The global assemblage of halal: proliferating understandings and tensions (original) (raw)

Rethinking Halal. Genealogy, Current Trends, and New Interpretations

Leiden: Brill, 2021

This book invites to rethink certain aspects of halal, and in particular the issue of the halal market and halal certification in Muslim-minority contexts. Rather than limiting itself to elucidating the doctrinal traditions relating to halal/haram, or on the contrary, focusing only on the external economic, financial, political or demographic factors that explain the changes taking place, Rethinking Halal shows the need to underline the points of balance between the aspects of religious doctrine on the one hand and the economic or political contextual aspects on the other hand. Through the study of various countries, Rethinking Halal demonstrates that Islam underwent a process of positivisation, that is, a kind of reframing of its rules and principles through the lens of a characteristically modern standardising, scientificising, and systematising mind.

" HALAL LAWS " : FROM CONCEPTION TO CURRENT CHALLENGES

The term " Halal Laws " in this paper relate to the laws of consumer protection in terms of halal product. Halal laws are crucial, since it regulates an industry that is worth an estimated of USD 2.3 trillion, annually. The Halal laws in Malaysia have been legislated for the past 40 years; from humble beginnings (Trade Description Order 1975), to standardization (MS 1500:2009) and current law (Trade Description Act 2011). However, not all countries legislate Halal laws. Some countries adopt private Halal laws which focus on Halal certification and were operated by private institutions rather than government institution. This paper intends to summarize briefly the development of the Halal laws in three countries; Malaysia (government legislated laws), Netherlands and United States (Private laws). This includes comparison between the legislated Halal laws and private Halal laws that exists globally.

Rethinking Halal: Critical Perspective on Halal Markets and Certification

Rethinking Halal, 2021

Etymologically, Halal means 'permitted'. Looked at logically, everything should be considered as permitted unless or until proven otherwise. However, halal today pervades the life of most Muslim societies, for many reasons. Religiously, it corresponds to what many Muslims consider as the good performance of their beliefs. Economically, it creates new opportunities for business. Politically, it corresponds to times in which identity issues became paramount. Socially, it relates to the need to cope with new realities without losing one's right to define the norms of the community. Legally, it is linked to the framing of 'traditional' norms in modern terms and categories. The outcome is that nowadays, the principle has been inverted and everything is taken as non-halal until proven otherwise. A no-trust principle is assumed and nothing can be accepted until certified as halal by a relevant body. The phenomenon of halal is part of a process of 'positivisation' that directly affected Islam and Islamic normativity, often called the shariʿa. In a continuum stretching from the most local to the most global, and from the legal to the technical and quasi-managerial, we can illustrate the many forms taken by this positivisation process, In its first stage, this process resulted in the transformation of the shariʿa into 'Islamic law', that is, in a hierarchical, comprehensive, codified, state-centred, and unified system of positive rules of law. The example of the 2000 law governing khul' divorce in Egypt is paradigmatic of the transformation of the fiqh into Islamic law, that is, a norm originating from Islamic sources interpreted according to the procedures and standards of positive law. Another illustration can be drawn from the lawmaking process, which in many Muslim-majority countries included the shariʿa or the fiqh in constitutions as sources of legislation, showing that nowadays, the components of the shariʿa must be spelled out in the constitutional text in order to become legally meaningful and consequential within the realm of positive law. The arena of international law, e.g. several rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, can also prove illustrative, since it shows how courts do not refer to the shariʿa-per se, but to the shariʿa made-into-positive-law. A last illustration, that of the ruling of the International Criminal Court in the Al-Mahdi case, illustrates how the Islamic normativity, while being both reified and positivised, is at the same time made illegitimate with respect to international and globalised legal standards. In its second stage, the process of positivisation created and affected other types of norms. These include technical and managerial norms, which have had a deep and global impact on the governance of contemporary societies. This holds true for norms inspired by Islam and Islamic doctrine which, through this positivisation movement, were reconceptualised and transformed. Within a framework of normative hyper-densification of social life, the use of such technical and managerial norms, taking the form of indicators and standards, complements or conflicts with legal norms. Islamic finance is a first example. While the justification for the search for a specifically Islamic form of financing is derived from Muslim jurists' opinion that revenue is only considered legitimate if it is derived from a real sharing of the risks that have enabled the revenue to be generated, it has led to Islamic financial institutions offering a variety of products

Halal Standards Globally: A Comparative Study of Unities and Diversities Among the Most Popular Halal Standards Globally

2021

The global Muslim community, with its fastest-growing size, has made the global halal industry to become one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. However, a number of inhibitors have slowed down the growth rate of the industry. One of the pressing issues within the halal industry is the lack of a universal halal standard. Today, many halal standards exist globally, and they vary from country to country. Hundreds of Halal Certification Bodies (HCBs) of many countries are using these standards as reference for halal certification after getting recognised by the respective organization. Additionally, the number of applications by HCBs is increasing globally due to the rising demand for halal products and services. Most of these HCBs have received recognition from more than one accrediting body. This is because of the consumer trust and reliability on different standards. A lot of commonalities are observable amongst these standards because of the same primary source of Islamic ...

Global Halal Industry: Realities and Opportunities

International Journal of Islamic Business Ethics

The purpose of this study is to realize the opportunities of Halal industry exploring the driving factors of this fastest growing industry in the world. The global Halal industry as a whole is estimated to worth around USD2.3 trillion (excluding Islamic finance) a year, is now one of the fastest growing markets. Simultaneously, the global market growth is estimated to reach at an annual rate of 20 percent per annum. Such expansion of the industry is because the global halal market of 2.18 billion Muslims is no longer confined Muslims only. Similarly, the Halal industry is no longer confined to food and food-related products, but rather to include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health products, toiletries and medical devices as well as service sector components such as logistics, marketing, print and electronic media, packaging, branding, and financing. This paper attempts to examine the current realities of the global halal industry by observing the factors determining such increasing ...

Evolution Of Halal Research: A Bibliometric For 1996 – 2020

Journal of Fatwa Management and Research

The purpose of this review was to examine the evolution of halal research across various sectors in the last two decades, identify research gaps, and explore future research directions. This study employed the Scopus database to identify articles with the term “halal” within the publication year of 1996 to 2020. Bibliometric and network analyses were performed on 1770 articles using VOSviewer software 1.6.13. Citation metrics were generated using Publish and Perish v7 software. Halal research themes encompassed different disciplines. Halal authentication was found to be the largest cluster among a total of 10 clusters. Emerging research areas include halal cosmetics, halal food supply chains, and halal tourism. Islamic finance and banking were found to be relevant in the halal ecosystem. Untapped areas include modest fashion, halal media and recreation, halal curriculum, halal science, and interrelationship between halal practice and Islamic faith. Responding to the COVID-19 pandem...

Establishing a Global Halal Hub: In-Depth Interviews

The purpose of this study is to explore the requirements needed for a country to establish itself as a global Halal hub. In this regard, this exploratory research paper uses a semi-structured indepth interview to obtain the perceptions of Halal experts about the requirements for establishing a Halal hub. The results of the study indicate that human capital, media, research and development, events, country's capability, public and governmental support, marketing strategy, and infrastructure comprise the vital requirements. Furthermore, from the perceptions of the experts, public and governmental support, marketing strategy, and human capital are the three most important requirements. Since this paper is an exploratory study, it provides some insights of the three experts on the establishing of a Halal hub. In addition, a quantitative study is an appropriate approach to implement the findings of this study empirically and to determine the effective components to establish a Halal hub in those countries that desire it. A practical implication of this study is the opening of a new window for any country that aspires to be a Halal hub. In this matter, this paper presents the key considerations in establishing a Halal hub for Halal certification bodies, companies and marketers involved in the Halal business. Moreover, this research attempts to influence the perceptions and attitudes of people of the country on the desirability of becoming a Halal hub, followed by a discussion on the development of a national brand. When the contribution of its people is high, a country stands the best chance of achieving its goal. Finally, this study is one of the first to seek the perceptions of experts about vital requirements that a country should pay more attention to if it wishes to establish a global Halal hub.

Comparative Analysis and Harmonization of Global Halal Standards

International Journal of Halal Research

Muslim awareness of halal lifestyles has developed into a lucrative business opportunity on global scale. Currently, there is no globally recognized halal standard as a reference for the establishment of a global halal system. The absence of global halal standard restricts the growth of halal industries. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the halal standards applied in some countries as well as to propose a global halal standard for harmonization. A comparative analysis methodology was applied by conducting an in-depth review on five halal standards frequently used as references in some countries (OIC/SMIIC 1: 2011, UAE.S/GSO 2055-1:2015, MS 1500:2009, MUIS-HC-S001, HAS 23000). The review focused in aspects that directly affects to the halal status of food products (materials, processing facilities, and products). There are similarities, differences and incompleteness in five halal standards in terms of material, product and facility aspect. The same standard can ...