Halal Certification, Standards, and Their Ramifications in Belgium
(2021) Rethinking Halal. Genealogy, Current Trends, and New Interpretations — ISBN: [978-90-04-45922-9], p. 153-195, published
Files
AyangUtrizaYakin.pdf
Closed Access - Adobe PDF
- 749.63 KB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- In this chapter, I focus on focus on HCBs in Belgium, addressing the issues of certification and standards, their ramifications, and the observable neglect of the pluriversality of halal and religious authority in a non-Muslim country. To date, there has been few studies of HCB in Belgium, let alone the issues of halal standards and certification and their ramifications. The scholarly literature on halal in Belgium has focused solely on halal/ritual slaughtering and its legal aspect, halal meat production and quality control and marketing, and the motives and determining factors regarding the consumption of halal food/products. This chapter intends to fill this gap by exploring how halal has been continuously normalized and standardized by modern rationality and certification practices that have arguably used halal as a means of regulating the everyday lives of Muslims. Based on extensive fieldwork in Belgium during 2017-2019, involving in-depth interviews with HCBs, participant observation, and interviews with Imams, in Muslim communities, and with Muslim organizations, the chapter proceeds in three steps. First, I will address the history of Islam, the periodization of certification of the HCBs in Belgium and their legal aspect. Second, we turn to the issue of the standards/standardization and certification process by the HCBs, arguing that the certification of halal by HCBs should be read as a modern way of harmonizing the Islamic tradition with national economic interests and international business standards. Finally, we develop an argument that this mode of halal certification has consequences, marginalizing the traditional ulama and paving the way for a gradual shift in authority towards HCBs, which become a new authority and moral agent. From a Foucauldian perspective, HCBs become an authority that registers, audits, decides and regulates what is and is not acceptable, what is right or wrong, and what is in conformity with norms and standards and what is not. In the same vein, certification practices deny pluriversal halal opinions in Sunni-Islam and halal practices among all Muslims.
- Affiliations
Citations
Yakin, A. (2021). Halal Certification, Standards, and Their Ramifications in Belgium. In Ayang Utriza Yakin and Louis-Léon Christians (ed.), Rethinking Halal. Genealogy, Current Trends, and New Interpretations (p. p. 153-195). BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004459236_002