In France, Islamophobia is reaching new heights. A French town has recently filed a complaint against a fast food chain because the restaurant now prepares burgers from halal meat. One French politician warns against "Islamization" from eating halal meat. Apparently, eating meat killed according to Islamic butchering rules might make you Muslim. Beware.
The halal butchering rules were meant to promote health and humane treatment of animals. "Halal" means "permissible." Under halal butchering rules, the animal must be killed quickly by cutting its throat -- that was the quickest and most painless way in when the rules were developed over a thousand years ago. Additionally, it must be killed outside the presence of other animals. The words, "God is most caring, most forgiving," must be said before the animal is killed, to indicate that the animal is being killed for food and not sport. Torturing an animal is not allowed in Islam.
I fail to see the evil and subversive motive here in offering halal meat at restaurants.
Burgers made of halal meat should taste no different from those that are not halal. I cannot count the number of All-Beef Kosher hot dogs I've eaten, especially at baseball games. I don't feel "tainted" for having done so. I am still Muslim, and don't feel that part of me has become Jewish because I've eaten kosher food throughout my life. Indeed, Muslims have often preferred to eat kosher meat in the United States, rather than non-Kosher, because that is permissible, too. In fact, the Qur'an says that the food of Jews and Christians (except for specifically forbidden food, like pork) is permissible to eat.
It is therefore difficult for me to understand why non-Muslims would be averse to eating meat that was butchered according to halal rules that promote health and humane slaughtering.
But I suspect it's fear. Fear and politics. Fear of immigration -- which we have, too, in the United States, though it's directed more at immigration from Mexico -- and the politics that plays upon it. Right-wing pundits in the U.S. blame Mexican immigrants for everything from taking over our culture (Glenn Beck) to job loss to crime to leprosy (Lou Dobbs). Both fear and politics operate the same way in France, conveniently blaming all French social ills on Islam. Hence, the reaction toward halal.
It's not a new attitude, either. In 2003, Manuel Valls, the mayor of a Paris suburb, opposed a halal supermarket that did not sell pork or alcoholic beverages. He said, as the current litigants do, that the supermarket should have sold other kinds of meat, as well.
Should we apply the same logic and require Jewish delis to serve pork? Should vegetarian restaurants be sued because they discriminate against meat-eaters? Pastry shops because they serve almond croissants but no ham-and-cheese?
Discrimination against Muslim immigrants in France is very real. As Laila Lalami points out, while the unemployment rate for French university graduates is 5 percent, the unemployment rate for North-African French university graduates is 27 percent. Western portrayal of Muslims, she adds, focuses on the problems they cause and not the problems they face. Discussions are about Muslims, not with them. Protests against poverty are portrayed as "Muslim protests," and issues of civil liberties, like a woman's right to dress the way she wants, are portrayed as "Muslim" issues.
The problem is not Islam. American Muslims are proof that Islam does not prevent integration; a recent Pew poll described the American Muslim population as middle-class, mainstream, and moderate. No religion can survive, as Islam has, for 1400 years without being flexible and adaptable. Rather, the problem is the combination of socioeconomics, widespread ignorance of Muslim beliefs and practices, and fear of the other.
But until this is recognized, every action by Muslims and every action to accommodate Muslims -- like the fast-food chain serving halal meat -- will continue to be construed as threatening and hostile. In a world growing smaller by the day, this path is guaranteed to lead to conflict. I cannot imagine that this is the path on which any of us wish to be.
Sumbul Ali-Karamali is an attorney with an additional degree in Islamic law. She is the author of "The Muslim Next Door: the Qur'an, the Media, and that Veil Thing," (www.muslimnextdoor.com), a fun-to-read introduction to Islam and a Bronze Medal Winner of the 2009 Independent Publisher's Awards.
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The blogger accuses the mayor of Evry of Islamophobia.
Reality is that Evry's mayor, Manuel Valls, opposed supermarket refusal to sell French staple items (wine, for examaple) in the blighted area which has few supermarkets. therefore, non-Muslims poor especially those without cars will far to travel far to buy food.
Quote from the Mayor:
"We can't accept that neighbourhoods that are already at a disadvantage because of things like unemployment and poverty, be further disadvantaged by what we in France called 'ghettoization'
which is when a community turns inwards."
www.cbc.ca/world/story/2003/01/13/halalmarket030113.html#ixzz0hK3cmWJF
Certainly, this can be argued. But a blanket accusation of Islamophobia is made entirely too easily by Muslims hyper-vigilant about their religion.
It is because they do not understand and are afraid in their ignorance. The town(which town?)'s actions are severely insensitive and wrongheaded.
And one of the ways they are doing this is through the anti-racist laws. It is 'racist' to challenge the Shari'a in many parts of Europe. Long held rights are being threatened.
Political Islam ~ is what has Europe so annoyed with Islam.
British TV Docu: Britain's Islamic Republic
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/3DoEQKD-Dispatches-britains-islamic-republic
EU & US Muslim immigrant ~ the difference is that most EU immigration comes from arranged marriages mainly to family members back in the old country ~ are often of a low education background ~ and they have been doing this for generations. EU governments are now cracking down on the every child is a passport practise.
Note: in this US ~ often honor killings are connected to these arranged marriages ~ so the US is simply behind Europe.
Why can't Muslims eat chicken that is not halal ~ demanding that the entire society eat chicken blessed by an Imam is a step too far!
I am glad France is standing up for its free Republic.
If you go into a burger joint and order a bacon burger and they say they don't make bacon burgers, do you get mad? Nope, you get a burger, eat it and go about your business. What if they served halal meat and didn't tell you - would you notice? Of course not, unless you are a French politician, then you'd catch The Islam.
Economic deprivation caused by inability to obtain & hold jobs is occurring across many societies, not only in Europe. This will always cause resentment, unrest, incitement, but the local govt. leaders should not capitalize on these emotions. (They certainly do in the USA, unfortunately.) Whatever the motivations of the French pols, the tendency of Muslim families to spend a large percentage of their budget on food is not missed by European marketeers who are retooling food producers to take into account Halal standards as many more Halal products are currently being sold, abroad as well as here in the USA.
P.S. Sumbul, I've got your book! It's great!
Regional elections are coming up.
Not one customer complained when the restaurant switched to halal beef in November.
Then ultra-right politician Marine Le Pen made a fuss about it, the local mayor agreed, and -- hey presto -- halal was suddenly the thin end of the wedge, "undermining" French culture... way to get the "anti-immigration" vote.
I say ban those Halal restaurants. French can easily become Muslims eating that food.
It's funny when the shoe is on the other foot.
Agreed.
Couple of possible reasons:
1.U.S. doesn't provide generous social benefits. This allows many European Muslim immigrants to live without having to learn the language of the host country and ignore the mainstream society altogether.
In U.S. immigrants must work, learn English and co exist with other people as a matter of survival.
2. Europe is inundated with foreign ultra-conservative mullahs and imams from Turkey, Saudi Arabia , Pakistan etc. This is especially true for Salafist missionaries. This phenomenon plays havoc with integration policies and prevents adaptation of European cultural values. In U.S. this phenomenon is less prevalent.
3.U.S. is a nation of immigrants. Those demostrably dedicated to ethics of work and education are genrally accepted into the mainstream.
Many countries in Europe ( with some exceptions) have had less experience with immigrants, especially opposed to European values and culture. there is a considerable push-back against immigrant minorities who are dismissive of European values and culture.
Notably--just as in U,.S.-- other Asian communities,(Chinese and Vietnamese) have been far more successful navigating European societies. Primary reason--- less religiosity.
#2 I think everyone is a nationalist in Europe.
#3 I won't deny it.
Your note is not off base either.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2402973.ece
1) Muslims in the US are not here because they used to be dependents of US colonization, nor or they here because they were invited in as cheap labor with the expectation that they would eventually go home.
2) The US vision of the melting pot does not require that groups surrender their national identity. While it is not unheard of for people in the US to complain that malls are putting aside space for muslims to pray, or that kosher seals on food drive up the cost (maybe as much as 1cent on a bottle of ketchup) this are recognizably fringe complaints.