From Cinema and Tourism to Halal Fashion and Halal Votes

The Deputy Minister of Cinema in Rouhani's government stated: "We have had the chance that thousands of people have turned off their satellites at night and watched the pure and halal films of Iranian cinema." (ISNA, September 11, 2016) Hassan Rouhani, during his trip to Kish Island, said that Kish, with its suitable climate and sufficient infrastructure, should move towards halal tourism. (Fars, March 30, 2016) However, when Mohammad Ali Mohammadi Kermani used the term halal for the 16 million votes for Raisi, officials from Rouhani's government became upset: "It is unclear on what basis and with what purpose the term 'halal votes' has been used." (Alf, May 26, 2017) Why is the term halal appropriate for cinema, tourism, and fashion (from the perspective of Rouhani's officials) but inappropriate for votes? Why is the halal attribute, which originally pertains to food, being extended to all social and political phenomena? What are the goals of those using this term? Have those goals been achieved? Why do they not use the previous titles of Islamists, such as Islamic cinema, Islamic tourism, or Islamic votes? What problems do these terms present? Halal tourism, from the perspective of officials, mainly refers to Shia pilgrims from the subcontinent and Arab countries. They do not create or strengthen an industry called tourism because "Indian tourists spend one dollar a day in Iran and instead of hotels, they use pilgrim houses in holy cities and eat eggs and bread instead of dining in restaurants." (Ebrahim Bay Salami, member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Heritage, Fars, September 28, 2016) Of about 5 million travelers to Iran, only 250,000 (5%) bring foreign currency to the country. (Ibid) The halal nature of the tourism industry is one of the factors that has placed Iran at 119th in the tourism service infrastructure index and 113th in the number of hotel rooms among 141 countries. Given these conditions, tourism officials insist on its halal nature (in the sense of pilgrimage). They want foreign tourists to feel a sense of pilgrimage in Iran. Mohammad Beheshti, head of the Cultural Heritage Research Institute, says: "Iran is not an attractive place for leisure tourism," and tourists "should come to Iran for pilgrimage and Iranian culture, meaning with the same intention that we go to visit holy places." (Tasnim, October 15, 2016) Officials of the Islamic Republic speak in a way that suggests there is no other type of tourism besides leisure and pilgrimage. This idea of halal tourism has prevented Iran, with its hundreds of thousands of ancient monuments and beautiful, diverse nature, from having an active and profitable tourism industry. Based on this halal tourism perspective, the idea of increasing employment through tourism in Iran has not been realized. Cinema in Iran is not an industry but rather a component of state propaganda. Those who go beyond this scope and create films for foreign festivals or cinema lovers are naturally neglected by the regime. When officials of the Islamic Republic speak of halal cinema, they mean films that families with a clerical lifestyle would love to watch, and the stories generally focus on issues of interest to this group. Naturally, with such films that are certainly produced with state funding, it is impossible to have cinema as an independent industry. The idea of halal cinema is, of course, a failed idea because directors, after receiving government funding and facilities, do what they like, and then their films are banned (over 230 cases during the Islamic Republic). Additionally, films that are not banned are mostly not of interest to the public. During Ahmadinejad's government, an attempt was made to create a type of "halal" fashion (religious and according to the tastes of the ruling caste) for the ruling class that was formed with astronomical oil revenues and wealth. Hundreds of billions of tomans of rent were allocated to "session women" and Hezbollah members to establish this industry, resulting in new colors of chador and chaghchoul with several designs stolen from Iranian architectural tiles produced on cloaks that have no presence in the public domain. The wave of arrests of individuals who, according to the IRGC and security forces, are in "modeling" indicates the IRGC's efforts to eliminate competitors and, at the same time, the failure of halal fashion. At the end of 2016, the Fashion and Clothing Organization unveiled the halal clothing regulations at the opening of the international section of the Fajr Fashion and Clothing Festival. The goals of establishing this title in the halal clothing regulations were "introducing the capabilities of the Islamic fashion and clothing sector of Iran to international audiences, establishing direct communication with activists in this field in other countries and exchanging information, encouraging and motivating designers to focus on Iranian-Islamic designs centered on halal, helping to create jobs through the development of the Islamic fashion and clothing industry, showcasing the special value of Islamic clothing designers in Iran both domestically and abroad, and utilizing existing potentials in halal expos for advertising and media purposes to promote Iran's cultural and economic goals" (ISNA, February 28, 2017). However, the outcome of the work of these groups over the past four decades has been nothing but the waste of public resources and advertising programs; otherwise, today Tehran would have become one of the fashion centers in the world, like Paris, Rome, and New York, or at least the center of fashion in the Middle East for believing Muslim women. Contrary to this imaginary path (and certainly beneficial for rent-seeking), not only are the family members of officials engaged in importing clothing from Italy, Turkey, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates, but the IRGC also has a significant share in the $2 billion annual import of smuggled clothing from its illegal docks. Mohammad Ali Mohammadi Kermani, Secretary-General of the Combatant Clergy Association and interim Friday prayer leader of Tehran, referred to the 16 million votes for Raisi as halal votes (Tabnak, May 26, 2017). Thus, votes in the Islamic Republic also have halal and haram classifications. The votes of insiders are halal, while the votes of outsiders are haram and questionable. The Islamic Republic has managed to create an apartheid system in the realm of candidates through supervisory oversight, but it has not yet succeeded in doing so regarding votes. The idea of halal votes, which certainly has qualitative superiority over haram and questionable votes, could in the future classify voters in a rent-seeking and class-based system based on ideology, and individuals' votes could be graded according to their insider status and the extent of it. The common features of diverse democracies in the free world can be summarized in four characteristics: 1) the election of executive and legislative officials in free, fair, and competitive elections, 2) the right to vote for adults, 3) the four freedoms, and 4) the power of elected officials to govern without being subject to military and religious bureaucracy. The only element of the four elements that has not been compromised in the Islamic Republic is the second element, which, with the title of halal votes and the establishment of mechanisms to facilitate the flow of halal votes while limiting haram and questionable votes, can also be expected to be compromised. It seems that the officials of the Islamic Republic are aware of the people's fatigue from using the term "Islamic" for current affairs and are replacing it with the term halal. Moreover, this term reminds them of their Islamist nature. The term halal may seem more practical and limited and more digestible for traditional religious classes, but it still evokes the rule of Sharia over social and political life (a significant aspect of Islamism), and its failure is just as damaging to people's faith and belief as the failure of the use of the term "Islamic" for limitation, intimidation, and repression.