Jamal Mecklai: Another look at the new Islam

MARKET MANIAC

About a year ago, I wrote a piece entitled, "Towards a new Islam"""it expressed my belief that the major force driving world events over the past several (and probably the next few) decades is a fundamental redefinition of Islam. The use of the word "fundamental" in the last sentence is, perhaps, a Freudian slip, since I believe that while fundamentalists (fundoos, as one of my devout Muslim friends calls them) have brought the change into the open with terrifying impact, they are not at all what the change is about.

Contrary to most perceptions, the change that Islam is going through is a form of modernisation. This struck me very loudly when I was in Istanbul recently on a holiday.

What a city! Fifteen (or 18, depending on who you talk to) million people, visually covering as broad a swathe of humanity as any place in the world (with the possible exception of India), the real bridge between the East and West, the centre of the world. As it had been for centuries. The treasures in Topkapi Palace took even my "oh, no not another museum" breath away. To see the sultan's coffee table bowl full of emeralds the size of large eggs, and to visualise the happy man playing with them while he twirled his moustache and patted his ample belly was a delight and wonder. And the sultan was also the caliph""the spiritual leader of millions (of Muslims). He had four wives, eight to ten favourites and numerous concubines (who, incidentally, were not sexual partners, merely beautiful women sent to him by lesser kings from all over the world, who lived in his harem, were educated in music and the arts and ultimately married nobles from around the world).

Modern Istanbul is, of course, a little bit different. Amazingly beautiful, particularly sitting on the Asian side watching the sun set, with the mosques and modern skyline in silhouette across the Bosphorus. What a river! Alive with ferries, pleasure boats, grotesquely huge cruise ships and, of course, commercial traffic. And tens of thousands of people fishing on its banks every day. Seafood in Istanbul makes Goa seem modest.

And then there are the markets, the hamams""the women's side is Fellini in real life, if my wife's description is to be believed""the restaurants, the jazz clubs ... I could go on. Instead, just go there.

This, though, is about the new Islam. One evening, my wife and I were sitting in a cafe""by the way, Istanbul is as European as Paris, in terms of cafes, style and much else""watching the world go by. It was about 7 o'clock, still bright daylight and there was a glorious flow of beautiful, elegantly turned out women (and, yes, men) walking home from work, shopping, stopping in cafes and so on. It reminded me of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. And, as I turned to my wife and told her that, I suddenly realised, "But they are all Muslim." Or, at least 85 per cent of them are.

Wow! I said, is this the new Islam?

Of course, there were women in headscarves, but there were also women in skirts and jeans and designer dresses""anything you would see in a large, modern city. And some of them sat in cafes and drank wine or whatever, and others didn't. It was all very cool, very lovely, very civilised and very tolerant.

Later that evening, we met some friends for dinner""George and Cynthia, who were with the German embassy and had moved there recently from Bombay, and Seher, a lovely, young Turkish girl I had met""a friend of a friend. She is a photographer and works as an art director and wanted us to go to a club to hear her boyfriend's band. So we did. And, boy, was that a riot. Her boyfriend is the drummer with a band that was a straight ahead (almost no head banging) rock and roll band and the club""the Istanbul Buddha Bar in Kadikoy""was what could best be described as grunge. We must have moved the average age up to 23. Anyway, the music was pretty good and, as we were rocking to It's Raining Men""first time I've ever heard a man sing it""Seher nudged me and said, "They're all Muslims".

I almost fell down. My own idea of Muslims was so far from that club that I suddenly realised that while I may dream about a new Islam, the truth is that the new Islam is already here.

I don't know how many of those kids don't drink or pray five times a day, but I do know that most of them""like Seher""believe in Allah and see themselves as Muslims. And if you believe you are a Muslim (or anything else, for that matter), you are.

I realise, of course, that Turkey is, as my cousin Ebrahim put it, a truly modern Muslim country, and Istanbul is obviously the cutting edge of Turkey. And even in Istanbul there are conservatively dressed (Muslim) women. But conservatively dressed doesn't mean oppressed and conservatively dressed doesn't automatically mean poorly educated.

I am convinced that the impression the world has of Muslim women is dead wrong. In fact, I have no doubt that the new Islam will be driven by women.

So, come on ladies of the new Islam""please show the world the truth!