During these trying times, people are supposed to come together to help one another in efforts to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
But instead, humans are taking the opportunity to earn an extra dollar out of other people’s need to protect themselves from Covid-19, such as those who resold masks and toilet paper at extremely hiked up prices.
Now, there is another group of people who are taking advantage of scared communities in Malaysia. People are taking to the internet to sell ‘Halal’ hand sanitisers by telling the general public that their hand sanitisers have Ethanol to replace alcohol, which people are believing. The worse part is that they’ve ridiculously hiked up the prices, as according to The Joy of 6+1 (@SiriuslyCold), in response to another netizen, DC (@dayangcarter).
Normal hand sanitizer at 7-11: rm5.90
But we should take advantage of a bunch of gullible idiots who only know their religion through assumptions and conjectures … pic.twitter.com/QZnr3u7tPX
— The Joy of
(@SiriuslyCold) March 14, 2020
He wrote, “Normal hand sanitisers at 7-Eleven are RM5.90. But we should take advantage of a bunch of people who only know their religion through assumptions and conjectures.”
What’s truly unfortunate about this entire situation is the fact that these ‘Halal’ hand sanitisers are in fact, not very Halal as Ethanol just another form of alcohol. Hence, these online sellers have not only been hiking the prices of hand sanitisers under the notion that their sanitisers are Halal and are tricking people into thinking they’re buying alcohol-free hand sanitiser.
In fact, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri added that hand sanitisers in general are considered halal in a statement via their official website.
“According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guideline, every hand sanitiser product on the market must contain ethyl alcohol (ethanol), isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) or benzalkonium chloride as the main ingredient. Due to the emergence of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our country, it can be concluded that hand sanitiser is not najis and is permissible to be used in prayer and it is not considered as though we are bearing najis,” they wrote.
In addition, sellers from certain online shopping platforms have been taken down, though these sellers are still active on social media.
Plus, alcohol is known to kill most germs! Hence, fret not, for hand sanitisers are only here to help you protect yourself from Covid-19, don’t fall victim to those online who are unnecessarily hiking up prices.
What do you think about this? Let us know in the comment section.
Also read: Penang Doctor Goes Jogging During Covid-19 Restrictions, Argues With Authorities When Confronted
