Islamic Tourism
The concept and the reality
I received an e-mail from a student who is writing a short thesis on Islamic Tourism. Her problem is the lack of sufficient literature on the subject. But this caused me a problem: What is IT after all? I admit that we haven’t been writing much about the theoretical background of this concept but there are various remarks and general outlines.
I think there is a narrow meaning to the term and a wider one. Used in the narrow sense, the term looks as if it is polemic writing about Islam in different fields or an ideological concept. It is also taken to mean pilgrimages to various religious, or religiously significant, sites.
But the wider concept, to which I subscribe, is that Islamic Tourism means a new ethical dimension in tourism. It stands for values generally accepted as high standards of morality and decency. It also stands for the respect of local beliefs and traditions, as well as care for the environment. It represents a new outlook on life and society. It brings back values to the central stage in an age where consumerism is rife and everything is available for use and abuse in the most selfish way. It also encourages understanding and dialogue between different nations and civilizations and attempts to find out about the background of different societies and heritages.
We are now in the month of Ramadan which has a special taste and character. No visitor to a Muslim country will fail to notice the special feel of the month. Islamic Tourism would like to make its non-Muslim readers aware of this month, especially when they visit a Muslim country. In this issue we highlighted the traditions of celebrating this month in Iraq and Yemen. We also wrote previously about Ramadan in Morocco and Egypt and we will cover Ramadan in other countries next year.
Finally, I want to draw attention to our website and the three weekly news bulletins published in Arabic, English and French. This month we have introduced a new idea. We dedicated membership files for six countries (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco). They will have the privilege of publishing their news weekly and these items are linked to the country pages of individual countries. We are giving this idea a free tiral run, but in future they will have to pay for the membership. The success of the idea will encourage us to include more countries and this success is what we hope for.
Dr. Abdul-Rahim Hassan Editor-in-Chief
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