Red Wine selling at Jalal Sons, Lahore
submitted 2 years 11 months 10 hours ago by: amersarfraz : 15 comments
I recently visited Jalal Sons (Grocery Store) in Gulbderg Main Market, Lahore. I was there to do some grocery shopping and was looking for some stuff that I wanted to buy when I came across a bottle of Spaghetti Sauce by Knorr.
The product label said "Red Wine & Herbs". I was a bit shocked to see the label and its placement to be so openly sold, considering Pakistan, an Islamic State where any sale of liquor is prohibited. The only exception is liscensed outlets, even from there only foreigners or locals of non-islamic religion can buy. Then I though, may be the label is just there but actually the contents might not have Red Wine in it, so I turned the bottle around to have a look at the contents. But to my utter surprise, the ingredients list clearly said "10% Red Wine".
The product was manufactured in UK, although Knorr also has a manufacturing facility in Pakistan.
The product must have been bought at a cheap price from some sale (as the expiry was only a month away) and was put here for sale without any noticing that it had Red Wine in it.
The point I want to make here is that one should always be careful what they are getting from the market and never rely on the labels. Always look at the ingredients before buying anything, especially foreign .
Its so ironic that when we are in foreign countries, we always read the ingredients at the back, however, in our own country we always take it for granted that the product would be Halal, although there are quite a lot of products available in the market that are imported, especially Biscuits, Frend Fries and Chips.
Comments
Bab-Q with red wine ! yummy haven't tried it thou but seems yummy on BBC FOOD !
i have a feeling the sale of Spaghetti Sauce by Knorr containing "Red Wine & Herbs" just went up in Jalal..... :)
look what you have done above Amer :) Showed few other persons where they can get it
@ Ali
That's a good point, and to be honest with you, I can not recall if I checked the alcohol content in it. My Bad.
But I guess the point was trying to make still holds true to some extent (although I will need to do a bit of a research on it) that with most imported products, we tend to ignore the ingredients; Chips & Fries could be a perfect examply in which there are sometimes contents of bacon (I am saying from my experience abroad, I haven't come across this issue here yet, may be they make sure not to bring those, or may be they ignored it sometimes).
There are alternates to some of the above mentioned product.... .I have seen non-alcaholic beer i.e. Bavaria, Panda Shandy etc............ atleat it says Non-Alcaholic I havent checked the percentage of it shows on the bottle..........
@ Khorram!
Thanks for your valuable comments....very informative...!
Now w I know why my mom never succeeded in making the REAL ketchup, no matter how hard she tried...!!!
Salman
I agree and if you read above comments, I did clarify the point. I did later on check it also that it is true in many of the items sold, it says non-alcoholic, but there is always a GIVEN that we tend to take being in a Muslim country. Same also holds true when one is living abroad for studies or whatever. We tend to overlook the ingredients and I have peronsally experienced that most of the ready to cook potatoes have meat content in some form.
When you cook in "Wine" the flovour remains while the alcohol evaporates.
Even if you eat a few table spoons of this stuff (uncooked) you are not going to get drunk. You probably will have better luck with cough syrup
Well well, what can i say, pakistan is just getting better and better at transforming itself into other foreign countries. There are things happening nowdays that are not in our religion but still happen, becuase we dont want to be left behind these modern days. Its abit like UAE they sell alcohol and wine and blame it on the tourist, somehow i do not believe ithey sell it for the touriststs. But the bottom line is that as a muslim country its a product which just shouldnt be allowed to produce or sell. Furthermore as people who are aware of this should take a step and do something about it!
If non alcoholic wine or champagne it is not haraam, then explain why doesnt pakistani stores sell it??
@ Shabanakhan
You have rightly pointed out that Dubai offers all sorts of stuff and gives the consumer a choice. Same is the case with Malaysia and Indonesia. But my point is, isn't it exactly what Islam is all about.
We have been given choices, Good and Bad. And we have been bestowed with the knowledge of differentiating between the two. Now its upto us what we want to make of our lives and hereafter. That is precisely what Being Human is. If it was not for this, Angels were enough to please God.
What say you ...
TAIMUR ASGHAR QURESHI.
Good point Dr.Irfan Zaffer i think these products should be checked by food inspectors but any way they would be sold in markets and those food inspectors will be easily bribed by the shopkeepers.
My question is :
If a person eats such a product like Red wine or anyother thing unknowingly that it contains alcohol in whose accounts the sin of using alcohol be registered.Shopkeeper or the user as the person who transport and sell the alcohol and the buyer all are sinful?
No let me elaborate please:
Indeed,
Muslims need to understand the process of making so-called
non-alcoholic beers or wines. The process to make alcoholic and
non-alcoholic beers and wines is the same. Both alcoholic and
non-alcoholic beers and wines are haram. Once the beer or the
wine is produced, alcohol is extracted from it to make it
non-alcoholic. Never is 100 percent of the alcohol removed. The Islamic
principle is that if the whole of a thing is haram, the part of it is also haram. By that principle non-alcoholic beers and wines are haram.
Taken from islamic website!! I hope this explains why we dont sell such products or being good muslims hesitate from the name of wine & alcohol.
Come one now!! What could have happened with that 10% wine? I mean, it ain't that much... Maybe it was especially designed for cooking special kinds of stakes. So the ingredients should not be overlooked, but we should not exagerat either.
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Cristian - Alcohol Rehab Program
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There are things happening nowdays that are not in our religion but still happen, becuase we dont want to be left behind these modern days. Its abit like UAE they sell alcohol and wine and blame it on the tourist, somehow i do not believe ithey sell it for the touriststs.Good job.Nice Article with good information.thanks for giving such kind of information.
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