The faces of Islam

Avoid the stereotypes. Respect people. Celebrate life, in all its myriad manifestations. Enough said. Now enjoy the pictures.

1) Boston.com's fabulous Big Picture blog brings to you pictures from across the world of people of Islamic faith observing Ramadan

Muslim faithful throughout the world are currently observing the holy month of Ramadan. Observant Muslims participate in fasting (sawm), one of the five pillars of their faith, this entire Lunar month (this year it extends from September 1st to the 30th). Eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activity is prohibited from dawn until sunset, when the fast is broken with the evening meal called Iftar. Local customs define varying traditions, including differing types of food used to break the daily fast. The fasting is meant to teach a person patience, humility and sacrifice, to set aside time to ask forgiveness, practice self-restraint, and pray for guidance in the future.

2) Away From Home in Dubai

"One can choose his group here - do you want to be religious? Or do you want to be liberal? You can be both. In other places, this is not really possible. A guy decides to be religious in the West, he will stand out. A guy decides to be liberal in the Middle East, he will stand out. This doesn't happen in Dubai."

"This is Dubai: go to the mosque, it is full. Then go to the disco, it's also full!"

"I'm making my own future. This is one thing in Dubai: you're not part of a family, or a group. You come here as an individual, and this is how people see you."

The above slideshow accompanies an article: Generation Faithful - An Oasis of Freedom, which is the sixth in a series of articles examining the lives of the young across the Muslim world.

Also..some great posts in the related blog set up by NYT to reflect the various voices and opinions from the Muslim world out. I want to highlight something I read in a post by someone called Mona el Naggar:

In Egypt, parents sometimes discipline their children by warning them in Arabic, “You’re free!” By local standards, that’s not a good thing. The implication is that free choice leads to straying from acceptable social norms, a value held widely throughout the Arab world.

But in Dubai, where the community is too diverse for any one culture, religion or tradition to prevail, young Arab men and women speak of freedom and personal space in more positive terms.

“There is no development without freedom,” said Afnan Omar, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman raised in Dubai. “There’s the mosque and there’s the night club and everyone knows where he wants to go.”

It is not that young men and women are necessarily adopting a different set of values. Indeed, many here said that exposure to such a relaxed environment made them see the value of more conservative traditions back home. The difference, they said, was that exposure to such diversity has taken away the impulse to judge others. They have adopted a more accepting attitude.

Like I said...time to stop thinking in stereotypes, in black and white, in terms of right and wrong. Open your eyes!

Related: A previous post about a great essay by George Saunders on Dubai, its ski slopes in the desert, and much more. A delectable read -- one of the few articles that has stayed with me long after I read it. Also, a recent post about it being boom time for the global bourgeoisie has a link to a NYT article about the boom in Dubai.