A bill passed the state legislature that will require state-funded institutions to provide halal and kosher meals on request.

As a student at Sullivan high school in Chicago, Ridwan Rashid frequently skipped lunch and was distracted by hunger, even though his school offered free meals to all students. Rashid is Muslim, as are a growing number of students at Sullivan. But until recently, none of the meals served at the Sullivan cafeteria were halal, which meant they were off limits for most of the school’s Muslim students.

But a bill that passed the Illinois legislature will change that, requiring state-funded institutions – including schools, prisons and hospitals – to provide halal and kosher meals if requested. “It’s definitely a historic moment,” said Gerald Hankerson, director of policy at the Muslim Civic Coalition, a national civic engagement non-profit that helped author the bill. “We hope it can be replicated in other states. It is very needed”.

Its passage comes as Muslim parents and community advocates across the US have spent years calling on schools to serve halal meals, arguing that it’s not just a matter of inclusion, but of food security for a community with high rates of poverty.

A staggering 33% of Muslim households in the US earn $30,000 – the poverty line for a family of four – or less each year, compared with 24% of Americans generally, according to a 2018 survey from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. At the same time, a majority of Muslims say following halal – a set of religious guidelines for how food is prepared and consumed – is important to them. While the US offers free and reduced-price school lunches to ensure that kids don’t go hungry, some have pointed out that the program potentially excludes thousands of Muslim children because there are no requirements for meals to be religiously inclusive.

If the bill is signed by the governor, the new state requirements will go into effect in July 2024. In this case, schools will be able to offer the options for their Muslim students as well.

Read more at: The Guardian