Feasting on Jihad

So what if some, er, entrepreneurs want to put up a "Super Halal Industrial Park" (SHIP)  in the U.K.? It's simply a matter of "supply and demand," isn't it--supplying the growing demand for Halal meat? Well, yes. And then again, no. Let us not forget that "Halal" isn't merely Islam's equivalent of kosher. It's the food component of sharia law, a law that is seen to have "universal" (i.e. global) application, as this article on the Islam Online site makes plain:

Jayanarayan says SHIP will help to make Britain a landmark Halal center for the region.

"You have 2.5 billion people on the planet eating halal food, directly or indirectly," he noted.

"This halal market is not going away, it is not some fad."

The total European halal food market is currently valued at about $66 billion, including meat, fresh food and packed food, while the global market is worth about $634 billion.

A successful first project could lead to further launches across Europe, particularly countries with sizable Muslim population such as France and Germany.

"We would prefer to go to places like Bosnia, where there's a large Muslim population and... we could seek EU grants," Jayanarayan said.

The firm is also planning to set up an Islamic stock exchange in either London or Luxembourg to try to encourage the development of Islamic enterprise.

"We have a technical partner, a Shari'ah board and we have identified a board of directors, but there is still a lot of work to be done," said Jayanarayan.

The exchange would abide by Shari'ah, restricting practices such as short-selling and the use of leverage.

In recent years, London has established itself as a hub of Islamic finance.

Britain has four licensed wholesale Islamic banks - the only ones in the European Union.

There are also 21 conventional banks offering Islamic banking products.

You could say "Halal" is the meat of sharia while Islamic banking is the potatoes. Add that to mushrooming demographic and you have the main course of a sharia dinner. And for dessert--some of that dee-licious sharia censorship bread pudding.

Eat up, Europe!