Halal Economy

Is Halal food just another religious practice or an operational cost burden for traders and consumers of a majority of faiths?

Let's take a deep dive into the social, religious, and financial implications of this 'imposed food compliance' and the larger objective of Jamiat which governs this exercise at a large scale.

The article doesn't intend to question anyone's belief or religious practice but aims to highlight the facts and statistics available in the public domain.

Let’s start with the basics.

The Arabic word ‘halal’ means permitted or allowed and so the halal food’ implied is permissible under Islamic Sharia laws. The opposite of halal is haram i.e. unlawful. Look at the picture of various methods of slaughtering cattle.

The Islamic form of slaughtering animals is killing the animal through a cut to the jugular vein, carotid artery, and windpipe with a sharp blade that animals haven’t seen. Then let the animal hang upside down till all the blood is drained because consumption of the blood is haram (prohibited). A reader may go through the details of a few compliances from the picture.

All meat can not be made halal, irrespective of the slaughtering method used, e.g. pork, donkey, mule, cats, dog, reptiles, monkeys etc. are considered as haram.

Ironically there are people who debate which method is 'better' wherein ultimately the animal dies a painful death only.

In order to make the food permissible for consumption as per Sharia belief, it is supposed to be halal comply. In India, a ‘non-profit’ organization Jamat Ulama-I-Hind Halal issues certificates to restaurants, hotels, airlines, hospitals, and food processing units, which is recognized in many countries.

Snapshot of the website-

It's not just for 20% of the Mulsim community in the country but also a business compulsion for exporting food to Islamic countries. Globally this system works in synergy and compels (read forces) an unwilling trader also to secure a halal certificate, whatever it may cost, otherwise, it may “lose a potential customer”.

Snapshot from Jamiat website-

If anyone argues that any religious practice must be a charitable one, the answer here is NO, it is not, at least in this case. Look at fee structure, followed by a case study.

Fee structure for obtaining halal certificate-

(Snapshot from Jamiat website)

As per an estimation, a trader with 50 food products (meat or non-meat) has to shell out approx Rs 1.5 Lac per year to secure a halal certificate.

Therefore 250 traders in the country would have paid approx Rs 38 Crores to Jamiat in the past decade. And from where a trader would recover it? Right, from the consumers only. Notably, Jamiat, an NGO, doesn’t show financial statements or ‘earned’ through certificates.

Halal compliance is not just for non-veg food items but even veg food makers like Haldiram, Bikano & Amul are obtaining it so their Muslim consumers buy/eat the product more confidently. Though, issuing certificates to Patanajli irked both the Hindu and Muslim communities for respective reasons.

It's not that this ‘almost mandate’ Halal Certification was never challenged in court by other sections. In 2020 Akhand Bharat Morcha sought to ban 'halal' for the slaughter of animals but the Supreme Court of India rejected the plea quoting it 'mischievous' on account of freedom of choice.

To pacify the voices against "imposed" & monopoly of (Muslim) employment in the entire segment, the government of India recently did the symbolic act by dropping the ‘Halal’ word from the export menu only to replace it with “the animals are slaughtered to the requirement of importing country/importer.”

The reader must know the volume of business here is worth $3.5bn as 4th largest exporter of beef in the world with a large client base in middle east nations & Vietnam.

Back to Jamiat. It is implied as an NGO Jamiat enjoys tax exemptions on the income. Also as an FCRA registered it receives funds from abroad, mostly from Jamiat UK. In the past 4 years, it has received Rs 6.7 Crore foreign contribution.

Source - FCRA, MHA website.

Now, what is Jamiat's core ideology, and where these funds are being possibly utilized? As per the Jamiat website, it is a result of the aftermath of the Khilafat movement 1919 which supposedly support countrymen for freedom led by Indian Muslims eventually initiated to promote the Caliphate in Turkey.

However, the vision/mission statement of Jamiat has nothing to do with nation-building exercises but its aims to “protection of Islamic belief”. Do not miss reading the marked text before scrolling down to understand the core ideology of the establishment.

That’s what reflects in their initiatives as well, e.g. Jamiat aims to “prepare” 12.5mn strong ‘Momin’ by 2028 to guard the interest of Muslim 'Ummah'. Training camps are mostly in the UP, where 19% population is Muslims. One trainee costs Rs. 9,558 per year. Implied, its an ambitious project of approx Rs. 12,000 Cr.

Spend 2 minutes of time on Jamiat Youth Club objective, as captured from Jamiat's website.

Jamiat’s other main objective is to provide aid to Imams (Madrasas teachers), upliftment of 30,000 Madrasas in India, scholarship to community fellows, construction of mosques, etc.

Spend 2 minutes of time to understand the Jamiat Youth Club objective.

Jamiat, a Deobandi school of thought, has also registered the company Jamait Education Foundation.

In a recent 'secular' move Jamiat accepted non-Muslims but miserably fell flat. Within a few months, they appealed non-Muslims to not to send their daughter to co-ed school in order to keep them away from "immorality".

Besides running a publication house, Jamiat also provides legal and financial to the needy in the community only. Jamiat had also agreed to support the accused of Kamlesh Tiwari murder because “they were poor”. Check news coverage and statements.

Therefore it can be concluded that the well-established 'Halal economy' is widely imposed on all consumers by a Trust and the funds are largely observed to be utilized deep into one community's activities from aiding criminals to building community 'army'.

Readers also note that the Halal ecosystem is an age-old practice, however at the social level there are incidents, in contrast, e.g. Zomato says 'Food doesn't have religion', in a tweet, but stamps food as 'Halal', a Jain baker was arrested for hiring Jain staff considered as 'communal' and critic views are coming for the IRCTC move with "Sattvik Certificate" at some of Hindu pilgrims railway routes.

Now, next time one buys halal-certified ice cream, remember a part of it is possibly paying a Madrasa or sponsoring unrest. The definition of secularism is not encroaching on others' space and one practice shouldn't be socially & economically unjust for others.

~ The Hawk Eye

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