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Last Updated: Sep 25th, 2006 - 11:36:04 |
It has probably never been easier for a Muslim to travel the globe while retaining what has long been considered by many as the most difficult tenet to maintain – consuming Halal food. While it used to take considerable effort to find a Halal eatery in many countries without significant Muslim minorities, Halal restaurants nowadays appear to be mushrooming in most major cities worldwide. In many cities, a Muslim can now dig into a steak without guilt, and not have to resort to a seafood diet only - or become vegetarian sporadically.
While adherence to Islam’s dietary requirements is among the most lax observances for many Muslims as they move around far away from home, what may be more encouraging than the ease with which one can now find a Halal restaurant, is what this development represents – the growth in awareness about Islam and Muslims in general and a recognition of their presence.
Whether as business visitors, tourists, or residents now matching the ubiquitous ‘overseas Chinese’ community in a majority of countries on almost every continent, Muslims are everywhere. And they bring with them a growing consciousness about the faith and its people.
New Halal restaurants popping up in various locales around Western Europe or even North America runs counter to developments, which the international media may otherwise have us believe. That ‘Islamophobia’ may have been strengthened in many places in the West, becoming an undeniable trend particularly in this post September 11 context. It has nevertheless developed along with a reality that many Muslims who travel (or even just surf the Internet) can attest to in the form of the new Halal restaurant, in a place that never saw one before.
Goods and services catering to Muslims are now easy to find. Countries not traditionally synonymous with Islam or Muslims report growth in economic areas centred around Muslims as a target market. Many parts of the world are ‘going Halal’.
While the Muslim traveller is being courted and hailed by new restaurants covering cuisines beyond the usual Indian or Middle Eastern fare, and with Halal travel packages featuring not only places to eat but destinations with an ‘Islamic flavour’, Islamic financial institutions and practices have also become another growth industry.
Islamic banking, insurance, funds and even bonds are no longer uncommon news items, and in fact appear on the pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. In Malaysia, Islamic banking institutions and instruments can boast of not only non-Muslim participation as investors and clients, but in fact constitute a group that forms a majority of the market.
Significantly however, is the predominance of an increased purchasing power amongst Muslims as a group – Muslims who are fast joining the ranks of globe trekkers and consumers. It is not just the Arabs who have dinar to splurge; more than petro-dollars are being spent by investors and consumers from places like Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul and Karachi. Muslims are moving economies in many parts of the world and have become a market force to be reckoned with.
So, what do these developments in fact mean? Has such interest in Muslims (growing in the interest of Muslims certainly) and the market that they constitute, evolved despite the negative press that Islam has received on a constant basis by opinion-leading institutions that govern our daily diet of news and information? Or are they an inadvertent off-shoot, in fact unsurprising considering the amount of coverage that Islam and Muslims have received day in and day out? Can they be sustained and further encouraged?
What is certain is that such developments are a reality for the majority and far more representative of many people’s interactions with Muslims than the hooded, gun-toting, jihadi terrorist who nevertheless frequently appears on the evening news. Many may be fed a diet of unflattering images of Muslims, but many are also eating Halal food, considered more hygienic and healthier by not only Islam’s followers but those of other faiths.
Let us not be distorted into believing that this post-September 11 world has brought nothing good for Islam and its ummah. The opportunities abound. It is only a matter for Muslims and Muslim countries to decide what to make of them.
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