Halal Studies

Halal studies can be defined as the study and description of halal-related issues in the everyday life of Muslims. Halal studies take halal seriously both as subject and as object with a foundation on knowledge of Islamic law (Sharia and fiqh) and an approach that is grounded in scientific methods across the human, social, and applied sciences. Halal—authorized, allowed, pure, licit, or lawful—is one of five legal qualifications used to classify Muslim acts (obligatory—wajib/fard, recommended—mandub/sunna, permitted—mubah/halal, reprehensible—makruh, and forbidden—haram). The terms halal and haram (unlawful, illicit, impure) are used in Islamic law to categorize various actions, behaviors, and objects under Islamic norms and morality. The focus of Islamic law deliberations by fuqaha’ (Islamic jurists) centers on what is lawful (halal) and what is not (haram) in Islam. From the formative period of Islamic law in the second/eighth to the modern period in the thirteenth/nineteenth centuries, there was a “haramization” (the act or process or reasoning of making things or activity unlawful/illegal/prohibited) of Islamic law. However, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, this shifted toward “halalization” (C. Lange et al., “Text Mining Islamic Law,” Islamic Law and Society 28, 2021: 234–281). Initially, “halal” was only used to refer to food that Muslims were permitted to eat. The term “halal” then broadened its meaning to refer to goods and services beyond foods. The contemporary phenomenon of halal exemplifies “halalization,” defined by Calder 2020 (cited under Halal Industrialized Products: Ummah Market, Global Capitalism, and Neoliberal Economy) as “the extension of shariah-compliance certification to goods, services, and economic sectors not previously certified.” This process involves labeling, branding, and marketing products and services as halal under the oversight of public or private halal institutions, guided by local, national, regional, and/or international halal standards. Accordingly, Islamic law (Sharia) also experienced an adjustment in various halal sectors (food, supply chain, logistics, tourism, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, fashion, banking, finance, and auditing) to adapt more effectively to current developments and issues in the halal business and global market dynamics (Armanios and Ergene 2018 and Kamali 2021, both cited under Books). This change is the result of standardization regimes and modern trade networks in a context where political, economic, legal, religious, ethnic, cultural, and national categories intermingle within a global regime (Fischer 2011, cited under Books; Gauthier 2021, cited under Halal Industrialized Products: Ummah Market, Global Capitalism, and Neoliberal Economy). Consequently, halal embodies a radical transformation toward scientizing, standardizing, and normalizing social life through certification processes (Yakin and Christians 2021, cited under Edited Volumes). Just fifty years ago, Muslim-majority countries had no halal standards—certification simply wasn’t needed. This transformation can also be observed in the shift in tayyib (wholesome) in place of halal in industrial discussions, from meat to cosmetics, to actors in discussions between parents and children in schools/mosques, and social media. This body of work on halal issues offers insights into how researchers and scientists categorize and examine key halal stakeholders, including scientists, the general public, religious actors, secular entrepreneurs, consumers, and state/government entities, among others. The sources in this article analyze halal as a human classification system, through new meanings of halal that are multifaceted and reach beyond the original scope. In other words, this article explores the formation of new categories and their impact on the actions and entities they encompass. With over one hundred publications on halal in theory and practice identified, this article advocates for establishing “halal studies” as a distinct subfield within Islamic studies.