Interview with HalalTrip's Fazal Bahardeen

I met HalalTrip’s Fazal Bahardeen in Geylang Serai, Singapore. 

Q: You work in the travel business. What countries would you recommend?

A: Malaysia, specifically Penang and the beach town of Langkawi. Also, Jordan. Petra is beautiful.

Q: It’s not too touristy?

A: Well, it is, but you can focus on the architecture and surroundings. You’re seeing structures that have been there for thousands of years.

Q: They told me the same thing about Stonehenge, and I wasn’t impressed. I try to read a book about a place before I go—for Indonesia, I’d recommend Toer’s This Earth of Mankind—but I can’t think of a single book by a Jordanian author.

A: Stonehenge is just a bunch of stones, but Petra has houses, people used to live there. The city was the site of an advanced civilization.

Q: What’s the name of the civilization you’re referring to?

A: There are two or three, but the Nabatean Kingdom comes to mind. Petra is a very old place. Wadi Musa means the Valley of Moses. Some scholars say Koranic verses exist about the people who used to live there, how they were so big and used to mountain living. 

Q: We’re having biryani together, which I’ve had many times, but this dessert is new to me. What is suji? It’s like kheer, but not the same. Absolutely delicious.

A: The ingredient is semolina… same thing they use for cous cous. It’s a grain.

Q: You actually have two companies, HalalTrip and CrescentRating. Tell me about them.

A: CrescentRating is completely different from the [HalalTrip] app. CrescentRating is BtoB [business to business]. It helps businesses target the Muslim market. We write reports, work with governments, create training programs, and issue ratings based on our proprietary algorithm. Basically, CresentRating provides [consulting] services to enable the industry to target and welcome Muslim travelers. It helps Muslim travelers find out where to go, what are the places for food, etc. 

The consumer-generated reviews are on HalalTrip, which is like TripAdvisor. On CrescentRating, we would determine whether a hotel fits our criteria and provide a rating from 1 to 7. The HalalTrip app would then display our own rating.

Q: How do you ensure accuracy in the information used by your algorithm? Do you travel yourself to check out the places you rate?

A: I don’t travel myself to fulfill the ratings. If you want a rating, the hotel, shopping mall or restaurant has to apply. Once they register, then we get a local person to do the audit. We have partners in some countries and local company contacts. In some cases, we have freelancers, people who can register on our website to be auditors. 

Q: How do you ensure the veracity of the data if you rely on third parties?

A: Our contractors/auditors are trained by us. The hotel, restaurant, or other establishment will register on our website and provide/upload all the information we request. The auditor goes to the hotel and confirms the hotel has submitted correct information.

Q: Tell me more about HalalTrip.

A: HalalTrip is separated into three parts. One is the content we create ourselves: city guides, place discovery content, etc. We have a continually growing database of halal restaurants, we have [travel] attraction guides, and all these are created by us.

Second, we are dedicated to our tagline: “Get inspired, go, inspire others.” The content we create is to inspire others to travel, and we provide services, not just guides, making it easier to book hotels, visit attractions, and go sightseeing. We already have hotels [on our site], but it’s not enough. We need to expand, add experiences [like Airbnb], etc. 

Third, we encourage people to share their experiences. Generally, our travelers share their experiences with halal restaurants and mosques on our app. Here is the problem we have: sometimes we are unable to check the halalness of it. We try and check it as much as we can. We have a stamp that says “User Verified” but no independent fact checking for that rating. If it is HalalTrip certified, then we have done some research, though not always directly, to verify the halalness. We also have a third stamp, which indicates an establishment has been rated and verified by CrescentRating.

Q: I notice you already offer travel packages all around the world, even in non-Muslim countries like Croatia. I know Croatia’s economy depends substantially on tourism, but how did you end up working with them?

A: Most travel agencies come to us. Last week, a few French travel agencies came to us. It is them who come to us. Why do they come? We work with all suppliers, and we operate in different countries. We educate them on the needs of Muslim travelers.

Q: What does halal mean? Does it refer only to a specific procedure to prepare meat?

A: Halal means permissible, as opposed to haram. Halal food means permissible food. Vegetables and fruits are permissible, so a vegetarian restaurant is halal. When it comes to meat, it has to be slaughtered in a certain manner, according to Islamic requirements.

[Editor’s Note: zabihah aka dhabihah is a specific Arabic word meaning “slaughtered,” coming from another Arabic word, thabih, sometimes pronounced zabih. It only discusses one specific element of the halal requirements, whereas the term "halal" encompasses broader issues including but not limited to consumption of blood, types of permissible meat, etc.]

One might ask, “What is halal certified?” A certification body checks if this restaurant serves non-halal food. If the restaurant is only serving halal, it provides a certification. It does not mean they have to serve meat. 

[Interviewer's Note: under this broad definition, a Hindu restaurant serving only vegetarian food could be halal-certified. Attracting vegetarians is one way to broaden the appeal of the halal rating, and it will be interesting to see how such an approach will be implemented.] 

Q: Brigitte Bardot has campaigned against both halal slaughter and kosher slaughter (called shechitah). She claims the way animals are religiously slaughtered is inherently cruel. What do you say about her claims?

A: I'm not interested in Brigitte Bardot. I'm focused on my company. 

Q: How long has your company been around, and why does it seem like Islamic-based marketing is finally becoming popular? 

A: HalalTrip has been around 3 years. CrescentRating 10 years. Regarding your second question, there has been an increased awareness around Muslim consumers and [therefore] more and more halal options.

Q: How do you differentiate yourself?

A: We focus on what we have been doing. We are not focused on the competition currently. The space is big… the players in the space, you can count on your fingers… Right now, competition is not the [issue] that keeps me awake.

Q: Given the limited number of halal/Muslim traveler industry players, do you try to collaborate with each other rather than compete?

A: Collaborate? Not really… we know them personally, we are on good terms with them, but we are focused on what we are doing.

Q: What’s the most difficult part about your job?

A: Travel takes a toll on me, but that’s me… in the entrepreneurship space, we just do it.

Q: What’s the most challenging part about your job?

A: We are trying to raise funds. Other than that, when you are a startup, you get up in the morning, solve 100 things, go to sleep, and the next day, there are another 100 things to solve. That’s the life of a startup.

Q: I notice you have an Instagram account.

A: We are on FB, IG, Twitter… also YouTube. On Facebook, we have about 500,000 likes. We don’t spend too much money getting “likes.” We don’t have the time. We rarely pay Facebook for advertising. When we do, we boost some of our posts—that’s it. 

Q: In Singapore, what are your favorite halal restaurants?

A: Zam Zam (North Bridge Road), Rumah Makan Minang (18 Kandahar Street), and Bryani Dam (Geylang Serai hawker centre).

Q: What does it meant to you to be Singaporean?

A: Singapore is a secure, unique place, with all the efficiencies of a developed city, but also multiethnic and cosmopolitan.

Q: That’s a nice description, but I was asking what it means to you to be able to call yourself Singaporean. An American might answer, “freedom.”

A: As Singaporeans, we come from an environment which is very regulated and reliable and efficient, with strong governance in the business sector. I am proud to come from a city that represents these traits.

Note: this post has been updated to correct a few errors in transcription. A reference to HalalTrip's "full board" package has also been removed.