I came to know Mr. Chishti through Mr. Fiaz. Mr. Chishti is a member of the board of trustees at the Central Mosque of Birmingham and he has his own business of the sale and purchase of cars. At the mosque, he manages food, other essential items and
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administers the arrangement of any event, construction, repairing and other related chores concerning the daily functioning of the Central Mosque. I held several meetings with Mr. Chishti during my fieldwork and he invited me to his house few times for dinner or a cup of tea. He shared some interesting facts about the members of board of trustees. Mr. Chishti said that there are various reasons how Muslim businessmen, apart from ‘just being a good Muslim or community leader’, secure membership. He told me that several trustee members at the Central Mosque have remained very active over the issue of the provision of Halal cookies to children in public and private schools on social and political platforms in Birmingham. Some board members have actively pursued the provision of
Halal cookies to children in public schools in Muslim neighbourhoods by involving local
councils and by mobilizing local councillors. These members were in the food business and they owned small manufacturing units of Halal cookies. Mr. Chishti told me that after the city council gave approval for the provision of Halal cookies and food for schools, Muslim food manufacturers became the favoured supplier of the authorities in City Council Birmingham for the contracted supply of Halal cookies and other Halal food item for schools
Mr. Chishti further informed me that a few Halal slaughter houses in Birmingham are owned by Muslim businessmen. The ownership of a slaughter house is a very profitable business due to growing demand of Halal food in Birmingham and elsewhere in Britain. However, all sorts of Halal food provision to the food shops, restaurants and other outlets in Birmingham is supervised by the ‘Halal Monitoring Committee’. Every supply of
Halal meat from any slaughter house must be stamped by the Halal Monitoring
Committee. Mr. Chishti said that although there are government inspection teams, who monitor the food quality in every slaughter house, Imams and religious scholars have their own monitoring mechanisms for Halal food suppliers to restaurants, hotels, catering services, schools and shops. The Central Mosque of Birmingham plays an important role in monitoring Halal food supplies and most of the Halal Monitoring Committee members are appointed by the consent of board at the Central Mosque. The Halal Monitoring Committee sends their representatives and employees to every slaughter house to ensure that animals are slaughtered in proper Islamic ways. The slaughter houses that do not comply with the instructions of the Halal Monitoring Committee have to face dire economic consequences. Members of the Halal Monitoring Committee put the name of the slaughter house on their website which does not comply with their instructions. The Halal Monitoring Committee’s website has the complete data of all types of Halal food
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suppliers in Birmingham. The negative labelling by the Halal Monitoring Committee on any food business in Birmingham is highly detrimental to the profits and public relations of that business. Mr. Chishti said that the slaughter houses and other Halal food outlets in the towns have to pay a fix amount to the Halal Monitoring Committee for the services they provide. The committee has an office and a staff comprised of Imams from various mosques and from all streams of reformist Muslims. Muslim businessmen who do not comply with the Halal Monitoring Committee are boycotted by the Muslim consumers on the request of Halal Monitoring Committee. Imams of various mosques announce the name of the shop or slaughter house and encourage people, particularly on the eve of Friday prayers, not to do custom with those particular food outlets which do not comply with the instructions of Halal Monitoring Committee. Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs, who are related to the food business, have to be on good terms with Halal Monitoring Committee and the best possible way to secure the profits of their business is by acquiring membership on the board of trustees at the Central Mosque of Birmingham. It is a marriage of convenience for Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs, said Mr. Chishti.
Here, as a point of clarification, I am not reducing the pursuits, desires and efforts of Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs in Birmingham to acquire membership on the board of trustees, or any other management position at Central Mosque, purely to their economic motives. Neither will I generalize that their economic ambitions are the primary reason for the full membership of the board of trustees at the Central Mosque. I argue instead that the public performance of piety by Muslim entrepreneurs and businessmen has manifold dimensions. Even if an individual might be able to gain some economic concessions through an association with the Central Mosque or with the Halal Monitoring Committee, the prestige and repute of being a ‘community leader’ can be another benefit that they might be looking to attain for their piety-led lives. Also, the economic and social interpretations of public performance of piety and virtuous lives are not mutually exclusive. Along with the obvious economic dimensions of involvement at the Central Mosque, there are also various socio-political grounds for affluent Muslims to have an ‘appropriate introduction’ i.e. to appear as pious and virtuous Muslim businessmen. Marsden (2009) explores travelling amongst the Chitralis youth in Pakistan and asserts that heterogeneity within the Chitrali society in Northern Pakistan is not a problem for a coherent Muslim life. While people negotiate the complexities of ‘conducting life’ through diverse life choices, including modernity and tradition, they not only challenge
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but also reaffirm both the older and newer influences on their lives. I assume that Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs in Birmingham create meaning in their lives in relation to reformist as well as traditional discourses. Like Marsden, I see similar notions of living a piety-led life among Muslim businessman and entrepreneurs in Birmingham on the one hand, whilst carrying the baggage of ‘necessary evils of modern life’ as a characteristic and as an art of living everyday life, on the other hand. This art of living makes them negotiate and deal with piety continuously while making various economic and social choices. Like Marsden’s Chitrali youth in Northern Pakistan, Muslim businessmen and entrepreneurs in Birmingham have to simultaneously carry both material and spiritual ways of living life.