Muslims take up between 30 to 35 percent of the world’s population. It is not new that preferences, rules and regulations of Muslim communities are visibly different from the rest of the world. Even if we eliminate the aspect of extremism and undue fundamentalism, beliefs that actually go to the core of Islam set it apart from all the other religions. For instance, look at the importance given to Hijaab in Islam; it is prohibited for females to walk around bare headed and to show off their body in an immoral way. Same is the case when men and women alike are ordered to abstain from fornication or alcohol or interest in any field of life. There are strict penalties for those who break these rules. Setting aside the so called liberal Muslims who wrongly assume that they are right in changing the principles of Islam; every other Muslim would want to abide by the words of God.
Parallel to all that, Islam does not confine human beings to a cage. The world has a lot to offer and Muslims have every right to enjoy their lives as long as they adhere to Islamic principles. This world is a beautiful place, and we a know it! Tourism is one of most prosperous industries and it is something that nearly everyone would want to try at some point. The Muslim world, contrary to common knowledge is one of the major spenders in this regard. According to the rating agency, Crescent Rating and consultancy firm DinarStandard, Muslims spent more than 125 billion US dollars on international travel last year making nearly 12.5 percent of the total! The study further reported that there was a bullish trend in spending, and it is more than probable that this figure will easily hike up to top 190 billion US dollars per year by the end 2020 -all this excludes the expenses of Umrah and Hajj; one of the biggest pilgrimages in the world on account of numbers!
Owing to the impressive figures above and the probable issues faced by such a huge portion of the tourism market i.e. Muslims; quite a few new companies have embarked on a facilitation service that would make it easy for them. Aiming at providing Muslims a Shariah based service that would adhere to all the Islamic principles the idea of Halaal tourism is gaining a steep popularity. All the people who loved travelling but were bogged down by un-Islamic customs now see a way out. Application of Halaal tourism among the Muslims of the world now means that they have another option than to cancel their vacation plan due to hindrances that are religion based.
I believe it is certainly possible and in no way under rating for us Muslims to enjoy our vacations to the best while our hearts are still at peace for not having breached any of the rules of Islam. Having fun does not necessarily mean going to nude beaches and indulging in gambling at casinos. We are Muslims, and the edge we have on many of the non believers is that we know the value of things that are proudly ignored in today’s world, things like modesty, faith, nature, family and adherence to the doctrine of a religion.
We would naturally prefer to have our affairs to be arranged in an Islamic way, and that includes how we travel, live, pay, and eat and so on. That being said, the idea of Halaal tourism is not only to be welcomed, but if we look at it closely we would see that it has already been in function informally. Look at the tourism industry of Malaysia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates; all Muslim countries, run by Muslims and run according to Islamic principles -there are no alcoholic bars or immodest beaches, for example. Muslims from all over the world visit these three countries the most and that is because they are often uncomfortable finding suitable destinations for a vacation with their families. It is often next to impossible to find a tourist spot that doesn’t make you compromise your religious and cultural values. Halaal tourism is turning out to be a sigh of relief for travelers who would, in accordance with Islamic law, want beaches and swimming pools that undertake gender separation and so on. Muslim tourists also avoid restaurants with Haraam food or alcoholic drinks since there are strict rules governing them in Islam.
The tourist agencies that are providing Halaal tourism services make sure to pay attention to all of the problems faced by practicing Muslims. The sole reason for which these agencies have been made is to promote Shariah based travel plans hence they make sure that their customers get all what they are looking for. Properly accommodating five times prayers in the package while allowing the tourists to see the world, arranging alcohol free environments for them, allowing them dinners with fellow Muslims, visiting Islamic historic sites and providing accommodation in light of Shariah are some of the highlights of any Halaal tour. If these organizations can manage to incorporate Islamic principles into their packages accordingly, tourism industry will be seeing the induction of the largest untapped market of tourism so far! Fingers crossed!
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