*Proposal*: Let's not have an "*Is X halal?*" tag.
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**TL;DR**: As a solution to the [halal/haram family of tags](https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1844/17163) problem, I (tentatively) propose we burninate/blacklist all of the tags: [tag:halal], [tag:haram], [tag:halal-haram], [tag:haram-halal], [tag:halal-consumer], [tag:sin], [tag:sin-or-not], [tag:islamic-ruling].
It's a big change, so it needs careful thought, so I post this for voting and feedback. I do some "sanity checks" below, which has increased my confidence in this possibility.
*Justification*
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1. **Tags should indicate what a question is *about*.** Questions like *Is X halal?* or *Is X permissible?* are about X, and should be tagged [tag:x]. Questions that are actually about "halal" or "sin" can instead be tagged [tag:sharia] and [tag:fiqh].
2. **It feels like a meta tag** for two reasons, both listed on [The Death of Meta Tags][1], Jeff Atwood, 2010:
1. > If the tag can’t work as the only tag on a question, it’s probably a meta-tag. Every tag you use should be able to work, more or less, as the only tag on a question. Meta-tags ... tell you nothing at all about the content of the question.
A question tagged [tag:is-x-halal] (or some variant) still needs to be tagged [tag:x].
2. > The reason meta-tags are a problem is that they do not describe the content of the question. They describe some other aspect of the question, like ... what “kind” of question it is
3. **The title of the question should contain something equivalent to "Is X halal?"** How this would work:
1. Title: https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/32773/17163 can be tagged [tag:internet] (and maybe we need a [tag:video] tag too).
2. Title: https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/31445/17163 can be tagged [tag:gambling]
3. Title: https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/31309/17163 can be tagged [tag:software]
4. Title: https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/31207/17163 can be tagged [tag:work] [tag:cosmetics]
4. **The [tag:halal-haram] tag is a [compound tag][2]**, i.e., is has the form [tag:x-y] where [tag:x] and [tag:y] are also tags.
Compound tags are going to lead to confusion as to which of the three tags [tag:x-y], [tag:x], and [tag:y] to use. Users might simply pick some random subset of the three. (In the [tag:haram-halal] case, we also have [tag:y-x] too!)
5. **It's impractical.** These tags desperately need work, and once we get them working, they will require maintenance. If this is not done, they'll just remain (or return to) being a big and accumulating mess.
6. **There's minor differences in phrasing** which perhaps led to the many variants of the tag:
1. *Is X halal?* E.g. https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/37497/17163
2. *Is X permissible?* E.g. https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/38270/17163
3. *Is X a sin?* E.g. https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/36799/17163
4. *What is the ruling concerning X?* E.g. https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/36928/17163
*Sanity check 1: random questions*
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Here's 5 randomly generated questions generated by [DiceStack][3] for various tags:
- [tag:halal-haram]:
1. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/10719/can-a-muslim-cook-pig-meat can be tagged [tag:pork] [tag:food] and we could create a [tag:cooking] if desired
2. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/17959/working-in-club-as-a-waiter-is-haram-or-halal can be tagged [tag:work] [tag:alcohol] [tag:gambling]
3. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/25957/is-getting-unauthorized-discounts-on-store-products-haraam seems fine tagged [tag:theft], but maybe something like (not yet existent) [tag:shopping] might also be useful
4. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/8318/does-food-need-a-halal-certification seems fine tagged [tag:food], but might be better off with the (not yet existent) [tag:halal-certification] or [tag:dietry-laws]
5. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/2314/is-this-allowed-to-bribe-when-i-am-forced should have a useful tag created, e.g., [tag:bribery]
- [tag:halal]:
1. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/37384/is-it-permissible-to-eat-meat-in-western-restaurants-given-that-it-is-permissibl seems fine with [tag:food] and [tag:meat]; it might benefit from [tag:non-muslim-countries] (actually, I just went ahead and edited the tags)
2. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/21624/is-there-a-concept-of-nullification-of-forbidden-substances-in-halal-dietary-l has the useful tags [tag:food] and [tag:judaism], could benefit from [tag:comparative-religions] and the (not yet existent) [tag:dietry-laws]
3. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/26048/is-making-of-artificial-juices-allowed-in-islam-and-drink-these-juices-are-halaa currently has the tags [tag:halal] [tag:halal-haram] [tag:haram-halal]; it should be tagged [tag:food] and the (not yet existent) [tag:dietry-laws]
4. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/35373/solutions-to-ribaa seems adequately tagged [tag:riba] and [tag:mortgage]
5. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/34767/absent-father-refuses-marriage-proposal can be tagged [tag:nikah] and maybe also [tag:wali] [tag:parents]
- [tag:islamic-ruling]:
1. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/8436/are-monthly-payments-an-islamically-acceptable-way-to-receive-money-for-your-goo is fine tagged [tag:finance], would benefit from [tag:business], and it looks like it's after a [tag:sunni] opinion
2. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/2990/alcohol-in-perfumes could use the obvious tag [tag:alcohol] and the (not yet existing) [tag:perfume].
3. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/33284/is-there-philosophical-reason-for-unclean-things-nejasat-in-islam is fine tagged [tag:islamic-philosophy] [tag:taharah] [tag:najis]
4. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/10402/what-is-difference-of-hadd-and-qisas could be tagged [tag:hadd] [tag:punishment] and (the not yet existent) [tag:qisas] and maybe one of [tag:sharia] and [tag:fiqh]
5. https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/37524/if-a-non-muslim-curses-a-muslim-will-the-muslims-life-be-in-turmoil it seems [tag:curse] is sufficient.
In these examples, it seems possible to give adequate tags without using an "Is X halal?" tag.
*Sanity check 2: meta.SE criteria*
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From the top answer (by [Shog9 ♦][4]) to meta.StackExchange question [When to burninate][5]:
1. Does it describe the contents of the questions to which it is applied? and is it unambiguous? **Virtually no** and **No!!!** (E.g. using [tag:halal-haram], etc., was defined here https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1126/17163, but not used like that)
2. Is the concept described even on-topic for the site? **Yes.**
3. Does the tag add any meaningful information to the post? **Not really**, the question is (or should be) part of the title.
4. Does it mean the same thing in all common contexts? **Yes.**
and also
> Sometimes, tags get in the way, add confusion, start fights, take the place of better tags... -- [Shog9 ♦][4]
These tags seem to be getting in the way more than helping.
There's some yesses there.
*Sanity check 3: question quality*
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> Bad tags are often harbingers of bad questions. -- [Shog9 ♦][4]
I suppose the logic is "effortless tags" correspond to "effortless questions". Here's some data:
tag % Q's with
score >= 3
sin 47%
fiqh 47%
sharia 45%
sin-or-not 43%
halal-haram 37%
islamic-ruling 35%
haram 34%
halal-consumer 32%
halal 29%
haram-halal 26%
history 50%
jamaat 49%
women 46%
food 41%
nikah 39%
There seems to be some trend there, but not that strong (maybe they were deleted though; or perhaps this is more about poorly written questions). Nevertheless, there's examples of bad questions searching for [`[halal-haram] score:0 is:question`][6]. (I just downvoted a whole bunch of these; they should be automatically deleted.)
Prior meta posts
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- https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1126/17163
- https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1844/17163
- https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1905/17163
and also
- https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/72/17163
- https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/149/17163
- https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/321/17163
[1]: https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/08/07/the-death-of-meta-tags/
[2]: https://islam.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2939/17163
[3]: https://www.isimonbrown.co.uk/dicestack
[4]: https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/239191/351283
[5]: https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/239190/351283
[6]: https://islam.stackexchange.com/search?q=%5Bhalal-haram%5D%20score%3A0%20is%3Aquestion