The Global Halal Industry

Reviewed by: Abdullah Drury, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Published by: Abingdon: Routledge, 2024, xiv+196pp.ISBN: 978-1032579092.

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This is a curious book. Excellent writing and social science research on the topic of Halal food and other closely related matters are rare. The obstacles to high-quality research in this field are notoriously legion. This book, with the exception of a few of the better chapters, confirm this harsh judgment. The presence of maximum feasible moral controversy, plus the contamination of unreliable sources (unofficial or official) dog every scholar and analyst. However, comparable barriers and obstacles have not precluded high-quality academic literature in cognate fields, such as the study of Islamic law or Muslim communal sociology. But here much of Qadri’s book is regrettably all too typical of the general ‘Halal’ literature one finds in a free-pamphlet at a discount bookshop: it manages to combine armchair psychology, loose (indeed, frequent) moralising reflection, and factual inaccuracy, in a manner that does little for the professional reputation of the social sciences.

Let us start with factual inaccuracies. There are multiple spelling errors such as ‘luckâc all’ (p.19). The name ‘Abu Bakra’ (p.23) must be ‘Abu Bakr’ surely? The surname Yesil is spelt all in capital letters for no obvious reason, twice. (108, 112). ‘Pewresearch’ is given as one word, as a name, twice (pp.151, 166). The text introduces ‘non-Muslim Muslims’ (p.152) and writes ‘Shar’iyyah’ on one page, then ‘Shariah’ the next page (pp.152, 153). If Qadri’s errors and inaccuracies are representative of his research, then the author will have seriously damaged his reputation as a commentator on the topic matter.