In February, a halal-certified stall in Westgate called Green Delights suffered poor business after rumours of them selling pork proliferated online.

A photo showing a poster of pork belly rice next to the stall's halal certification was disseminated through Facebook and WhatsApp. This was one of the posts on Facebook:

Muslim netizens were quick to respond and condemn the stall for supposedly unethical practices:

"Alamak, what is happening to Singapore? Even pork can become halal..."

"Thanks for sharing the info... I always don't trust when they (Chinese people) cook... I feel hesitant."

Rumours debunked

To start with, a user commenting on the Facebook post above checked — and confirmed — that the stall is indeed halal-certified by MUIS:

The address in the screenshot also corresponds with the stall's address in Westgate's directory.

In addition, a Facebook post from Cinta Halal Consults two months ago reaffirmed its status:

Actually sold by next-door stall

And as it turns out, the pork belly rice is actually sold by the adjacent stall, 85 Redhill Teochew Fishball Noodle.

On the other hand, Green Delights sells Yong Tau Foo.

The confusion most likely arose because of the placement of the halal logo right next to the images of food offerings at the adjacent noodle stall:

The noodle stall's manager explained to The New Paper in a March 1 report that before Green Delights took over the premises, the space beside them was vacant. Hence, they could put up their menu without incurring any misunderstandings.

The noodle stall has since removed the signs advertising the food items in the picture.

Business affected

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.

One Sakina Abdullah, who works at the stall and was interviewed in the TNP article, revealed that the stall's business was affected by the rumours:

"Our Muslim customers thought our stall sold pork and did not patronise us. But we don't blame them."

Co-owner Yu Shukai also chimed in:

"It is not fair for my stall to be punished because of irresponsible netizens."

Twitter to the rescue

There is a silver lining to this story, though — a tweet has been making its rounds to help the stall recover from the false fear-mongering.

The tweet by Twitter user @syerrrrayam aims to drum up support for Green Delights, urging netizens not to "believe everything that [they] see online" as it may be "affecting other ppl's source of income."

This is the tweet:

https://twitter.com/syerrrrayam/status/969221778345140224

In case you can't see the text:

"Bismillah (in the name of God), I hope this makcik’s business will be back to normal soon & may Allah bless her with rizq (sustenance & blessings) after all these fitnah (false claims) that was spread around social media. Pls, do not believe everything that u see online. U may never know if you’re affecting other ppl’s source of income."

Since March 1, the tweet has gotten close to 2,000 retweets and over 600 likes.

Hopefully, this attempt will work and business will be as brisk as it once was.

Top photo via Cinta Halal Consultants Facebook & Twitter user @syerrrrayam.