ABSTRACT
Contemporary forms of Islamic economy and Muslim consumerist practices strive to make sense of their experiences of consumerism with reference to select ethical and religious concepts from Muslim tradition in ways that shape the contours of a new hybrid ‘Islamic consumer society’. The unprecedented debates related to the halal classification of products perfectly illustrate the praxeological and ethical shifts underway in the contemporary global Muslim world, with an obvious resonance among non-Muslims. A real halal tropism is at the heart of both pastoral and missionary strategies of production, consumption and circulation of goods and services. The Islamic system of prohibition and of salvation offered is based on tactics of social solidarity, financial support, mutual aid and religious loyalty internal to the Muslim community, which is simultaneously driven by intense missionary activity. Islamic finance emerged in the early 1960s in Egypt out of a concern to offer banking services consistent with ethical standards and observances of Islam.
