Emel Magazine – Islam in China Special Issue
Sarah Joseph is Editor & CEO of emel media.
Our Company
Having grown up in one of the world’s top model agencies, Sarah converted to Islam at the age of 16. A powerful and popular public speaker, she has lectured on Islam globally for over 20 years. Sarah was awarded an OBE by the Queen in 2004 for her services to interfaith dialogue and the promotion of women’s rights.
She is listed as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by Georgetown University and the Royal Jordanian Strategic Studies Centre.
Her founding and editorship of emel in 2003 was a turning point in Muslim media. It created a paradigm shift in the way Muslims were portrayed and were marketed to. Sarah’s Facebook page, which has a large global following, declares her passion “to get people to recognise their shared humanity, and our common responsibility to this Earth.” She manages this through her work with emel Media Group, but also through other avenues, including her regular ‘Pause for Thought’ on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show - Britain's most popular radio show.
Sarah’s work in the Muslim community and with emel Media Group means she has a wealth of knowledge and expertise which she uses to great effect to advise on the needs of Muslims to government and corporate bodies, as well as public and private institutions. Through these endeavours Sarah has become a leading expert on the Muslim Lifestyle market.
A self-confessed perfectionist who absolutely loves her work, Sarah is the proud mother of three young children; she keeps chickens, and supports Tottenham Hotspur.
24 February 2012
Ogilvy Noor’s Shelina Janmohamed explains why brands should care
This article first appeared on www.ogilvynoor.com
If
you’re serious about talking to Muslim consumers, then one of the first
things you need to understand is the meaning of the term halal.
In colloquial parlance, the term halal is used in reference to meat that has come from an animal slaughtered according to Islamic prescription, which is remarkably similar to – although not identical to – Kosher guidelines.
Products must also exclude ingredients that are forbidden to Muslims,
like alcohol and pig-derivative products. Halal means “permitted.” The
opposite is haraam, “forbidden.”
When the Quran talks of halal it uses a broader description of “goodness and wholesomeness”; the essence is that the product from its origin through to its final consumption should exhibit purity, care for the animals and the environment and ethical treatment at every stage of its production.
In a world that over recent decades has moved towards mass production and away from traditional farming methods and local goods, Muslims – like other consumers – are increasingly concerned about their produce being ethical and organic. Muslims consider these to fall under the wider definition of halal.
However, to consider a whole marketplace of products is more than one short article can handle. So here we are going to stick to the basics of food.
There’s another reason for doing so: In our research looking at Muslim perceptions of the sharia-friendliness of a range of well-known brands, the ones related to food and beverage topped the list.
Muslims believe that their physical intake directly affects their
spiritual life. That’s why Muslim consumers are so intent on ensuring
what they consume is halal. And considering that the halal market is
estimated at around $500 billion annually and growing, brands should pay
attention.
Certified Halal
There is
no global standard of halal; local boards pop up in every country. If
you’d like your product certified halal, then the first step is to
identify the certification bodies that will be most relevant to the
Muslim consumers you are targeting.
If your product is entirely vegetarian, and contains no alcohol, then it’s worth noting that clearly on your packaging. The Chicago Tribune looked at the trend of rising farm-to-fork consciousness among Muslims, reporting that “some Muslims are making sure their food is not just halal, but organic, free-range and tayiib – Arabic for wholesome. They care as much about how the animal was killed as they do about how it was raised.”
Their concerns are part of growing consumer awareness and demands for ethical and organic food. In fact, a Dutch insights company called Innova published 10 key food trends for 2012 which included the values of purity, authenticity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
These values show a remarkable crossover with halal values, which point to the idea of wholesomeness, goodness and purity.
Pure & Good
For marketers looking to engage Muslim consumers – in particular in developed markets – there is an opportunity to capitalise on this growing intersection between the organic/ethical market and the halal market.
In the US, Whole Earth Meats is halal and organic. It markets its burgers based on tradition and wholesomeness, using these values to appeal to Muslim consumers first, underlining them with its halal status.
Consumers who are not Muslim also state that halal (and kosher) foods are preferential due to the care and cleanliness that goes into preparing them.
In the Ningxia region of China, which has a high Muslim population, Malaysian firm Fahim is about to implement a Halal Integrity Management solution. This will deliver exactly what we’ve been discussing here – an end-to-end solution for monitoring halal status from farm to fork. It’s an exciting development for Muslim consumers.
The Chairman of Fahim’s parent company explains the potential for crossover in his region: “Our target is not only the Muslims but also the non-Muslims. I was told by some Chinese people that they preferred halal food products to allay food safety concerns as halal in Chinese literally means pure and good.”
The lesson to take away from all this is that the potential for halal to appeal to Muslim consumers (and beyond) is open to all businesses and brands wherever they may be. The simple, and lucrative, first step is to reach out to Muslim consumers by ensuring your products are halal-compliant, and making sure that your Muslim consumers know it.
Image/Mustafa Khayat
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