, guests can leave queries about Islam in a box marked “Ask Ustaz”, or religious teacher, who answers their written queries via email or phone.

Mr Azmir, the operations manager, said the hotel group was considering expanding overseas in places such as the Middle East, Korea and Myanmar.

“What marks us apart from the other hotels is the Islamic concept and in time to come, I hope there will be more Islamic hotels,” he said.

On a recent afternoon in the hotel coffee shop, where green signs on each table provide prayers in Arabic and Malay, Amran Anuar, a Malaysian living in Britain, said he appreciated not having to worry about whether the food was halal when staying at the hotel.

He also likes not having to go far to find a prayer room when it’s time to pray. “I think it’s a good idea they have this kind of thing,” he said.