Thora Soch Lays!

We, Muslims, and especially Pakistani Muslims, are a cute bunch of people. We have the capability to ignore such serious sins as fornication, murder and drinking, taking them to be a part of life. We even indulge in hypocrisy, lying, greed, lethargy and what not without giving it a second thought. But on certain other (arguably less important issues) we raise an alarm that is, mildly put, extremely exaggerated.

Before coming to the issue that prompted me to write this, here is a little example of this sort of behaviour. Some time ago, I (for a change) went to visit a relative. When leaving his house, I, as is the custom, said “Khuda Hafiz”. At this, I was unexpectedly snubbed by a respected elder and told that that was not the proper Islamic way to say goodbye. Naturally confused, I asked her to elaborate. She explained that we should always say “Allah Hafiz” since Khuda means God and many different people have many different Gods, so we must be clear about whose protection we want to put the recipient of the prayer in. I just couldn’t help laughing. I tried to explain to her as briefly as possible that no matter how many different gods various people of the world believed in, we only believed in one and that was Allah. Since everyone present knew this, Khuda should not mean anything but Allah. To further elaborate, I told her that with her logic, she should call her dad by his name since various people had various dads and she should be clear about the person she was referring to.

Coming back to the point, I have received various text messages and heard from a number of friends that Lay’s chips are suddenly haraam and should be avoided at all costs since it is now a sin to have them. Some people have elaborated that the said snack contains something called E631 which is made from pork and thus makes it haraam.

I have no objection to my Muslim brothers avoiding the snack to protect their faith, but for anyone who has a curious bone like me, here is some information that might help decide the matter.

1.             E631 is used to enhance the flavour of food.

2.             Though E631 can be extracted from pig fat, it is not the only source. It can also be obtained from sardines, yeast extract and a plant extract called Tapioca. All these sources except pig fat are not Haraam under any Islamic law.

3.             E631 is mainly used in the Masala flavour of Lay’s (imported from Thailand). This E631 is extracted from Tapioca and has been certified by the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand to be Halal.

4.             A number of researchers have spent a lot of time studying all kinds of different foods including snacks and have decided on which products are halal and Haraam. The only Lay’s flavour that I found to be Haraam in these lists was Baked Lay’s Brand KC Masterpiece BBQ Flavour.

5.             One ounce of regular lays contains 130 calories, 380 mg of salt and ten grams of fat (three grams of saturated fat). It has next to no minerals or vitamins. So there are other, more realistic reasons for staying away from too much intake of the snack.

So, if you want to extremely careful and do not trust the Thai Islamic Society, avoid BBQ and Masala flavours, the rest are fine. Although if someone wants to quit eating Lay’s totally just to be on the safe side, I respect their opinion.

Coming to the earlier point, I still wonder what our society would look like if we spent so much time and energy thinking about things where there is no doubt. Lying, cheating, harming others for one’s own benefit, making money through forbidden means, corruption, nepotism, bribery, misuse of authority, cruelty to humans and animals, all these things are forbidden. There is no confusion in these. Forget Lay’s; remember these and we’ll be fine.