One evening in Johannesburg in 2011, I was having dinner with Fayroza, her husband and family. Discussing my interest in halal prompted a reflection: 

…if I go to a [Muslim/family] function and different people have brought deserts and stuff, I don’t just naturally eat it because I don’t know what cream they’ve used. I know Clover cream is not halal certified, and there was an email circulating saying that it wasn’t halal. So already there’s doubt, and as soon as there’s doubt you must just stay away.

Fayroza articulated a practice that queries the halal status of fresh cream at a Muslim family gathering. Her utterance signals a recent and novel application for halal practice that has become increasingly prevalent across the world. Once mostly reserved for the consumption of meat slaughtered according to particular rites, halal has been extended into almost every substance of Muslim consumption. The potential use of flavourings, enzymes, extracts and colorants from animal sources infers all food consumption as potentially halal transgressive. An important consequence is that a fellow Muslim may no longer offer a source of assurance of halal conformity, as expert intervention and certification replace inter-personal trust and exchange. However, as this blog post will show, there are complex ways in which halal certification is articulated and practiced by Muslims in everyday life. I present a semiotic analysis of halal, paying attention to the ways in which a discursive tradition is transforming through everyday practice. 

Fayroza’s deliberation over what I would call a new materiality of halal introduces questions regarding Islam, economy, and everyday life. As an employee of a large South African bank, and a mother of two, she inhabits a world wherein changes in the economic environment, food production technology, information and gender relations give rise to new dynamics of halal. Given these changes, recent scholarly work (Rudnyckyj, 2009; Fischer, 2016; Atia, 2013) has argued for the emergence of neoliberal Islamic consumption. And indeed, halal certification does indicate a new field of religious governmentality where halal is abstracted as a quality to be measured, analysed and debated and where the Muslim consumer is increasingly engaged in the investigation, deliberation and self-regulation of consumption. The transformation of halal into an audit culture (Fischer, 2016) clearly mirrors developments in neoliberal governance (Strathern, 2000), product labelling (Guthman, 2007) and molecular politics (Rose, 2006). Halal certification is comparable to the emergence of Kosher labelling (Lytton, 2014), in seeking to ensure the purity and integrity of ritual food in the consumer economy. 

However, while a valid observation, this line of analysis does not tell us much about the way in which capitalist and neoliberal programs of Islam are debated, inhabited, challenged and contested. In anthropology, arguments about the novelty and modernity of halal certification (Bergeaud-Blackler et al., 2016) fail to capture the nuances of how a discursive tradition of halal practice is transformed. Most importantly it overlooks the subtle ways in which halal practice is not completely subsumed by a neoliberal semiotic ideology.  

Halal certification entails not merely the coming together of Islam and science (Fischer, 2016), as if constituting two fully formed fields. Rather we have to appreciate how a new ontology of substances, linked to molecular science and food technology, is incorporated into existing forms of reasoning and material practices. This entails not only an alignment of halal practice with contemporary science and market dynamics (Armanios and Ergene, 2018), but also the possibility for a discursive tradition (Asad, 1986a) of halal to be the basis through which to evade new material and market concerns. 

The material-semiotics of halal are transformed under conditions of increasingly complex food technology and global trade. Following Bill Maurer (2005), however, we should forgo theses of authenticity and the real, that question whether the emergence of halal certification (Bergeaud-Blackler, 2017) is actually about fundamentalism, or capitalism or not. We should instead follow the reasoning and practices of consumers and producers of halal in the contemporary world. Halal certification industry actors in South Africa, for example, understand halal certification as a conscious and necessary response to the changing conditions of food technology and global trade. However, to assume a total transformation (Keane, 2003: 420), would be to accept the claims and ideology of the industry at face value. Rather we have to appreciate how the certification industry and Muslim individuals engage in evaluations and assertions of logics of equivalence and difference in their attempts to certify, regulate and practice halal in a changing world. 

Appreciating Fayroza’s dilemma necessitates attention to the transformations in language, materiality and forms of reasoning that have attended the contemporary development of halal certification. Webb Keane’s (2003, 2007) discussion of material-semiotics is crucial for understanding how changes in the material ontology of things transforms the kinds of ethical subjectivity and intentionality central to halal. This means recognising how the ‘materiality of signification is not just a factor for the sign interpreter but gives rise to and transforms modalities of action and subjectivity’ (Keane, 2003: 413). However, to avoid the conflation of newness with rupture it is necessary to chart the substantive shifts in materiality and ethical subjectivity, not as imperatives or modes of habitation (Mahmood, 2011), but rather as signposts (Wittgenstein, 1953; Tayob, 2017) through which Muslims live and practice in everyday life. Doing so helps contribute to debates over the complex engagements between a discursive tradition of Islam and the ideology and materiality of neoliberalism (Rudnyckyj, 2014; Rudnyckyj, 2016; Henig, 2018; Mittermaier, 2019). 

The personal/communal practice of halal 

Historically, halal refers to the permissibility and purity of certain animals for Muslim consumption and prescribes the procedures of slaughter necessary to ensure that permissible animals are rendered into permissible meat (Cook, 1986). Inaccessible to the senses, halal is a quality of purity ascribed to meat that has been slaughtered in a particular way. However, the person who consumes the meat is not usually the slaughterer or supplier. The practice of halal is thus premised on the performative expression by a fellow Muslim that an item is in fact halal. 

For example, a widely accepted halal rule of thumb absolves the Muslim consumer of sin for unintentionally consuming haram (non-halal), in which case the responsibility falls on the Muslim supplier. Furthermore, it is considered haram or makrooh (reprehensible) to doubt the halal status of the food of another Muslim, and both are innocent in the case of an ignorant transgression. Trust is produced through consumption and trade within a community of shared values. Halal practice references the places and people with whom one interacts, rather than the material substance of the meat consumed. Unintentional transgression is not necessarily a cause for concern. Halal practice is intimately tied to gifting, hospitality, and reputation (Douglas, 1966; Graeber, 2011; Mauss, 2002) within a community of shared values.

The semiotic forms through which trust is produced are the visible markers of identity, ethnicity and religious affiliation that mark the body of the supplier and the establishment. The use of Muslim first names, theological terms and Qur’anic verse in the title of Muslim-owned businesses is common across the world. Images of the ka’ba, the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, as well as amulets and trinkets may adorn the establishment. Trust stems from the identity of the supplier as a member of a community of shared values. The substance consumed remains mostly out of view. The Muslim consumer practices halal through the intention (niyyat) to consume within Muslim networks. This communally charged notion of trust is not immune to sectarian conflict (Freidenreich, 2011; al-Munajjid). However here too, conflict is expressed through doctrinal difference over the nature of belief (aqeedah) rather than an investigation into the materiality of the substance. As a representational economy for halal practice the emphasis on markers of identity, community membership and wilful disposition (niyyat) articulate an ethical subject that does not necessarily investigate, interrogate and doubt, Muslim places of consumption. 

Debates around the world on the halal status of gelatine refer to a legal precedent known as al-Istihaalah(metamorphosis), through which a non-halal substance may be rendered halal. Ulama respondents explain metamorphosis through the natural process whereby wine becomes vinegar and the use of animal excrement as fertiliser. Here, impure and non-halal substances might, through a process of metamorphosis, be rendered halal. The issue for the jurists was how to determine whether metamorphosis had in fact occurred. They established a test based on observation by the senses. Namely, taste, colour and smell. And argued that the process should be irreversible. This empirical examination was never dissociated from a consideration of intention (niyyat), whereby an item that appears halal, but is later revealed as a non-halal product in disguise, does not accrue sin. 

Practicing halal thus entails a calibration of signs of Muslim identity, familiarity, reputation and sensory observation. As a semiotic ideology of halal, the intention (niyyat) to consume, combined with the assessment of observable signs of Muslim identity and community, is considered a secure basis for practice. 

Halal Certification: The Construction of a Neoliberal Semiotic Ideology

Halal certification is a recent development (Fischer, 2011: 35), initiated during the 1970’s by the Malaysian government as part of its Islamisation efforts. Into the 1990’s halal certification organisations became globally prominent as the scale and scope of global trade increased the potential for halal transgression during production, supply and transport of meat. Food technology signalled the potential extension of halal into non-meat products, and thus every place and product of Muslim consumption. Halal certification organisations thus introduced auditing procedures and scientific testing in an attempt to assure halal consumption on a global scale. In both South Africa and Malaysia (Tayob, 2012; Tayob, 2016; Fischer, 2016) halal certification produced a risk-discourse of halal that demystifies the complexity of global supply chains, emphasises expert mediation and promotes public consumption. 

The emphasis on invisible risks, scientific knowledge and expert intervention introduces an ontological shift into the materiality of halal. The now molecular focus shifts the weight of evidence from surfaces to chemical, molecular and even DNA structures. The debate over the halal status of gelatine sourced from non-halal animals in South Africa is crucial to understand this global change. The discussion on gelatine turns around the applicability of al-Istihaalah (metamorphosis) in the contemporary food-manufacturing context. Initially in 1983 the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) issued a fatwa that authorised gelatine based on the historical precedent of metamorphosis mentioned above. However, in recent decades, discussions (Moosa, 2009; Padela et al., 2014) about the genetic modification of food, and new technologies of medicine have introduced new questions regarding the ontology of substances. In the early 2000’s, the ruling on gelatine by the MJC was contested by a competing halal organisation, the South African National Halal Authority (SANHA). SANHA argued that the chemical presence of collagen in bones, hides and gelatine crystals is evidence that metamorphosis has in fact not taken place. The applicability of al-Istihaalah (metamorphosis) is rejected and the process of gelatine manufacture described as extraction instead. 

The new material ontology of halal necessitates certification expertise as the only reliable route for practice. The stability of intention (niyyat), together with observables signs of community, identity and substance are potentially side-lined by the halal certificate, independent audit procedures, DNA tests and supply chain traceability. Halal certificates do employ Quranic verse and other symbols of Muslim identity, but now intend to provide an informative assertion regarding the existence of a halal certification contract between certifying organisation and supplier. Details include the date of expiry, the halal audit contract number and an accompanying log of recent site inspections. 

Molecular materiality and supply chain transparency effectively eliminate unintentional transgression, trust and intention in halal practice. Given the ubiquity of the potential risks to halal, everything is both potentially suspect and potentially visible. The new conditions of scientific visibility render fellow Muslims’ a potentially unreliable source of halal supply. Now doubt becomes the inquisitive ethical disposition (Tayob, 2016) through which the consuming Muslim approaches the world. Certification begins from a view of the world as inherently risky and unstable, and in turn appeals to scientific truth claims (Latour and Woolgar, 1986; Latour, 1990) about food substances to offer a sense of durability and certainty. A new Muslim subject is thus articulated as an individual consumer, wary of the new risks to halal yet eager to engage in public consumption. Armed with an arsenal of information through email lists, smartphone apps and even portable porcine-detection devices (Arbaoui, 2014) this new Muslim consumer is in search of halal certification and molecular certainty rather than the presence of a fellow Muslim. 

The Anthropology of Halal in Practice

Fayroza’s abstinence at the desert table at family events, articulates halal as a quality inherent in the materiality of the desert rather than produced through Muslim-networks of trade and exchange. Her utterance confirms the neoliberal semiotic ideology of halal. However, closer attention to her practice, indicates that positing halal certification as a total transformation and translation of Islam in a neoliberal world is misguided. 

Given the debates over halal gelatine production, Muslims in South Africa face the potential quandary that halal certification may in fact index divergent notions of halal. This confusion accounts for Fayroza’s fresh-cream abstinence. However, she also mentioned a common scenario where her mother-in-law, would arrive at home bearing gifts of MJC halal-certified bovine-gelatine marshmallows for the children, manufactured using gelatine from non-halal slaughtered sources. In these cases, ‘I chow it, because it is certified,’ she explained, embodying a mode of halal practice that recognises the importance of hospitality, gifting and intra-Muslim exchange. Rejecting the gift would cast doubt onto the halal judgement of her mother-in-law, introducing offense into an intimate relationship. Here the halal certificate signifies social obligation and exchange, not the molecular materiality of the substance consumed. 

Appreciating the material semiotics of halal certification affords clarity on the ‘kinds of reasoning and the reasons for arguing’ (Asad, 1986, 18) that inform practice. Focussing solely on the shift in material ontology conflates halal practice with halal certification and identifies contemporary halal practice as merely symptomatic of post-modern concerns. These dominant arguments present halal certification as a pure translation and total transformation, obfuscating the messy confluence between neoliberal logics and the discursive tradition of halal. As Fayroza’s deliberations make clear, the changes discussed here need to be understood as a process whereby individuals engage in practical judgments of equivalence and difference in everyday life. Ultimately, the discursive tradition of halal is not merely erased by new conditions of technology, capital and consumption. And neither does the new modality of halal certification become available in a pure form. Rather, we have to consider the complicated yet significant ways in which contemporary transformations of religion may continue to engage alternative temporalities, archives and modalities of being. 

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