Muslim Geographies of Consumption in Philadelphia

To better understand the relationship between Muslim life in Philadelphia and urban processes, I situate Islamic tradition in reference to geographies of consumption. Where scholarship on Islamic tradition in Philadelphia has tended to foreground particular individuals, events, or communities (e.g., Abell 2022; Binte-Farid 2022; Fauset 1944; Kim and Curtis 2010; McCloud 1996), this paper analyzes how gentrification, infrastructure, and urban renewal shape the boundaries and spaces of Islamic tradition. Below, I analyze Muslim geographies of consumption through digital mapping of halal consumption, as well as through two case studies that make evident the effect of gentrification and infrastructure within two geographies of consumption. The first case study shows how public transportation infrastructure facilitated the dislocation of Black-owned businesses and the establishment of a Palestinian Muslim-owned halal supermarket, while the second case study turns to an urban renewal project that displaced a longstanding restaurant that was owned by a Black Muslim family. Ultimately, the intervention of Muslim geographies of consumption turns scholarly attention to the urban processes that constrain the preservation and transmission of Islamic tradition in the United States.

I understand Muslim geographies of consumption as the discrete spatial expressions of social, physical, and devotional processes that center around the production and consumption of Islamic goods (Mansvelt 2005). This framing builds on the move in scholarship of geographies of consumption toward a more capacious approach that understands geographies of consumption to exist beyond the “classic sites of consumption” in places such as “homes and housing estates, workplaces and universities, and virtual or online spaces." (Evans 2020) This paper focuses on the "classic sites" of halal consumption such as brick-and-mortar restaurants, markets, and shops because (a) the role of these spaces in the production of Islamic tradition has not been sufficiently examined and (b) these conventional spaces of consumption clarify the ways that Muslims foster Muslim and non-Muslim relations and transmit Islamic material culture. Future research on Muslim geographies of consumption may and should extend the analysis of halal consumption into domestic, educational, and institutional spaces.

Halal Consumption in Philadelphia
Halal shops, restaurants, and markets aggregate along high-traffic transportation routes and, for half of the 137 businesses that I identified, near official Islamic institutions like mosques and Islamic centers. Figure one [a map] displays a heat map/density map that represents the distribution of halal brick-and-mortar businesses in Philadelphia, with locations that are five minutes walking distance to one another. Clustering of halal businesses yields yellows, oranges, and reds, whereas lack of clustering results in “cold” dots that are blue-black. In figure one [a map], the clustering is most dense in four areas:
(1) West Philadelphia, near 45th and 52nd Streets;
(2) South Philadelphia, near Old City and the eastern portion of South Street;
(3) Along Germantown Avenue west of Broad Street;
(4) Along Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.

This initial visualization confirms my ethnographic experience of vibrant geographies of Muslim consumption while walking along 52nd Street between Walnut and Market Streets, or strolling down Germantown Avenue west of Chelten Avenue, or driving down Bustleton Avenue.
The clustering at these four locations also points to the relationship between urban planning (especially related to transportation infrastructure) and halal consumption. With the exception of South Philadelphia, clustering occurs along or around arterial transportation routes or public transportation hubs. Bustleton Avenue a primary driving route for commuters and public transportation routes through Northeast Philadelphia. Germantown Avenue is a primary driving through Northwest Philadelphia (as well as a hub for Black commerce and culture). The geography of halal consumption in West Philadelphia aggregates in part along 52nd Street, especially around the Market-Frankford Line stop that is one of the most trafficked transportation hubs in Philadelphia (that was also renovated as part of an urban renewal project that inadvertently reduced the number of Black-owned businesses along 60th and 52nd Streets but also fostered the development of halal businesses). In other words, these concentrations make evident the need for scholars of religion to develop spatial humanistic approaches (Bodenhamer, Corrigan, and Harris 2010) and attend to infrastructure as sites of religion-making (Ellis 2023).

Open Farms and Infrastructure
Transportation is not a static feature of the urban landscape, but a dynamic part of the city that structures halal consumption. In some cases, such as the halal supermarket Open Farms, the renovation of major infrastructure—especially its reduction of passersby—can create opportunities for some businesses from the closure of others. In 2015 and 2016, Open Farms expanded from one to three locations. In the span of two years, halal meat suddenly became available with relative ease to consumers traveling along the Market-Frankford line—one of the two most-traveled lines of the SEPTA, the regional transportation authority of Philadelphia. The accessibility of halal meat was made possible, ironically, by renovations to that same Market-Frankford line that desiccated the flow of capital along the commercial corridor. As Tarik Sulaiman, one of the brothers that owns the supermarket chain, narrated the history of Open Farms’s expansion to me, as well as the importance of foot traffic to the ownership’s decision-making process, it became clear just how important transportation is for halal consumption in Philadelphia.

The spaces that Open Farms occupied on 60th Street and 52nd Street were available to purchase around 2015 in part because the decade-long renovation of the “El,” Philadelphia’s elevated line which runs above ground from 69th and Market to 46th and Market, then underground until the Spring Garden Station, and then above ground until the Frankford Transportation Center. The effect of this renovation was, according to Tarik, devastating for businesses, especially on 60th Street where Open Farms moved into flailing supermarket space and mobile phone stores filled several other storefronts. In the below conversation, Tarik illustrates not only the importance of transportation access, but also the effects of the absence of transportation.

[Second Case Study and Conclusion to Follow]