Research and Study Institute on Halal

Halal

According to the IERH, halal refers to several social phenomena falling within different registers. Translated as licit, it originates from a normative category of Muslim law, in opposition to haram, i.e. illicit.

In a broader definition, it refers to a symbolic category established by the social usage of the term towards ethicizing various social practices. But more and more restrictively, it refers to consumer goods that comply with a set of practical and ethical codes in manufacturing and consumption; then to food products containing no ingredients prohibited for consumption by Muslim law, and finally to meat products derived from Islamic slaughter.

Thus it enables to qualify a set of goods and services that comprise a market or a singular economic sector by virtue of adherence to the ethical principles and / or legal norms of Islam.

produce, disseminate and develop knowledge on Islamic ritual slaughter and explore the ethical, legal, socio-economic and biological dimensions of halal

Mission statement

Created in 2016, the Institute for Research and Study on Halal (IERH) intends to produce, disseminate and develop knowledge on Islamic ritual slaughter and explore the ethical, legal, socio-economic and biological dimensions of halal. The IERH will conduct various studies and research to pursue the following tasks:

Studies, information and training :

To conduct and promote studies on the actors and usages of halal, and on the representations, discourses and practices, which halal is the subject of;
To supply information on existing slaughter techniques, their uses and their various consequences in terms of religion, ethics, health and economics;
To provide initial or on-going vocational training for stakeholders from private and public sectors as well as for the general public concerned or interested in halal, through an introduction, a furthering or a perfecting of their knowledge and practices.

Research, actions and relations :

To conduct, initiate and support research in the field of halal;
To identify and analyse innovative alternatives in the production and the consumption of halal products and to facilitate the practical development of the most appropriate ones;
To trigger the exchange of experiences between scientific, religious, economic and political actors;
To foster exchanges and relations among civil society organisations and actors, who share complementary or convergent aims, and with similar bodies across the world;
To continuously promote the above objectives inside public authorities or bodies, mixed or private, industrial or commercial enterprises, universities and other educational centres and organisations.

produce, disseminate and develop knowledge on Islamic ritual slaughter and explore the ethical, legal, socio-economic and biological dimensions of halal.

Orientation, tools and axes of research

IERH’s work will be informed by the spirit and practices of action-research methodology, thus orienting its activities, in order to transform the current reality of halal, towards greater transparency and benevolence in biological, ecological, economic and social matters. The work carried out and supported by the IERH is research, which is applied (backed by concrete projects), interdisciplinary (religious sciences, human and social sciences, life sciences, technologies) and multilingual (French, English and Arabic).

To achieve its objectives, the IERH has adopted the following research tools and instruments:

A halal observatory which, through scientific monitoring, is charged with mapping and processing all manifestations and publications related to halal;
A resource centre providing researchers and students with the most reliable and relevant documentation and data;
A training centre responsible for conducting specific and general conferences, symposia and seminars on the different issues at stake in relation to halal;
Publications in different formats related to the research and study activities of the IERH.

IERH assigns its research projects to working groups (WG) gathering and cross-fertilizing the various perspectives of the different actors and scientific, religious, economic and political authorities. The WGs are thematized according to the following axes of research:

WG1: Halal terminology: etymology, history, religious sciences
WG2: Slaughter, suffering and societies: human and social sciences, philosophy
WG3: Productivism, consumerism and alternatives: economic and technological sciences