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Product created to help minimize difficulties of fasting |
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By Angie El Sherif, IFN Staff Reporter
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Thursday, 09 July 2009 |
“Allah intends every facility for you, He does not want to put you through difficulties.” (Qur’an, 2:185)
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – Fasting is prescribed for all Muslims, unless they are ill and unable to perform the fast.
It can be easy for some and difficult for others, but in the end, it is a sacrifice and a form of worship all Muslims must undertake, no matter how difficult it may be.
But what if there was a way to make fasting easier?
Azhak Hussam, president and CEO of Garden Grove, Calif.-based Berlanti International, believes he has found an answer.
Using the above verse from the Qur’an as his motto, Hussam has developed the Ramadan Fasting Tablet, a complete supplement to ease the feelings of hunger and thirst during the month of Ramadan. The tablets will be available later this month.
With a background in pharmacy, Hussam created Berlanti mainly as a cosmetics company in 1990, and now sells more than 250 products in 35 countries around the world.
The purpose of the Ramadan Fasting Tablet is to make fasting easier, especially during the upcoming long, hot days when Ramadan will be observed during the summer months, Hussam said.
The tablet can also be used year-round as a weight-loss or energy supplement. The chocolate-flavored chewable tablet uses essential nutrients to support the nervous system, regulate the appetite, enhance metabolism, convert stored fat into energy and help in weight loss, he said.
The idea came to Hussam after seeing the sorrow his grandmother felt from not being able to fast the month of Ramadan because of old age and deteriorating health.
“I think that if she was alive now and this was available, she would be fasting normally as if she was 30 years old,” Hussam said. “It would give her the energy and stamina needed.”
Hussam started the two-year process after frequent business trips to China, where he met a professor of Chinese herbal medicine at the University of Beijing.
There they discussed unique properties to make the master formulation for the Ramadan Fasting Tablet.
After returning to the United States, Hussam compiled a team of specialists who helped him fulfill the making of this product.
“We got the top-notch people for this, I didn’t go for second-best,” he said.
Among them is Dr. Mike Nassar, who is the medical and scientific advisor for this product.
Nassar helped Hussam compose the tablet’s ingredients and studied how the tablet would work in the body.
The tablet is meant to work on the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which are responsible for the cravings of hunger and thirst.
“This kind of tablet works mainly on the hypothalamus of the brain, suppressing the mechanisms for hunger and thirst, which come from hormonal release,” Nassar said.
Using hundreds of people of all ages and races, Hussam and Nassar conducted scientific studies and testing until the formula was perfected.
According to them, the Ramadan Fasting Tablet is different from any other hunger suppressant found in drug stores in two ways.
First, the Ramadan Fasting Tablet is composed entirely of natural ingredients. It is a blend of all the complex B vitamins, protein and a few Chinese herbs. There are no animal byproducts or chemicals in these tablets.
“There is a big difference between chemically-processed vitamins and vegetable-processed vitamins,” Hussam said. “I didn’t want any chemicals.”
Second, the tablet also eases the feeling of thirst, something not found in any other diet pill, making this tablet a pioneering idea.
The Ramadan Fasting Tablet also contains ingredients that help sustain the body during the fast, and can also be used as a multi-vitamin throughout the year.
The tablet is manufactured under the strict guidelines of the Food and Drug Administration, said Akram Quadri, president of AV&F Consulting and Manufacturing, the manufacturer of the Ramadan Fasting Tablet.
All the ingredients are approved and certified halal by IFANCA, the Islamic Food and Nutrition Counsel of America, he said.
Using state-of-the art equipment and machinery, Quadri’s company is also responsible for packaging of the tablet.
“We designated all new machines, which have to be cleaned repeatedly, in order to be certified halal,” Quadri said.
There are, however, some who say this product undermines the whole purpose of fasting in Ramadan and the lessons it is meant to teach, such as empathizing with those less fortunate.
Hussam’s response is simply that the Qur’an does not ask people to suffer.
He added that taking the tablet is logical and compares it to suhoor, the pre-dawn meal Muslims eat before they begin their fast.
“This is the way I think about it, those who would like to suffer should not even have suhoor,” Hussam said.
Hussam says the pill directs the human body to take the maximum energy from the suhoor meal to keep fasting individuals healthy and alert and to avoid frustration during Ramadan so they can worship properly.
“You can spend time with your kids, go over their homework, even though you’re fasting,” he said. “Otherwise, you will be angry the whole day.”
The ingredients in the tablet are used as a calmative for the whole body during Ramadan, Nassar said.
“It is important to take it because you are nourishing the systems, cells and tissues,” he said.
Being hungry and thirsty can be stressful, Nassar added, and by taking the tablet, fasting individuals can free their minds to concentrate on other matters during the day.
“This product is a stimulus to help you feel good,” he said.
Hussam stressed that the tablet is not a way to cheat fasting during Ramadan.
“In a way, we are being progressive,” he said. “We are using science, just like [it] is said in the Qur’an.”
Dr. Ahmad Sakr, a renowned Islamic scholar and also a board member of IFANCA, agrees.
“Since the tablet will boost our energy during our fast and minimize any hardship as a result of our fast, then this tablet is in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah, and I highly recommend it for any Muslim to use,” Sakr stated in a letter endorsing the product.
Hussam said he hopes the product will appeal to the younger crowd, which is more focused on advancement.
Raid Younis, the sales and marketing analyst for the Ramadan Fasting Tablet, said the company wants to focus its marketing efforts on young adults.
The company plans to have informational booths at all major Muslim events this year, including this month’s ISNA convention in Washington D.C.
“Even though this is a delicate subject, the response so far from the Muslim community has been positive,” Younis said.
As a suhoor nutritional supplement, users would take one tablet for every 50 pounds of weight. When taken during the year as a weight-loss or energy supplement, the recommended dose varies slightly. Each bottle of 90 tablets will cost $19.95.
“I tried to make it affordable so that each household can have two or three bottles in Ramadan,” Hussam said.
He added that it’s very important to him to ensure that a portion of the profits from sales of the tablets go to something that will make a difference, be it fixing a plumbing problem at a local mosque or feeding hungry children around the world.
Accordingly, for every bottle sold, the company will donate $1 to an Islamic organization chosen by the buyer.
Any non-profit organization can register itself to become a beneficiary. Hussam said he plans to consult with large Islamic organizations to find the most effective way to allocate the money.
By doing this, Hussam said he hopes other companies who are owned by Muslims can follow his example.
On the Web: www.ramadantablet.com
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 November 2009 )
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