The original & world's largest guide
to Halal restaurants & markets
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Halal food is more than just an article of faith,
it is an exciting cultural medium that allows humanity to see Islamic values in action
Shahed Amanullah, Zabihah founder
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In the media
Since 1998, Zabihah has been cited by the mainstream media as the global Halal movement continues to grow. You can see some selected press mentions here.

NPR Code Switch, October 26, 2017 - 'Back in 1998, Shahed Amanullah created the online halal restaurant guide Zabihah.com, which became a vital tool for people looking to eat halal. "At the time, I could find only about 200 restaurants through either word of mouth from friends or just searching on the internet," Amanullah said. But finding halal food is getting easier: Today, Amanullah's site boasts well over 7,000 entries. It's how I find most of the restaurants where I eat.' (more here...)

Tablet, February 22, 2017 - 'In order for the halal market to similarly punch above its weight, American food companies will have to be convinced that they can get a worthwhile return on their investment. That includes marketing certified products to the country’s growing Muslim community while maintaining customers’ trust. To that end, websites like Maffei’s My Halal Kitchen and Zabihah, an online halal restaurant guide, serve as a vital link between companies and consumers.' (more here...)

Houston Chronicle, December 26, 2016 - 'Houston is home to one of the largest and most diverse halal food scenes in the country. According to zabihah.com (a directory for halal restaurants around the globe), there are about 300 restaurants in the Greater Houston Area that have halal options.' (more here...)

Al Bayan, 11 أغسطس 2015 - وهناك العديد من المشاريع التي تمثل بحد ذاتها دليلاً واضحاً على نجاح هذا القطاع ومنها مثلاً: موقع «Zabihah.com» المتخصص بتوفير الإرشادات وتحديد مواقع مطاعم وأسواق المنتجات الحلال، والذي سجل 10 ملايين مستخدم؛ وأيضاً تطبيق «MuslimPro» للأجهزة الذكية والمتخصص في التذكير بمواعيد الصلاة وتحديد اتجاه القبلة، الذي سجّل أكثر من 10 ملايين عملية تنزيل بـ 16 لغة من مستخدمي أندرويد. (more here...)

Al Borsa News, 22 سبتمبر 2016 - ومنذ عام 1998 تطور الموقع الشهير من مجرد دليل محلى للطعام الحلال فى منطقة وادى السيليكون فى كاليفورنيا ليصبح، حالياً، أكبر دليل فى العالم للمطاعم والمنتجات الحلال، ليحتل مكانة رائدة فى عالم يعيش ثورة الحلال عالمياً. (more here...)

Bloomberg, September 14, 2016 - 'Shahed Amanullah could only find about 200 places that served halal food in 1998, when he launched a website to help Americans find it. Today, he’s tracking 7,600, and he says halal is making inroads even among people who are wary of Muslims. “Food is a great medium for cultural sharing,” Amanullah said.' (more here...)

Huffington Post, June 27, 2013 - 'The best defense against fraud, [zabihah.com founder Shahed] Amanullah said, is education. He encourages consumers to check zabihah.com for reviews, and to directly ask businesses owners about their halal offerings.' (more here...)

Gulf News, November 26, 2013 - 'The responsibly of the media is to educate, inform and generate healthy content to attract the Muslim audience, said Shahed Amanullah, founder of zabihah.com in the USA.' (more here...)

San Jose Mercury News, August 13, 2013 - 'Luckily, Zabihah.com, the world's largest guide to halal eateries and markets, reminds us that there are more than 400 restaurants in the Bay Area that serve halal food. Here are four casual spots -- and one mouthwatering fine dining restaurant -- to grab a bite.' (more here...)

Sacramento Nutrition Examiner, July 12, 2009 - "If you're looking for an ethnic guide to the USA Muslim food market, check out Zabihah.com. Globally, more Halal groceries, food distributors, and restaurants are opening, especially in the UK. For example, Subway sandwich franchise has successfully operated halal-only versions of its stores in the UK. Zabihah.com has grown worldwide from its North American start." (more here...)

Houston Chronicle, June 11, 2009 - "There are at least 70 Houston area halal restaurants, according to Zabihah.com, a Web site that lists halal eateries in cities around the world. It's unclear how many serve non-traditional food, but the fact that it's growing in Houston, is certain." (more here...)

Time Magazine, May 14, 2009 - "Ideology does not fit within a consumer mindset," observes [Zahed] Amanullah of Zabihah.com. "At the end of the day, people will not buy halal simply because it's halal. They're going to buy quality food. Ideology doesn't make a better-tasting burger, a better car, or a better computer." (more here...)

Nashville Tennessean, April 29, 2009 - "I don't think that the people using our site are exclusively Muslim," said [Shahed] Amanullah [, founder of Zabihah.com]. "We know that food is a great cultural exchange medium. It's the way that a lot of people feel comfortable experiencing something that is not their own." (more here...)

(Malaysian National News Agency, May 12, 2008) - "US-based Nitta Casings Inc won the award for The Best Halal Product; Marhaba Halal Food B.V. from the Netherlands for The Most Creative Marketing Campaign; Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd for The Best Islamic Financial Service or Product; Carrefour Malaysia/Magnificent Diagraph Sdn Bhd for The Best Corporate Social Responsibility Project; and Zabihah.Com for The Best Travel & Hospitality." (more here...)

Detroit Free Press, March 30, 2008 - "In England, Subway is rolling out all-halal restaurants in up to 200 locations, according to Zabihah.com, a Web site that tracks halal restaurants around the world." (more here...)

Global Atlanta, January 11, 2008 - "Mr. Amanullah, who said that he grew up eating kosher food because it was easier to find than halal products, added that there has been an explosion of growth in the halal food industry. He estimated that the number of halal businesses in the U.S. has grown from about 200 when he began the Web site five years ago to nearly 4,000 today." (more here...)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 13, 2007 - "Over the last five years there's been a critical mass of new Muslim businesses that have profoundly changed the culture of Ramadan in America," said Shahed Amanullah, the founder and editor of zabihah.com. "Five years ago, the only congregational aspect of Ramadan would be at a mosque or someone's home. Now the community aspect of the month has shifted to restaurants and other public gathering spots." (more here...)

Toronto Star, July 22, 2007 - "Halal is the underlying force behind everything that is deemed permissible religiously," explains Texan Shahed Amanullah, the 38-year-old founder of halalapalooza.com. His series of Muslim websites gets 25 million page views a year and lists more than 360 halal restaurants in Toronto alone. "A great by-product of this is there is a huge segment (of people) that wouldn't have kept halal, but now do so because it's easy," Amanullah said. "There's no excuse any more." (more here...)

Boston Globe, March 21, 2007 - "When Shahed Amanullah started zabihah.com in 1999 with a couple of friends in the San Francisco Bay Area, they listed some 200 local establishments. But diners from across North America sent in reviews of halal restaurants they encountered close to home or while traveling. Indeed, users say the website has been a boon for travelers in unfamiliar cities looking for a halal meal for their family or after a long business meeting." (more here...)

Chicago Tribune, January 4, 2007 - "What you're seeing is the impact of the second generation," said Shahed Amanullah, founder of zabihah.com, a Web site that reviews restaurants serving halal. "If you were born and raised here, your ethnic food is American food. This second generation is demanding halal fried chicken, pizzas and Philly subs." (more here...)

Religion News Service, October 12, 2006 - "The site was a smash with local Muslims, many of whom e-mailed information about restaurants they had visited. Amanullah reckoned the appetite for an online guide of zabihah restaurants was national, and opened the site to reviews from across the U.S. Today, zabihah.com has almost 18,000 reviews of more than 4,600 restaurants, including about 1,000 from London, Paris, Singapore and other foreign cities." (more here...)

Christian Science Monitor, October 6, 2006 - "The Muslim experience in America is one of trying to conform to the way society around us runs," says Shahed Amanullah, who runs zabihah.com, an online guide of restaurants that conform to Islamic dietary restrictions. "In a Muslim country, everybody breaks their fast at the same time, so business conforms to that. But in America, we have to conform to a different schedule." (more here...)

"Good Food", KCRW Los Angeles, September 16, 2006 - Wayne Curtis affirms rum is not just for pirates and Shahed Amanullah is the Halal Food Finder. David Taylor introduces us to a root that's divine. Eddie Lin creeps us out, once again, and Stu Levitan talks about "secure" ice. Beau Timken explains sake, and the cheese nun blesses us with creamy goodness. (more here...)

Dallas Morning News, May 6, 2006 - In a state with one of the largest Muslim populations in the country, restaurant owners and community members say it makes business sense for mainstream restaurants to cater to Muslims. "It's symbolic of our acceptance in the fabric that is America," said [Shahed Amanullah], founder of zabihah.com, a Web site that lists restaurants across the U.S. that serve halal food. (more here...)

Chicago Sun-Times, April 24, 2006 - "Halal food was considered even just a few years ago as being primarily ethnic, back-home, comfort food," said Shahed Amanullah, 38, an MBA student in Washington, D.C., who runs the Web site zabihah.com, which tracks halal restaurants and grocery stores around the world. These days, said Amanullah, "pretty much every metropolitan area in the country has halal Thai, Chinese, pizza, burgers." When Amanullah started the Web site in 1999, he listed about 200 halal restaurants in the United States, 20 of those in the Chicago area. He now counts 2,500 nationwide and more than 100 in the Chicago area, among them Chinese, Italian and pizza eateries. (more here...)

San Jose Mercury News, November 1, 2005 - They can also consult www.zabihah.com, which is a kind of Zagat Survey of the American Muslim world. Zabihah.com was founded in 1998 by Shahed Amanullah, who lives in Berkeley but currently is studying in Washington, D.C. (Zabihah means that animals are slaughtered according to Islamic rites.) He started the online guide with 20 or 30 halal restaurants and stores in the Bay Area. Friends gradually added to the site, and now it has gone national with nearly 4,000 restaurants and food stores. (more here...)

Miami Herald, October 20, 2005 - About 50 area restaurants and grocery stores sell halal items, according to Shahed Amanullah, creator of zabihah.com, a website that reviews halal outlets. Nationwide, the number has grown from just 300 in 1999 to 3,500 today, he said. During Ramadan, which ends Nov. 4, his site claims 4,000 unique users a day. ''Over the last two or three years in particular, there has been demand for halal foods of other types: Mexican, Italian, Philly cheese steak,'' said zabihah.com's Amanullah. "My cultural food is American cultural food.'' (more here...)

Bangkok Post, July 7, 2005 - I browse www.zabihah.com, a site offering information on Muslim food and restaurants in Thailand. It can also be accessed by handphone via mobile.zabihah.com. I could solicit information on halal restaurants in Bangkok, Ayuthaya, Chachoengsao and Nakhon Pathom, Chiang Mai and Phuket. It was of great help. (more here...)

Dallas Morning News, June 4, 2005, and and Detroit Free Press, July 19, 2005 - "The Muslim consumer population is becoming much more savvy, and the market has grown up around them," said Shahed Amanullah, who runs the Web site zabihah.com, which lists halal restaurants in cities around the world. ("Zabihah" is the word for the type of slaughter that makes meat halal.) "Muslims are starting to demand higher quality." Mr. Amanullah's site started in 1998 with 300 restaurants. Now, it lists more than 3,000 establishments, "everything from Mexican to Brazilian to Philly subs to pizza," he said. "That diversity only happened in the last year or two." Still, many Muslims say the industry has a long way to go to fully serve the needs of America's Muslim community, estimated at anywhere from 2 million to more than 6 million people, and growing quickly. "The halal industry has not reached maturity," Mr. Amanullah said. "There's a market opportunity there for somebody." (more here...)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 18, 2005 - A Web site that tracks U.S. markets and restaurants that sell halal foods, Zabihah.com, reports that 41 restaurants and 28 grocery stores in metro Atlanta serve halal foods. The site's listings have a category called "halal authenticity." Many restaurants are "unverified," but others say "halal sign in window" or "Owners are known Muslims." Karabulut said he buys his meat from the Almadina market in East Lake, the same shop where the Faisthalab family purchases its meats. Almadina is the top-rated metro Atlanta grocer at Zabihah.com. (more here...)

Washington Post, May 2, 2005 - But as the Washington area's Muslim population grows, so do Rababe's moneymaking opportunities. Because the Koran instructs mankind to eat meat that is "halal," the Arabic word for lawful, devout Muslims are willing to pay a premium for the type of product Rababe sells at his Hamzah Slaughter House LLC in Williamsport. These days, more than 140 of the region's restaurants and grocery stores advertise themselves as halal, according to Zabihah.com, a Web site that posts reviews of halal food establishments across the country. (more here...)

New York Times, December 28, 2004 - Seder Olam stands among a cornucopia of sites catering to the needs of niche travelers. Other sites catering to Jews, for example, include TotallyJewishTravel.com and JewishRoutes.com... Muslims can visit Zabihah.com, Halalapalooza.com and Eat-Halal.com for information on halal meals that follow Islamic dietary laws. OneHajj.com, IslamiCity.com, Barakahhajj.com and a host of other sites offer Hajj pilgrimage packages to Saudi Arabia. (more here...)

BBC News, December 16, 2004 (Click here to listen - Windows Media Player required) - Shahed Amanullah is strolling through the isles of Halalco, a supermarket in Falls Church, Virginia, that specialises in halal products. At the checkout, cashiers ring up groceries from across the Muslim world. "I'm looking for things that sort of meet my very broad palate," says Mr Amanullah. "I've got halal-spiced sausage. I've got Persian yogurt drink, and I've got Indian chutney." Mr Amanullah's family is originally from southern India but he was raised in California. Growing up, there were few halal markets near his home. But he watched as the Muslim community in the US expanded over the years. "About five or six years ago, establishments started popping up that were catering to the Muslim community," he says. "And several friends of mine and I started to try to hunt them down, and look at them, and we were really excited when something would come up, and we would tell our friends about it. "So I decided, wouldn't it be a great idea to establish a website to tell people about them." The result is zabihah.com, a free, searchable listing of halal markets and restaurants. (more here...)

San Francisco Chronicle, September 10, 2004 - So many Muslim-oriented restaurants and food establishments have opened that, in 1999, a Bay Area Muslim engineer and entrepreneur began a Web site, zabihah.com, as a guide. Like craigslist.com, the site has since expanded exponentially -- it now includes restaurants and eateries around the world, and a halalapalooza.com offshoot that lists Muslim-oriented businesses. ("Halal" is Arabic for "permissible.") (more here...)

The Globe & Mail, January 13, 2004 - Demand for Canada's live goats normally surges in the weeks before Eid, an Islamic festival in which the faithful cut an animal's neck and divide its meat among family, friends and the poor. That export business halted along with the sale of other ruminants after a case of mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was discovered in Alberta last May. As the festival of Eid approaches on Feb. 1, some U.S. slaughterhouses and consumers are worrying that they won't find a proper source of the meat known as halal, which is handled according to Islamic rules. "Suddenly you've got all these people looking around for halal meat on local farms," said Shahed Amanullah, owner of Zabihah.com in Oakland, Calif., a consumers' guide to halal meat since 1998. (more here...)

San Francisco Chronicle, September 3, 2003 - In the last five years, there's been an explosion in the number of halal restaurants, because the demand is really increasing," says Shahed Amanullah, a civil engineer who lives in the East Bay and started a Web site four years ago to help fellow Muslims stay on top of the scene. Zabihah.com lists restaurants and markets by region, all over the country, and invites reviews and comments from readers. "I've seen it go from maybe 10 I was aware of in 1999 to almost 100 in the Bay Area. It's just taken off," Amanullah says. "It's very exciting for Muslims born here. That's our palate. When a halal burger joint opens up, that's really exciting." (more here...)

About.com, August 25, 2003 - Every Muslim who travels or moves to a new city faces the dilemma of finding places to eat - restaurants that serve halal food. Those Muslims who only eat zabihah meat have an especially difficult time finding acceptable local cuisine in an unfamiliar city. Here is a website that comes to our rescue: Zabihah.com! Zabihah.com offers restaurant guides for dozens of cities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., European countries, as well as new additions such as Japan, New Zealand, and Thailand. In addition, user-submitted reviews give information about whether a listed restaurant is actually good in addition to being halal. This is an excellent resource for Muslims who travel or are relocating to a new area! (more here...)

Dallas Morning News, July 26, 2003 - For Muslims who want to eat zabihah (conforming to Islamic dietary codes), this site offers 2,500 restaurant reviews from around the world. Reviews, submitted by readers, are honest and detailed. "Just because a restaurant serves halal food doesn't necessarily mean that it's good," the site's authors state. By offering reviews, the site hopes "to improve the dining experience of all Muslims." Muslim diners can download restaurant listings onto a handheld computer. The site offers a word of caution: Some restaurants claim to be halal, but aren't. (In fact, a number of states now have laws making it a crime to sell food falsely labeled as halal.) A search in the Dallas area revealed 23 halal grocery stores and restaurants, including Persian and Middle Eastern eateries as well as Chinese, South Asian and barbecue. Most restaurants have multiple reviews. The site is a useful guide, both to the observant Muslim and the adventurous diner. (more here...)

East Bay Express, January 15, 2003 - The Arabic word [halal] means "lawful" or "permitted" (as opposed to haram, or "forbidden"). A number of verses in the Koran and in the hadith, sayings or stories of the Prophet Muhammad, set out clear rules about halal, also known as zabihah (Islamically slaughtered) meat. Haram products include swine, blood, carrion, and animals that are dead before the butcher handles them. Zabihah.com, an international online directory of restaurants and markets serving zabihah meat, describes the process: The animal must be slaughtered by "slitting its throat with a very sharp knife to make sure that the three main blood vessels -- but not the spinal cord -- are cut. While cutting the throat of the animal the person has to recite 'Bismillah Allah-u-Akbar.' (more here...)

East Bay Express, September 12, 2001 - The Web makes my job so easy. I haven't had to call a restaurant for directions since I started using Mapquest. Now I browse newsgroups for tips, check for addresses and phone numbers online, and even double-check entre wordings and prices when restaurants post their menus. So I decided to offer the Internet a challenge: finding Afghan restaurants in the East Bay. Of course, it took five minutes tops. I quickly stumbled -- Web searches always feel like "stumbling," don't they? -- upon Zabihah.com, a directory of halal (the Islamic counterpart to kosher) restaurants across the United States. It listed about ten names of places in the Bay Area, most in the South Bay. (more here...)

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