The halal meat as symbol of religious identity: animal rights and cultural rights

Mariapia Rosa Campanella

The halal meat as symbol of religious identity: animal rights and cultural rights

By Mariapia Rosa Campanella

[email protected] t

Introduction

When we start a discussion about the food-related cultural

traditions, it is fundamental to highlight how food production and

consumption are both connected to the relation between the man and

the environment, the socio-political processes, the ethical and

the moral issues behind the production of a certain kind of food.

These processes are, indeed, the ones that give meaning to the

food, and open a discussion about what can be considered “proper”

or “not proper”.

My aim is to demonstrate how food practices are subject to

constant interpretations and re-negotiations, in order to

highlight the debate between animal rights and cultural rights.

My essay will focus on the debate between two groups: the animal

rights’ defenders in Sweden and the people who insist on obeying

the rules of ritual Islamic slaughter. I will use some of

empirical data collected for my master thesis on the halal food in

Stockholm County. I will explore the ethical aspects of animal

slaughter and the “cultural rights” of Muslims (to have access to

“proper food” that follows the Qur’an prescriptions) in the

context of a country like Sweden, where the animal rights movement

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has strong bases.

In the first paragraph, I will focus on the report between food

and political ecology. I will also build a very brief introduction

to Islamic dietary rules.

The aim of this introduction will be to make the reader able to

understand what actually halal means, in order to show all the

practical implications of this meaning

After this necessary theoretical digression, I will frame the

topic of the halal food in the context of the debate between the

animal rights and the cultural rights of Muslims who live in non-

Islamic (majority) Countries, highlighting the ethical and moral

aspects of ritual slaughtering and using the relevant literature

to build a discussion on animal rights and cultural rights.

I will report the particular case of Sweden, highlighting the

actual situation about the animal rights defenders and the

cultural needs of Muslim communities.

Finally, I will add some closing remarks, summarizing my work and

adding some personal considerations, in order to give also a

critical approach to my essay. I will also try to answer the

research questions.

My work will be articulated on some fundamental questions.

- What insights can Political Ecology provide for the study of

my problem (the debate between animal right defenders, and

halal meat users)?

- How it is possible to contextualize the issue of the animal

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rights inside the frame of ‘proper food’ (intended as halal)?

- What moral issues arise in the conflict between animal rights

and cultural rights related to halal food?

- Is there a possibility to develop a study of “ethical

production-consumption” related to “proper food” idea?

1.1 Political ecology and food production-consumption

Food can be seen as a window onto important aspects of social and

political life. It is not simply something what gives us energy.

It is also a cultural and social product, a base for the

relationship with one another, and a very important connection

with the natural world.

Recent works in food studies have focused on the relationship

between culture, identity, production and consumption. This means

that we can learn a lot about people, and the meanings those

people give to the world, through the study of food and

agriculture practices.

The tools provided by political ecology can help us to define how

the relation between man and environment affects the food

production-consumption, and to understand the systems behind these

processes. I have decided to support my theories using some

specific scientific publications, in order to highlight the

different theoretical perspectives on food and political ecology,

and the tools provided for the study of the meanings attributed to

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food, the relation between man, environment and bodily processes,

the unequal access to food, and the different perception of the

concept of “goodness”.

A good start for this kind of study is Ryan Galt’s work about the

importance of the concept of “food systems” and the way the food

production-consumption shapes the social world.

He uses a political ecology approach that combines qualitative and

quantitative methods, “Comparing market relations in export,

national, and local agrifood systems, and their shaping by

geographically uneven processes of regulation and social change,

unequal access to resources, and environmental processes1”.

Besides, he focuses on the relation between agrifood systems and

food economy, highlighting how the food systems present the

problem of unequal access to the resources. We should keep this

last point in mind, because I will examine it further.

Another extremely interesting approach to the study of the report

between political ecology and food comes from the work of Allison

and Jessica Hayes-Conroy. In their article “Veggies and

Visceralities: A Political ecology of Food and Feeling”, they

illustrate their empirical research on school garden and cooking

programs, “Highlighting the ways in which a political ecology

approach to emotion and affect can help to make sense of the

complex and contradictory nature of food-body relationship2”. 1 Galt R. E. 2013. "Placing Food Systems in First World Political Ecology: A Review and Research Agenda." GEC3 Geography Compass 7 (9): 637-658.2 Hayes-Conroy, J., and A. Hayes-Conroy. 2013. Veggies and visceralities: a political ecology of food and feeling. Emotion, Space and Society 6: 81-90.

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This article is useful to our studies, not only because it

analyses the Actor Network Theory approaches to “Develop a

relational ontology of the body3”, but also because it highlights

one of the most important points of this essay, the “goodness of

the food” as something “Experienced in a negotiable and

differentiable way among families and communities4”. Besides, it

introduces both the concepts of feeling and sense experienced

through bodily processes, and explains how the emotive/affective,

visceral impetus to eat a certain food does not exist in the first

place, but is culturally oriented.

This approach easily matches with our research topics, not only

because it shows how the experience of the food is culturally

oriented, but also because it analyses how our relation with food

is an unpredictable process.

So, going back to the first question -“What insights can Political

Ecology provide for the study of my problem (the debate between

animal right defenders, and halal meat users)?”- We could see that

political ecology, indeed, gives us many important tools for the

study of my research topic, not only because it makes us reflect

on the report between man, environment and bodily experiences, but

also on those processes which contribute to determine the cultural

perception of the food (and consequentially the “goodness” seen

through the lens of a moral discourse). Besides, it highlights how

the economical processes connected to food production-consumption

imply, on the one hand, a discourse about the vulnerability of3 Idem4 Idem

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people who cannot afford the “good” food (when “good” is a concept

subject to cultural interpretation), and on the other hand, how

economic systems are both agents and subject to agency processes

(I will go into this last point later).

After this theoretical introduction to the report between food and

political ecology, I suppose it would be useful for the reader to

have a little introduction to what exactly is the food I will talk

about in this essay.

Once the reader will clearly have in mind the basic rules of

Islamic dietary prescriptions, it would be easier to understand

which points could be analysed, first in the discussion about the

contrast between animal rights and cultural rights inside

processes of cultural re-negotiation, and then, in the context of

ethics and morality in food production-consumption.

1.2 Halal and haram food: a brief introduction

Generally, in Islam, every object and action is considered

permissible unless there is a prohibition of it in the Islamic

scriptures.

Halal is used in reference to foods; the word literally means,

“permitted”. The most common example of non-halal (or haram) food is

pork.

The food must come from a Muslim, who is supposed to invoke the

name of Allah, saying “Bismillah” (“In the name of God”), and

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perform the slaughter. Then, the animal has to be killed with a

knife by cutting the throat, causing the animal’s death without

cutting the spinal cord. Lastly, all the blood must be drained5.

Foods that are not halal for Muslims, according to Qurʼanic

verses, are:

-Pork

-Blood

-Alcohol

-Animals killed without the consecration to Allah.

-Animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but "Allah".

-Carcasses of dead animals.

-An animal that died in a non-halal way or was not healthy before

slaughter6.

Besides, there are five specific terms to describe the lawfulness

of food:

1) Halal means permitted and lawful. It concerns not only the meat,

but also other foods, cosmetics and personal care products.

2) Haram means forbidden. It is directly opposite to halal.

3) Mushtabihat is something ambiguous or questionable, and is

determined by the presence of ingredients of dubious origins.

4) Makruh is something that is not clearly haram, but is considered

unpleasant by Muslims.

5) Dhabiha is a term often used by Muslims to differentiate the

meat slaughtered by a Muslim, with the meat slaughtered by People

5 Al-Qaradawi Y.,1994. The lawful and the prohibited in Islam, Plainfield: American trust publications P. 82-89.

6 Ibidem P. 98

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of the Book (Jews and Christians) or by people with no religious

connotation7.

This is actually a very brief introduction to the topic of halal

food. During my studies, I had the chance to expand this topic,

analysing how the current dietary practices have been shaped

through the interpretation of the different Doctrine sources (the

Qur’an, The traditional life of Prophet Muhammad and the work of

Law schools). I am not going too deep on these topics, because my

purpose is to give a general overview on the principal food rules

and on the slaughtering practices, in order to analyse why the

animal rights contrast with such practices.

Indeed, the first problem that emerges from this introduction is

connected to the animal’s conditions before slaughter. Since it

must be healthy before the ritual, a stunned animal cannot lead to

a real halal food, as intended into the Scriptures.

Now we have a clear picture of which kind of food we are talking

about; I think it would be useful to have an overview on its

consumption and the particular restriction that Muslim's “proper

food” consumers have to face with in Sweden.

1.2 European “proper food” consumption: animal rights, cultural

rights and the Swedish Animal Welfare Act

7 Benkheira M. H., 2000. Islam et interdits alimentaire, Paris, Presses Universitaire de France P.58-67.

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As I previously said, political ecology provides many analytical

tools for the study of the meanings attributed to the food and its

production-consumption. Since I am studying a particular kind of

food (halal), I will try to frame the research in the European

(especially Swedish) context, highlighting the legal situation of

ritual slaughter and the oppositions of animal rights association.

Besides, I will bring up some empirical data collected during my

interviews.

I will also show how the animal rights issue can be contextualized

in the “proper food” frame, in order to answer to the second

question I formulated (How it is possible to contextualize the

issue of the animal rights inside the frame of ‘proper food’

intended as halal?).

In Europe the legal situation of ritual slaughter changes from

Country to Country. On the one hand, Article 9 of the European

Convention on Human Rights gives the right to freedom of thought,

conscience, and religion, which includes the freedom to manifest a

religion and its practices and observance, subject only to such

restrictions as are “in accordance with law” and “necessary in a

democratic society8 ”.

On the other hand, the European Union directive, “European

Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter”, generally

requires stunning before slaughter, but allows member states to

make exemptions for religious slaughter: “Each Contracting Party

may authorize derogations from the provisions concerning prior8 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/food_safety/animal_welfare/

f82001_en.html

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http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/food_safety/animal_welfare/f82001_en.html



stunning in the following cases: – slaughtering in accordance with

religious rituals9...”.

In Sweden, ritual slaughter is regulated by the Swedish Animal

Welfare Act. This practice without stunning has been prohibited

since 1937, so all domestic animals must be stunned before

slaughter10.

Sweden has strict animal protection laws. It also has a long

tradition of campaigns for Animal Rights, supported by different

associations. We can find a suitable example in the organisation

Djurens Rätt (Animal Rights). Today, Djurens Rätt it is the leading

animal rights and animal welfare organisation with 32,000

members11.

The solid institution of Animal Rights organizations has

contributed to a re-configuration of halal food production and

consumption in Sweden. Now, the Swedish situation about the halal

food is complicated, because the halal meat produced in Sweden comes

from stunned animals and cannot be considered really halal. Besides,

since the ritual slaughter has been banned from Denmark (February

2014), the Muslim communities (approximately the 6% of the total

population, according to the International Religious Freedom

9 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/eu_human_rights_convention_en.htm

10 http://www.government.se/content/1/c6/09/03/10/f07ee736.pdf11 http://www.djurensratt.se/

10

http://www.djurensratt.se/

http://www.government.se/content/1/c6/09/03/10/f07ee736.pdf

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/eu_human_rights_convention_en.htm

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/eu_human_rights_convention_en.htm


Report for 201312) have lost their bigger meat exporter13.

Still, there is ambiguity when we talk about what is halal and what

is “called halal”.

During my preliminary interviews for the master thesis, one of my

informants showed me an article about a case of tension with

animal rights defenders in Sigtuna.

Sigtuna Municipality served halal slaughtered chicken to students as

well as other municipalities, arousing the anger of those who

believed that the food served met the criteria of animal rights.

Therefore, the students’ parents argued that it was cruelty to

animals and they did not want their children to eat halal

slaughtered chicken.

At the end, the case was solved by Bjorn Artz, nutrition manager

at Sigtuna Municipality, who said that the birds were stunned

before slaughter, according to Swedish animal welfare, so they

were actually halal, but in the Swedish way14.

Well, this is not only an example of a typical debate between

animal rights and cultural rights defenders, but also an example

of that ambiguity I was talking about.

Therefore, the ritual slaughter is actually a “problem” that fuels

debates throughout Europe. During the literature search for the

master thesis, I have found many works on this “problem”, with

12 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?dlid=127339&year=2009#wrapper

13 http://www.worldbulletin.net/muslim-world/128887/denmark-to-ban-halal-and-kosher-slaughter-methods 14 http://www.marsta.nu/News.aspx?articleId=12001

11

http://www.marsta.nu/News.aspx?articleId=12001

http://www.worldbulletin.net/muslim-world/128887/denmark-to-ban-halal-and-kosher-slaughter-methods


http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?dlid=127339&year=2009#wrapper

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?dlid=127339&year=2009#wrapper


different theoretical approaches.

There are scholars who discuss about the ritual slaughter

connected to the concept of democracy and minorities’ rights. I am

thinking about Markha Valenta's work, “Pluralist democracy or

scientist monocracy? Debating ritual slaughter15”, where we can

find inspiring examples of how scholars analysed these phenomena

through the lens of normative pluralism.

There are also scholars who try to analyse the social impact of

ritual slaughter in Europe and its consequences on animal rights

and consumer rights. Some valuable examples can be found in the

work of Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, who focuses on the integration

of ‘Muslim ritual slaughter’ into the national legislation of

Western European countries, and analyses the dispute between

animal welfare organisations and religious groups16.

The theme of the “dispute” also introduces a new clue. If there

are different positions, there must be different points that

support them.

We have seen that, in the food production-consumption the ways to

perceive the “goodness” could be different and, sometimes,

opposite. In the case of the debate between animal rights and

cultural rights, we can analyse the multiplicity of ways the food

can be perceived as an expression of what we believe is right or

wrong, and this could be directly reconnected to a moral

15 Valentha M. 2012. Pluralist Democracy or Scientistic Monocracy, Erasmus Law Review Vol. 5 Issue 1, P.27-41.16 Bergeaud- Blackler F. 2007.New Challenges for Islamic Ritual Slaughter: A European Perspective in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Volume 33, Issue 6 P. 965-980.

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discourse.

Both sides in the debate have moral arguments, but they have

different moralities. They seem to have differing ideas of what is

a priority value attributed to an animal, its life and the way its

death is acceptable to us. This brings us back to the third

question: -What moral issues arise in the conflict between animal

rights and cultural rights related to halal food?

The answer concerns the actual definitions of “morals” and

“ethics” and their connection to the perception of the “goodness”

of the food. Besides, the moral and ethical discourses can be

expanded to the concept of an “ethical food production-

consumption”, highlighting how the producer and consumer’s

concerns about the food are strictly connected to the perception

of right and wrong.

1.3 Ethics and morals in food production-consumption

“Ethics” and “morals” are two concepts extremely broad. They

relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. Sometimes they are used

interchangeably, but they are different: ethics is about rules

coming from collective external source; morals refer to an

individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.

If the construction of what is ethical and what is moral is

strictly connected to the categories of “right” and “wrong”, we

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cannot ignore a fundamental question: “What/who determines what is

right or wrong?”.

To answer this question it is fundamental to return to Cartesian

heritage expressed through the dualistic view, and to the nature-

culture division. There is absolutely no nature-culture fight when

we talk about animal rights and cultural rights. They both belong

to both categories. Everybody must eat to survive, but the way the

people provide food for themselves and eat it, are culturally

oriented. When we apply these concepts to our main topics, the

things become more complicated.

Still, there are different moral problems in food production-

consumption what deserve an appropriate analysis.

Many scholars tried to show their own vision of which kind of

moral and ethical issues are connected to the way the food is

produced and consumed, and there are some works that can actually

help us to answer to our fourth question -Is there a possibility

to develop a study of “ethical production-consumption” related to

“proper food” idea?-

I can think about the work of Frans Brom, who, in “Agricultural

and food ethics”, highlights that the food we eat and the ways we

prepare it are linked to our identities. This idea could also be

connected to Barth theories on social groups and boundaries, and

explain how such categories (like halal) became important when the

people encountered “otherness17”.

Going back to Brom, his work is particularly important because it17 Barth F. ed. 1998. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference (orig. Ed.1969). Lond Grove, Waveland Press Inc. P. 10-30.

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focuses on the gap between the producer and the consumer concern

on the way the food is produced, highlighting in particular the

public concerns that matter to consumers in their role as

citizens, (e.g., concerns about animal welfare, sustainability,

bio-diversity and social justice18).

The issue of the gap between producer and consumer is a recurrent

topic in academic studies about ethics and morals connected to

food. An inspiring work of Michael Goodman analyses fair trade

attempts to re-connect producers and consumers economically,

politically, and psychologically through the creation of a

transnational moral economy19. This is an important example of that

kind of “anxiety” connected to the problem of the “moral

categorization”, and the consequent ethical behaviour within the

processes of food selection.

If we want to go even deeper, reconnecting directly to the issue

of ethics and morality in the production and consumption of halal

food, we could analyse the work Carla M. Zoethout.

In “Animals as sentient beings: on animal welfare, public morality

and ritual slaughter”, she focuses on the issue of the respect of

animals welfare framed in “21st Century public morality”, and

highlights the friction between animal rights and ritual

slaughter20. This article is an example of the current theories on

18 Brom F. W. A. 2000. “Agricultural and food ethics, form consumer concerns toprofessional ethics”. Italian Journal of Food Science, volume XII, 4. P.395-401.19 Goodman, Michael K.2004. Reading fair trade: political ecological imaginary and the moral economy of fair trade foods. Political Geography 23: 891–915.20 Zoethout C. M. 2013.Animals as Sentient Beings: On Animal Welfare, Public Morality and Ritual

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moral and ethical aspects on food production-consumption connected

to the issue of animal welfare and halal. The discussion is

obviously broader and brings us back to the report between nature

and culture, man and environment, food and morality, people and

food economy.

About this last point, I would now briefly focus on the moral

aspects of food economy, because we cannot talk about production

and consumption, without talking about economic processes.

John Ikerd makes an important digression on economics and ethics

of food, highlighting how “Eating is a moral act. Our food choices

are a reflection of our personal social and ethical values, of our

morality. Our choices should not reflect what we think we can or

cannot do to change the world. Our food choices should reflect of

what we think is fundamentally right and good – not only for

ourselves but also for others, including those of future

generations21”.

According to his thought, through the simple act of eating: “We

become interdependent with the land and with each other. We become

interconnected with the physical energy that permeates the earth

and everything upon it and the spiritual energy that transcends

the earth that gives our lives purpose and meaning. We are more

than consumers. We are co-creators of the ecological, social, and

economic world in which we live out our lives and in which those

Slaughter. ICL Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3. P.308-326.21Ikerd J., The Economics and Ethics of food. Online paperhttp://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Denver%20-%20food%20economics%20ethics.html P. 1-2.

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http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Denver%20-%20food%20economics%20ethics.html



of future generations must live out theirs as well22”.

So, if we are all co-creators of this ecological, social and

economic world, our cultural peculiarities, the moral values and

the ethical behaviour are all part of the configuration of a

system.

Ikerd’s contribute does not end here. In one paper he resumes some

of the principal points of this essay, not only because he

highlights the report between eating and morality, man and

environment, consumers and social world, but also because he goes

back to the concept of food inequality, focusing on the different

access to food.

This last point becomes extremely interesting if we want to

analyse the different access to halal food in those Countries where

it is subject to ambiguity. There is a great difference between

who can afford the “high quality halal” food what is imported from

those places that have the permission to perform the ritual

slaughter without stunning, and those who cannot spend so much and

need to make compromises between the personal morality and the

personal finances.

This example could be used also to see the other side of the coin.

In a state where only halal meat is available, somebody who does not

want to eat this kind of food, due to his/her moral beliefs about

animal welfare, should have the economic possibilities to follow

22 Idem

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the moral values. Otherwise he/she should make the same economy-

morality compromise.

Conclusions

This essay tries to expose the different theoretical approaches we

can use to study the phenomena of halal food, connected to the

issues of animal rights, ethical and moral aspects.

There could be no conclusion without a step back to the research

questions. I think that now it is clear for the reader how the

tools of political ecology are useful to frame the discussion of

food production-consumption. I have analysed how the report with

environment and the processes connected to politics, geography,

economy and culture have a significant role in the selection of

food.

Furthermore, I showed how the issue of religion-oriented food fits

in the discussion between animal rights and cultural rights,

highlighting both these positions, and bringing up some actual

examples.

Finally, I focused on the issue of the moral aspects of food

production-consumption and the different theoretical approaches to

the problem.

Sometimes I had the feeling I was building two barricades during

the essay writing.

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I was thinking this while I was writing the last paragraph. I had

on my desk “Animal rights, cultural rights” by Mark Nuttal, and I

noticed something I missed before; the title on the book cover is

divided by a crack, exactly between the words “animal rights” and

“human rights”, to emphasize a clear separation between the first

and the second concept.

That was not my intention; I did not want to describe a reality

when people “fight” for what they think it is better, but just two

different (opposite) perspectives.

Bibliography

-Al-Qaradawi Y., c1994. The lawful and the prohibited in Islam, Plainfield:

American trust publications.

-Barth F. Ed. 1998. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of

Culture Difference (orig. ed.1969). Lond Grove, Waveland Press Inc.

-Bergeaud- Blackler F. 2007.New Challenges for Islamic Ritual

Slaughter: A European Perspective in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Volume 33, Issue 6.

-Benkheira M. H., 2000. Islam et interdits alimentaire, Paris, Presses

Universitaire de France.

-Brom F. W. A. 2000. “Agricultural and food ethics, form consumer

concerns to professional ethics”

Italian Journal of Food Science, volume XII, 4.

-Galt R. E. 2013. "Placing Food Systems in First World Political

Ecology: A Review and Research Agenda." GEC3 Geography Compass 7

(9).

19


-Goodman, M. K.2004. Reading fair trade: political ecological

imaginary and the moral economy of fair trade foods. Political

Geography 23.

-Hayes-Conroy, J., and A. Hayes-Conroy. 2013. Veggies and

visceralities: a political ecology of food and feeling. Emotion,

Space and Society 6.

-Ikerd J., The Economics and Ethics of food. Online paper

http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Denver%20-%20food

%20economics%20ethics.html.

-Valentha M. 2012. Pluralist Democracy or Scientistic Monocracy,

Erasmus Law Review Vol. 5 Issue 1.

-Zoethout C. M. 2013.Animals as Sentient Beings: On Animal Welfare, Public

Morality and Ritual

Slaughter. ICL Journal, Vol. 7 ( 3).

Websites

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/food_safety/

animal_welfare/f82001_en.html

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/

eu_human_rights_convention_en.html


http://www.worldbulletin.net/muslim-world/128887/denmark-to-ban-

halal-and-kosher-slaughter-methods


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http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/eu_human_rights_convention_en.html

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/eu_human_rights_convention_en.html





http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629804000691





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The halal meat as symbol of religious identity: animal rights and cultural rights

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