The Food Jihad?

Stephen Colbert and other smuggles may scoff at those who raise their eyebrows and alarms over the Muslim Brotherhood getting its mitts on an iconic American product like Campbell's soup. It appears, however, that  many, many others take their "halal" very seriously indeed. In fact, they look upon it as a means (one of many) of spreading sharia, Islam's law sans peer. From onislam:

Kuala Lumpur – Hundreds of delegates from around the world are meeting in Malaysia to probe ways of merging halal goods and services into an integrated economy.

“This convergence will make both industries stronger and give us a more resolute voice in the international business scene,” Abdalhamid Evans, director of the World Halal Forum (WHF), told attendees.

Delegates from over 40 countries started meetings in Kuala Lumpur on Monday to discuss how to merge halal goods and services, according to Zawya website.

“Today we have witnessed the start of Halal 2.0, a transformation of mindsets towards value-based products and services which in turn will give rise to areas of new growth and wealth creation.”

The concept of halal, -- meaning permissible in Arabic -- has traditionally been applied to food.

Muslims should only eat meat from livestock slaughtered by a sharp knife from their necks, and the name of Allah, the Arabic word for God, must be mentioned.

Now other goods and services can also be certified as halal, including cosmetics, clothing, pharmaceuticals and financial services.

Islamic finance is also one of the fastest growing sectors in the global financial industry.

Currently, there are nearly 300 Islamic banks and financial institutions worldwide, whose assets are predicted to grow to $1 trillion by 2013.

“We have taken the bull by the horns, so to speak, to steer the two Shariah-based industries towards a holistic Halal Economy that includes all sectors, from farm to fork to finance,” Evans said...

I dunno. The whole (holistic) thing doesn't sound, you should pardon the expression, kosher to me. (BTW and FYI, "holistic" is Islamist-speak for sharia-style totalitarianism.)