http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
Introduction
From March 2008 to April 2009, we traveled throughout the Muslim world. Our trip started with India, home of the world’s second largest Muslim population, and then weaved through the religion’s heartlands of the Gulf, Syria and Iran before crossing through Central Asia to other Muslim areas of Asia, including Pakistan, Western China, Indonesia and Malaysia. We returned to the Middle East to spend most of Ramadan in Egypt, and then worked our way to Turkey via Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Cyprus. After a brief stop in Bosnia, we headed to Senegal and Mali before crossing the Mauritanian Sahara to Morocco and then the Straits of Gibraltar to Andalucia, Spain. For good measure we even threw in a short stop at Bradford, England, a West Yorkshire town known for its large South Asian community, before returning to South Asia proper and finishing up our trip in Bangladesh. By the end, we had passed through a majority of the world’s majority Muslim countries, eight of the ten countries with the world’s largest Muslim populations and countries containing over 70% (over a billion) of the world’s Muslim population.
With this photography exhibit, we want not only to show you some of our favorite images from the trip but also to share with you some of the things we learned. We're all familiar with images from the Muslim world, but so often they are ones of conflict—protests in Pakistan, destruction in Gaza or, worse yet, bearded terrorists in the latest Hollywood thriller. We don’t purport to bring you the “real” Muslim world, but we believe that our observations, even if not new to you, might be illuminating simply for what they are, things that jump out to the traveler in these regions, scenes that may at times seem common and banal but also represent things one sees day-to-day, ordinarily.
At the Ends of the Muslim World
At our more ambitious moments, we told ourselves that we were retracing the footsteps of Ibn Battuta, the great 14th century traveler who made it his life's goal to travel the full extent of the Muslim world. In some ways, of course, our itinerary was deficient—as non-Muslims we cannot visit Mecca, a sort of base of Ibn Battuta's many journeys—but we also visited places that Ibn Battuta did not, places that were not part of the Muslim world in the 14th century but are very much a part of it now, such as the Indonesian islands of Nusa Tenggara (Ibn Battuta only had to go as far east as Sumatra) and Bosnia (where Islam arrived with the Ottomans n the fifteenth century). Below, scenes from a couple of the geographical extremities of our trip.
Dogon Country, Mali
One story of Mali’s Dogon tribe as a race is that they fled southward into their current home, the Bandiagara Escarpment, to escape slave raids from Muslim kingdoms to the north. Through this flight they preserved not only their freedom, but also their traditional animist faith. Nonetheless, the great Abrahamic religions have made inroads in the Dogon Country, Islam advancing southward and Christianity coming northward to convert the Dogon.
On the steps from the village of Sanga down to the village of Banani, we encountered this Fulani-ethnic Muslim missionary, presumably originally from Mali somewhere north of Dogon Country. With the Quran in his hand, he greeted us with great enthusiasm, pronouncing his almost overly Arab name with glottal/guttural fervor and asking if we too were Muslim. Muslim places of worship were by far the most visible in the Dogon, more so than sites of traditional animist worship or Christian churches.
Christian missionaries have also been incredibly active in the Dogon. With a large presence in Sanga, an American protestant group has been actively spreading the Christian faith among the Dogon since the 1930s, it appears with great success. It’s almost possible in Africa to draw a latitudinal line where Muslim Africa and Christian Africa meet—and it is in these areas, from northern Nigeria to Chad to the Sudan, where some of Africa’s greatest conflicts have taken place.
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
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With this photography exhibit, we want not only to show you some of our favorite images from the trip but also to share with you some of the things we learned. We're all familiar with images from the Muslim world, but so often they are ones of conflict—protests in Pakistan, destruction in Gaza or, worse yet, bearded terrorists in the latest Hollywood thriller. We don’t purport to bring you the “real” Muslim world, but we believe that our observations, even if not new to you, might be illuminating simply for what they are, things that jump out to the traveler in these regions, scenes that may at times seem common and banal but also represent things one sees day-to-day, ordinarily.
At the Ends of the Muslim World
At our more ambitious moments, we told ourselves that we were retracing the footsteps of Ibn Battuta, the great 14th century traveler who made it his life's goal to travel the full extent of the Muslim world. In some ways, of course, our itinerary was deficient—as non-Muslims we cannot visit Mecca, a sort of base of Ibn Battuta's many journeys—but we also visited places that Ibn Battuta did not, places that were not part of the Muslim world in the 14th century but are very much a part of it now, such as the Indonesian islands of Nusa Tenggara (Ibn Battuta only had to go as far east as Sumatra) and Bosnia (where Islam arrived with the Ottomans n the fifteenth century). Below, scenes from a couple of the geographical extremities of our trip.
Dogon Country, Mali
One story of Mali’s Dogon tribe as a race is that they fled southward into their current home, the Bandiagara Escarpment, to escape slave raids from Muslim kingdoms to the north. Through this flight they preserved not only their freedom, but also their traditional animist faith. Nonetheless, the great Abrahamic religions have made inroads in the Dogon Country, Islam advancing southward and Christianity coming northward to convert the Dogon.
On the steps from the village of Sanga down to the village of Banani, we encountered this Fulani-ethnic Muslim missionary, presumably originally from Mali somewhere north of Dogon Country. With the Quran in his hand, he greeted us with great enthusiasm, pronouncing his almost overly Arab name with glottal/guttural fervor and asking if we too were Muslim. Muslim places of worship were by far the most visible in the Dogon, more so than sites of traditional animist worship or Christian churches.
Christian missionaries have also been incredibly active in the Dogon. With a large presence in Sanga, an American protestant group has been actively spreading the Christian faith among the Dogon since the 1930s, it appears with great success. It’s almost possible in Africa to draw a latitudinal line where Muslim Africa and Christian Africa meet—and it is in these areas, from northern Nigeria to Chad to the Sudan, where some of Africa’s greatest conflicts have taken place.
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook
At our more ambitious moments, we told ourselves that we were retracing the footsteps of Ibn Battuta, the great 14th century traveler who made it his life's goal to travel the full extent of the Muslim world. In some ways, of course, our itinerary was deficient—as non-Muslims we cannot visit Mecca, a sort of base of Ibn Battuta's many journeys—but we also visited places that Ibn Battuta did not, places that were not part of the Muslim world in the 14th century but are very much a part of it now, such as the Indonesian islands of Nusa Tenggara (Ibn Battuta only had to go as far east as Sumatra) and Bosnia (where Islam arrived with the Ottomans n the fifteenth century). Below, scenes from a couple of the geographical extremities of our trip.
Dogon Country, Mali
One story of Mali’s Dogon tribe as a race is that they fled southward into their current home, the Bandiagara Escarpment, to escape slave raids from Muslim kingdoms to the north. Through this flight they preserved not only their freedom, but also their traditional animist faith. Nonetheless, the great Abrahamic religions have made inroads in the Dogon Country, Islam advancing southward and Christianity coming northward to convert the Dogon.
On the steps from the village of Sanga down to the village of Banani, we encountered this Fulani-ethnic Muslim missionary, presumably originally from Mali somewhere north of Dogon Country. With the Quran in his hand, he greeted us with great enthusiasm, pronouncing his almost overly Arab name with glottal/guttural fervor and asking if we too were Muslim. Muslim places of worship were by far the most visible in the Dogon, more so than sites of traditional animist worship or Christian churches.
Christian missionaries have also been incredibly active in the Dogon. With a large presence in Sanga, an American protestant group has been actively spreading the Christian faith among the Dogon since the 1930s, it appears with great success. It’s almost possible in Africa to draw a latitudinal line where Muslim Africa and Christian Africa meet—and it is in these areas, from northern Nigeria to Chad to the Sudan, where some of Africa’s greatest conflicts have taken place.
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook
Dogon Country, Mali
One story of Mali’s Dogon tribe as a race is that they fled southward into their current home, the Bandiagara Escarpment, to escape slave raids from Muslim kingdoms to the north. Through this flight they preserved not only their freedom, but also their traditional animist faith. Nonetheless, the great Abrahamic religions have made inroads in the Dogon Country, Islam advancing southward and Christianity coming northward to convert the Dogon.
On the steps from the village of Sanga down to the village of Banani, we encountered this Fulani-ethnic Muslim missionary, presumably originally from Mali somewhere north of Dogon Country. With the Quran in his hand, he greeted us with great enthusiasm, pronouncing his almost overly Arab name with glottal/guttural fervor and asking if we too were Muslim. Muslim places of worship were by far the most visible in the Dogon, more so than sites of traditional animist worship or Christian churches.
Christian missionaries have also been incredibly active in the Dogon. With a large presence in Sanga, an American protestant group has been actively spreading the Christian faith among the Dogon since the 1930s, it appears with great success. It’s almost possible in Africa to draw a latitudinal line where Muslim Africa and Christian Africa meet—and it is in these areas, from northern Nigeria to Chad to the Sudan, where some of Africa’s greatest conflicts have taken place.
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook
On the steps from the village of Sanga down to the village of Banani, we encountered this Fulani-ethnic Muslim missionary, presumably originally from Mali somewhere north of Dogon Country. With the Quran in his hand, he greeted us with great enthusiasm, pronouncing his almost overly Arab name with glottal/guttural fervor and asking if we too were Muslim. Muslim places of worship were by far the most visible in the Dogon, more so than sites of traditional animist worship or Christian churches.
Christian missionaries have also been incredibly active in the Dogon. With a large presence in Sanga, an American protestant group has been actively spreading the Christian faith among the Dogon since the 1930s, it appears with great success. It’s almost possible in Africa to draw a latitudinal line where Muslim Africa and Christian Africa meet—and it is in these areas, from northern Nigeria to Chad to the Sudan, where some of Africa’s greatest conflicts have taken place.
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook
While Indonesia is over 85% Muslim, as with most of the countries we visited there are significant religious minorities, and in part because Indonesia is so large, minority groups dominate certain regions or even entire islands. One such region is Christian Tana Toraja in southern Sulawesi.
To celebrate a local political event, a parade was held in Rantepao, Tana Toraja’s principal city. In this photograph, a girl from a Muslim school struts down the main street, while just before, Christian students had made their way through, with large white felt crosses stitched on their backs. The students proudly display their identities, but there is apparently little of the tension and violent conflict that has taken place just a few hundred kilometers north in central Sulawesi, where the Christian and Muslim populations are more evenly balanced.
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook
http://www.derekbrownphotos.com
join the mailing list for updates and news of exhibits
check me out on Facebook