Tariq Ramadan on "Halal" Consumption

The "halal" market and an economy of "Islamic" products have undergone extraordinary development in the past few years. One can observe the same deviations, which consist in trying to obtain the same results with means and commodities considered as "halal" without questioning the productivist, mercantilist, materialistic points of reference and state of mind produced by such processes. Little thought has been given to the squandering of natural resources, to the exploitation of men, women, and children, to the outrageous treatment of animals. All that matters, at the end of the day, is the lawfulness of the product that is to be consumed or worn and the "Islamity" of the commercial transactions through which it is marketed. Islamizing the means in this way while legitimating an unethical capitalism interested only in end results is the most perverse expression of the counterproductive formalism that acts against the values it claims to defend. This global "Islamized" capitalism, as it can be seen on the African continent, in Arab countries, or particularly so-called emerging Asian countries as in Malaysia, or today in Dubai, results in an Islamized Americanization under a coat of very halal terminology and financial techniques. 

Reform, alternative ideas, and resistance are reduced to market-oriented variations on the theme of Islamized labels. Fast food is profitable, therefore Islamic, halal fast-food restaurants are put into operation, from McDonald's to other famous brands. Coke dominates the soft drink market, so a line of products labeled as "Cola" emerges (Mecca Cola, Zem Zem Cola, Medina Cola) to recall the "taste" of the parent company's product while they are alleged to resist the actions of the foreign country or constitute an alternative! There is no resistance in this, no alternative thought, and indeed no originality: marketing methods have merely been "Islamized" (although not always), as well as brands...and that is supposed to do the trick. Not only is this logic too basic, it is above all dangerous, for behind a veneer of "Islamity" it hides objectives that care little for ethics, sometimes playing little attention about the collateral damage produced by such economic processes. Just as people are satisfied with the mere technical and "Islamic" aspect of slaughtering without paying attention to the way the animals were treated in their daily lives, little thought is given to the way in which workers are exploited, in all the sectors of economic activity, to provide the new "Islamic" products (as is also shown by Fulla, the hijab-clad doll, an Islamized duplicate of the Barbie doll complete with a line of accessories that, like it, is made in China.) Not only are those serious aspects minimized, but in addition, the same attitude and the same logic of all-out profitability and blind productivity are maintained. Where ethical awareness and understanding goals should bring more soulfulness and reflection about the meaning and quality of life, the "Islamic" label is exploited then sullied to enable market logic to work on minds but invested with additional religious legitimacy. Ultimately, the "Islam" label, marketed freely, brings money, loads of money. We have come full circle: the capitalist system has managed to efficiently take over an ideational frame of reference that was supposed to resist it, with the collaboration of its operators and of Muslim consumers themselves.

-Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation by Tariq Ramadan, pg. 249-250