The Missiological Understanding of Conflict regarding Islamic Food (Halal food) in South Korea

Kwon Jee Yun

doi:10.30532/mce.2016.09.9.2.97

The meaning of Halal in Islam is an object or action which is permissible to use or engage in their religious and daily lives in accordance with Islamic law. Haram has an opposite meaning and accordingly it is often described as a forbidden action which is unlawful and against Islamic Scriptures. The principles deriving from Halal and Haram are important for Muslims and they are obliged to abide by those principles in their daily lives because they are based on the Scriptures in Quran. These principles are applied to the dietary life of Muslims as the meaning of food in their life represents not only the cultural peculiarities of the Islam but also the unique identity in their social relationship. For this reason, Islamic food (Halal food) can be expressed as the cultural and social identity of Muslims. Most of Muslims accept that the concept of Islam represents their distinctive religious, cultural, political and social life. Having Halal food, therefore, is quite understandable as a standard of life from a perspective of Islamic world. It permeates their everyday lives. Along with unexpected increase of Muslim’s population since the 1990s in South Korea, Muslim’s population reached more than 200 thousand including traditional Korean Muslims who were born and grew in South Korea. These Muslims in South Korea have tended to keep Islamic principles including Halal food although South Korea is not an Islamic country. Because of this tendency, these Muslims have experienced the conflicts between their Islamic principle and Korean standard of living based on its culture in respect of dietary life. These conflicts can be divided into two classifications i.e., internal and external conflicts. An internal conflict is resulted from Muslim’s adaption process to Korean culture because Muslims likely feel difficult to adapt to Korean food and its culture. An External conflict is resulted from the circumstances where Muslims and non Muslims encounter each other in Korean context given that non-Muslims likely do not understand Halal food. With the rapid growth of Korean Muslim’s population despite it being minority group, South Korean central and local governments announced a policy, particularly, regarding Islamic food. It has resulted in significant cultural complexity regarding Islam in South Korea. In fact, there have been external conflicts and social controversies after the policy announcement in January 2016. In response, the central and local governments decided to withdraw its policy related to Islamic food taking into account growing tensions resulted from external conflicts and social controversies thereby. Nevertheless, Koreans will continue to face these conflicts and social controversies given that Korean Muslim’s population continues to rise. In this context, we need to pay close attention to these conflicts from a perspective of Christian mission. In terms of Christian mission, we need to become a witness of gospel. As a witness of gospel, we can help them. In other words, we can assist Muslims to overcome their internal conflicts by inviting them to our life and sharing our food culture. In this way, the conflicts can be reduced, and as a result Muslims and non-Muslims can be more harmonized in terms of Christian mission without adversarial confrontations with respect to Halal food. All of this is possible through Christian mission when we become a witness of gospel.

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