‘Muslim for a Month’ tour giving non-Muslims internal view of Islam
By Emb Hashmi
Being a ‘Muslim for a month’ takes participants into Turkish homes and mosques, and participants will live the real life of a practising Muslim, they will experience praying and fasting as a Muslim does. The aim of the scheme to raise awareness of Islam and a better global understanding.
Ben Bowler the travel agent behind this tour, is himself a Thailand-based Australian, and he has run half a dozen tours in recent years, during which time participants have taught the basics of Islamic practice, study Islamic history and calligraphy, praying in mosques and live and eat with Muslim families. The itinerary also includes a day of fasting.
Muslim for a Month, run by Bowler’s NGO World Weavers, is part of a new breed of cultural engagement tourism being dubbed “pray-cautions.” It promises potential travellers a rich, meaningful experience, by exposing them to religious beliefs and practices “in a country where spirituality is still very much alive” said Ben.
The tour runs from 10 to 21-days members stay in a 400-year-old Sufi lodge in Istanbul’s Eyup district, visit the ancient city of Konya to visit the tomb of Sufi mystic Rumi amongst other things.
Some travel agents have been a little cautious, organizers say “To the devout, the concept of becoming ‘Muslim for a month’ or any other religion, for that matter, could verge on the sacrilegious”
“It’s a provocative title, said Ben Bowler, who runs cultural exchange programs ‘Muslim for a Month,’ so they are bracing themselves for criticism.
Ben Bowler has received an overwhelmingly, response from Muslims and he went on to say “it has been positive so far, mainly because the tours helps to dismiss negative stereotypes about the Islam and leaves participants with an enriched spiritual perspective”.
Tina Reisman-Boukes, a 56-year-old Dutch social worker and convert to Judaism, took part in one of the tour.
Tina Reisman-Boukes said “the course gave her a deeper understanding, both of Islam, as a systematic way to get closer to God, and of herself.
No participants have converted to Islam, from participating in the tours, although Bowler said that was not something the tours particularly sought to encourage. He went on to say that typically, the most challenging aspect of Islamic life for tourists was the segregation of makes and females, particularly given that some tours were 70% women.
Bowler, has also run “Monk for a Month” tours with Thai Buddhists, and is launching an “Interfaith Express” tour in Turkey focusing on the three Abrahamic faiths, Bowler believes there is nothing wrong with the tour’s approach to religion.
