Salaam Gateway talked with Ali Hussein El Zoghbi, Vice-President of the Federation of Muslim Associations in Brazil (FAMBRAS), about the early days of halal certification, how the sector has grown into the largest halal meat exporter in the world, and the first Global Halal Forum.

Salaam Gateway (SG): FAMBRAS was founded by your Lebanese father, Hussein El Zoghbi, in 1979. Can you tells us more about him and how it all started?

Ali Hussein El Zoghbi: My father arrived in Brazil in 1949, as part of the second wave of Lebanese immigrants. In the late 19th and early 20th century many Lebanese Christians had arrived. After World War II mainly Muslims arrived. Most of them came from the western Bekaa Valley, including my father, who was from Kamed el Loz.

He started as a peddler, but at first was down on his luck. At some point he was so desperate he considered moving back to Lebanon. But then he met Mohamed Hussein, who was also from the Bekaa. He offered my dad a meal and took him to a store. He told my father he could take anything on his account. He also told him to travel to the (south-west) state of Parana. My father did as he was told - he sold everything, returned to pay off his debt and started his life. It is this incredible sense of solidarity that saved him.