Is this halal? Like an act of electromagnetism, Muslim dinners are drawn to this particular provocation. In our contemporary world, at times, the answer can be quite obvious, yet as things change – as they tend to do – what we take for granted can, upon investigation, be revealed as blind practice. In our uncritical procession of everyday life, in lieu of reflection, we often forget why certain things are haram and some are ‘automatically’ a priori halal, which may in fact be most unworthy of any praise. And as the future continues to change in ways we can hardly begin to imagine, it is highly possible that we will need a thorough re-evaluation of what several contemporary thinkers have called the ‘fiqhi mentality’ – the legalistic black and white tendency to label things as halal/haram, ignoring higher minutiae that leaves room for the greying in-between of these two extremes. And as extremism is reigning supreme in our present, perhaps a step away from such a view of the world is not only recommended, but indeed necessary!
So let us look at the some of the things that are halal or haram and see how things have changed, or not, may yet change, and how debate should move forward.
1. Sus scrofa domesticus
Humans have been consuming pigs and wild boar since the hunter-gatherer days, predating the rise of agrarian societies. Once domesticated, pigs had larger litters than other livestock (at times as large as twelve and fourteen piglets) which would grow and mature rapidly within their first year, making them a reliable and sustainable source of protein. Better yet, they were not picky eaters and would eat human waste which made their maintenance cheap. In Babylon, pigs were seen as sponges of all human ills, they did after all eat our rubbish, and there were even ritual pig sacrifices to ‘cleanse’ human societies. But as human history went on, a taboo arose over the consumption of pigs that has carried through to today in Muslim, Jewish, and even certain orthodox Christian beliefs. So, what went wrong?
The Bronze Age saw the decline of pig husbandry as their economic use could not be capitalised on by the state, pigs became only the easy keep of lower-class farmers. Where pigs were once valued for their absorption of human pollution, their reputations were sullied, associated with dirty urban centres and the poor. Moreover, they had no secondary products such milk and fur. Also, the Philistines loved porky munchies, and as they rose, so too did their ancient arch-rivals, the Israelites. Since our enemies eat pigs, then we cannot. Eventually, the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible solidified the famous pork ban. Most scholars agree that the pork taboo did not arise overnight but developed slowly through many of these factors as the late Bronze Age carried on.
The Qur’an asks the Prophet to say: ‘In all that has been revealed to me, I find nothing forbidden for people to eat, except for carrion, flowing blood, pig’s meat – it is loathsome – or a sinful offering over which any name other than God’s has been invoked’. It is ‘loathsome’ because, like carrion and flowing blood, pig meat was the quickest way to get food poisoning. Health was a major concern as pigs, who ate everything including human waste, could easily contract diseases and parasites that they then passed onto humans who consume them. The famous Jewish scholar Maimonides, in the late twelfth century classic The Guide for the Complex, noted that pigs were unfit for consumption by humans because of their unhealthy ways along with their behaviour habits, which he claimed were dirty and unbecoming.
A number of questions arise? Has God singled out a common livestock animal, something He also created, or is pork a metaphor for all that is ‘loathsome’ – one could, after all, easily include ‘halal’ fried chicken – full of antibiotics and other nasties and so ubiquitous around the world. Or burgers – as seen in the famous 2004 Morgan Spurlock documentary Super-Size Me – that have been responsible for massive deforestation, over usage of water, and other exploitations of the planet’s resources, that Muslims would queue for hours to obtain.
In our modern age of scientific advancement two further considerations need attention. First, pigs are very close in their anatomy and physiology to humans, thus they are the ideal subject for testing new break throughs. But can the products of their tests be permissible? Can piggy parts and porky products be used to treat multiplying illnesses of Muslims? Would transplants of pig liver, heart, or other organs be allowed for Muslims? Secondly, at what point, molecularly or atomically, is a pig no longer a pig? Does pig DNA makes cosmetics haram? Its time scholars paid serious attention to such issues.
2. Alcohol
How did we go from 16:67-68 – ‘From the fruits of date palms and grapes you take sweet wine and wholesome provisions; there are truly a sign in this for people who use their reason’ – to wine becoming ‘defilement from the work of Satan’ (4:43) and thus forbidden? It is worth considering that the initial Qur’anic verses on alcohol were not concerned over the substance itself, but over the stupid things it tends to make its consumers do. The drunken charades of slaughtering other’s livestock and two chaps getting in a fight where one broke the other’s nose did have something to do with the overall ban. It became a matter of public safety and public health to avoid the imbibing of sinful beverages.
The rationale is not hard to follow. Generally drunken fools are not conducive to societal cohesion. Even the US prohibited alcohol sales and consumptions for almost a decade in the twentieth century for essentially the same reason. A majority of Muslims agree with the prohibiting label of haram being place on alcohol, and many Muslim majority nations either ban it or tax the pants off of it for those other communities who wish to imbibe.
But we do need to remember: there is benefit in alcohol (2: 219) and there are plenty of rivers of wine in paradise (47:15). We do need to think just how much alcohol in certain foodstuff makes it an intoxicant. And, we need to remember, alcohol has been a good friend in humanity’s struggle against infection and, most recently, the spread of Covid-19. We will likely have to call upon it again in the event of the next pandemic.
3. Riba/Usury
Usury brings us to a moral debate that connects Muslim societies with others who have struggled with the concept throughout history. It is also a vague concept that welcomes a lot of grey space, especially in our late-stage capitalist world. The Arabic word riba and its Islamic conception roughly translates to ‘usury’ aligning it with some of the medieval European debates over the practice. Yet, where usury refers to the practice of lending money with ‘unreasonable’ interest rates, riba describes unjust gains or exploitation through business more generally. Both definitions are rife with problems. What is reasonable? What is unjust or exploitative? It depends who you ask and what temporal context we all find themselves in. Thanks to the disappointments of Islamic banking and finance, put nicely by the Indian doyen of Islamic economics, Nejatullah Siddiqi, when he said that the whole of the history of Islamic economics has been about recreating capitalism with the shariah, the vagary of usury allows it to slip through the cracks. The global economy is built on the dividends made from interest collection and price manipulation. Riba simply becomes a box that must not be checked, a remedial challenge for the clever Muslim banker or financier. No, no, no my blatant taking advantage of the global capitalist driven markets is ‘just’ and the prices are ‘fair’ precedes the same volumes of nonsense that Western bankers and financiers have been spewing forth to keep the Pope from condemning their economic models for the last few centuries. And so it goes, financial crisis after market bust carries on as wealth disparities swallow oceans and poverty, something that once seemed solvable and is now taken for granted, runs rampant. The logic of these economic norms does not make sense. How can the value of land change without anything being done to the land? How can a property lose its value without anything being wrong with it? How has something as volatile and easily manipulated as the market been allowed to run free and dictate the value of one’s work, home, or life?
While labelling usury as haram is nearly unanimous, it’s also such a dependent variable that it is almost unpoliceable and unregulatable. Yet if this debate was taken more seriously, and slightly reframed, perhaps Islamic economics could give us an alternative to the global order of neoliberal capitalism. And not a moment too soon! Instead of looking for ways to make sure that usury is not invoked, perhaps usury should be given a stricter definition and values should be left to less whimsical determining factors and, frankly, dubious calculous. For one thing, the consistent barriers that keep the poor where they are, if not getting poorer, would be torn down and a greater equality, at least in access to economic empowerment, could be seen throughout our societies. Instead of justifying our economics systems, we should be building economics systems with justice and other noble values as the backbone, not simply the lines which we must not cross.
4. Adultery
Let’s talk about sex, shall we? That is at the heart of adultery in terms of Islamic law: extramarital sex. Other religious and ethical debates on ‘adultery’ are concerned with unfaithfulness or doing wrong by one’s spouse. In Islam, it is simply seen as a breach of contract, marriage being a legal contract between spouses. The debate around the permissibility of polygamy amongst Muslims adds a slight complication to matters. But even without getting into the weeds of that argument, adultery is a concept that needs continual rethinking, especially as our world advances more and more into the digital sphere. In our world of apps, avatars, dating apps, social media, and cybersex, we need to rethink and may have to expand the horizons of considerations with regards to what is halal and haram around the concept of adultery in our digital age. The aim of these needed discussion should not only be to determine what counts and does not count as adultery, but also to develop a more robust and less sheepish sexual ethics for an age of deep confusion around sexuality, gender, and how we as humans interact and develop our relationships.
5. Gambling
The Islamic ban on gambling draws an interesting comparison with the thinking of Immanuel Kant and his categorical imperative. This was the ethical principle by which an act, when replicated by all members of a given society, is deemed moral based on whether or not a society would function if everyone did this act. For gambling, it makes sense. If everyone gambled that society would be in pretty bad shape. Also gambling gain and losses are obviously ill-gotten, if not unfairly earned. More importantly, there is almost always a severe power imbalance between the dealer and the better – even if we don’t go investigating the numerous angles of cheating that are often at play in this arrangement. To enter a gambling situation, one is partaking in a sort of self-harm, even if the rules are totally understood and agreed upon. Russian roulette, taking its name from a famous casino game, is, after all, just high stakes gambling. The concept gets tricky for those in the realm of economics, as was the case with usury, vagaries and justifications can see the clever Islamic banker or financier through what is essentially gambling with a simple appeal to utilitarianism. Certain investments and market manipulations is pretty clearly gambling, but is it okay if it is for the greater good or to the benefit of the ummah? Well, if there is a chance of a gain, there is also a chance for great loss, so at the least it ought to be avoided. Now, not all investment is a ploy to make fast money, the more just investments are found in giving individuals the starting capital to build up their own economic power. All the better if no return is expected beyond the initial loan. But the concept remains a bit murky, especially in how Islamic economics work with and in the western capitalist paradigm. This needs further discussion. Increasingly shadowy philosophies of utilitarianism, particularly effective altruism, that mask selfish pursuits as collective considerations are particularly dangerous. They too need a proper debate. Not all gambling happens in casinos and to see how this debate functions in the contemporary world we need to think of the power disparities and opportunities for manipulations that exist in numerous forms of exchange occurring throughout society.
6. Cosmetics
The halal cosmetics industry can appear quite the perplexing thing. On one hand, yes it is great that we verify that items purchased are fairly acquired, sourced, and developed in ethical ways. Avoidance of items tested on animals, built off the exploitation of workers, and products of corporations contributing to wars or human suffering, is generally a good purchasing practice. And while this is a consideration in this industry, it is not what consumers are always focussed on. Instead, attention is drawn to alcohol levels or whether or not any porcine DNA has made it into this product or that, as if cosmetics were for consumption instead of hiding slight biological imperfections. And it seems odd that a product mostly used to hide one’s real and not always aesthetically upright self could ever be halal, regardless of what occurred before you go to the checkout counter. Almost daily, new information is being revealed on the less than ethical practices of the big brand names that use modestly dressed persons of colour as their models. The obsession with one’s outward appears pedalled by this industry comes in direct conflict with the modesty that is so important to certain followers. Yet this contradiction plays out on billboards and magazines across the planet. Not to mention the promises and desires put forward by the beauty industry are only skin deep and often flirt with, if not outright violate, many of the previous prohibitions mentioned like gambling or usury. While an admiration of what is beautiful in life is essentially good, we need a discourse on halal cosmetics that cuts deeper.
7. Music
Islam and music have a very strange relationship. Today, Muslim belief in the prohibition of music runs the whole range from being completely haram, to certain instruments being allowed, to accepting music, both religious and secular, as the food of soul. We don’t want to go into what the hadith does and does not say. But we would like to point out that one of the earliest theoreticians of music was the nineth century Muslim philosopher and mathematician, al-Kindi, who wrote no less than four treatises on the theory of music, and described rhythm (iqa) as a constituent part of Arabic music. Al-Farabi’s Kitabu l’musiqi al-kabir, the Great Book of Music, was a standard text during the Abbasid period when music was virtually everywhere. Music in India, including the sitar, was developed by thirteen century renowned poet and Sufi singer, Abul Hassan Yamin ud-Din, better known as Amir Khusro. So it is time to kill the debate. If our ears and souls have any function, then music is halal. Full stop. In the end, music is a profound form of art that bridges peoples across time and space. In music, black Muslim artists in particular have had a lasting impact on Western culture, demonstrating a power that should not be underscored. To give something that can be a locust of such beauty a strict label is ridiculous.
This is not to say that all music should be accepted uncritically as halal. Music that derives from haram action or is overflowing in explicit material merely for the purpose of shock and awe can be considered haram. Let’s just keep our minds open!
8. Consumerism
The most ready-to-mind application of the halal/haram debate comes in the form of what we can and cannot consume. But what does halal and haram discourse says about consumerism more broadly? Though it might be an easy, knee jerk solution to say consumerism is haram, full stop – it is a bit reductive. Consumerism plays an essential role in much of the globe where Muslim’s reside. Yet, there must be a just consideration and proper regulations in place for that consumerism to serve good ends. Recent boycotts surrounding the questionable politics of global brands around their role in the Israel-Hamas war have given an interesting insight into the potential for more compassionate or ethical consumerism. Though to inspire the change we may want, more critical thinking and questioning on both the part of the consumer and the producer will be required. Presently the relationship between the producer and consumer is a power dynamic that is incredibly problematic – the few hold power over the many. And in a world of X, formerly known as Twitter, deep fakes, echo chambers and silos, it is easy for one idea to be blown out of proportion and the fatwas of internet mobs to become the death of an otherwise morally acceptable individual, company, or product. And while conscious consumerism has been aggravated in the past, it requires a lot of all parties which may not have a direct problem with the present power imbalances. And for this to work it needs to be an all-in endeavour. Then again, our whole economic paradigm and organisation as consumerist societies requires a further revision and thinking into alternative models before we have extracted every last living thing on our planet and left nothing for anyone else or our future.
9. Sugar
There are certain things that go beyond the appellation of haram. Take, for example, Teh Tarik, the national drink of Malaysia. Literally translated into English as ‘pulled tea’, the beverage is composed of strong black tea mixed with condensed milk and a great deal of sugar poured back and forth (or ‘pulled’) in order to cool it for quick consumption and give it a nice frothy consistency. A single glass (260 militres or nine ounces) averages around 26 grams of sugar (which is 4.5 tablespoons) – that is half of the recommended daily sugar intake for an adult human. Variations of Teh Tarik are readily found throughout Southeast Asia. Halal/haram is the entirely wrong category for such a drink. We might need to talk in terms of how evil this beverage is!
But let’s not just single out one corner of the globe. Horrible sugary drinks are common throughout the Muslim world. Rooh Afza, drank so abundantly in Pakistan, is mostly sugar and rose essence. Saudi Arabia is the fifth largest consumer of sugar-sweetened beverages in the world, just below Nigeria. And let’s not forget the truly horrible Korean boba tea/bubble tea that is pumping diabetes into generation z through the world.
The top killers of Muslims outside of vehicular accidents are heart disease, diabetes and cancer. While there is an argument to be made for a certain genetic predisposition towards these diseases amongst the ethnicities that largely comprise the global Muslim population, the increasing predominance of these diseases in our societies is not hard to trace back to our diets and habits. And carbonated or foamy sugary drinks are at the bottom of it all. They are genuine tricks of Satan – and so such more than haram, they are evil incarnate!
10. Halal vicegerent?
It has been said in thousands of different ways. But the fact is, the planet is dying. Are we planting new trees for the ones we cut down? Do we respect flora and fauna? Do we respect our lands and waters? Are we agents of balance or cruel exploiters? Since certain planetary boundaries have been passed, things must change. What is halal and what is haram will have to change too. And we must not be afraid of making the sacrifices required. All meat may become haram. Water and energy conservation will have to play a more serious role in the halal/haram debate. Certain daily practices like wudu may be deemed unsustainable and may have to be curtailed or lose importance in the daily Muslim life. The tendency during Ramadan of Muslims for resting during the day to come alive at night may become year-round common practice – and not just for Muslims! And if we must seek a new home amongst the stars, it is not just what is halal/haram that will change, but Islam as we know it, in practice and thought.