Halal and Religious Tourism Development in Mashhad, Iran

Mashhad is not only a megacity for religious tourism (nationally and internationally), but also a major source of revenue for the government of Iran. Mashhad's potential to become a more economically lucrative city for the halal-conscious tourist has sparked expansive development by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The government in its halalization of the city is investing money into a wide array of tourist-related establishments in order to become members of a global halal-certified business community and to take advantage of the rapidly growing religious tourism industry.To issue halal certifications, in 2014 the Iranian government established the Halal National & Regional Research Center as a new division in the Agriculture Research Institute. From an economic perspective, this is a sound investment for the Iranian government with a prospect of lucrative economic rewards. Halal certification in Iran is also a timely project since, according to recent studies, halal tourism is among the fastest and more lucrative form of travel among Muslim travelers. Mashhad has without doubt the potential of becoming one of the most significant Shi`i halal pilgrimage destinations in the world. With already over 2 million visitors annually coming to this city, the halal certification makes it even more attractive for international Muslim halal-conscious tourists. This paper also discusses the expansion and improvements in infrastructure, which includes park maintenance, public art projects and many other beautification projects in Mashhad to attract tourists in even greater numbers not only for religious purposes but also to enjoy the city itself and all it has to offer

Women’s Sexuality: the Safavid Legacy

Literature from the Safavid era suggests that issues of female fertility, sterility, and sexuality were controlled by a well-entrenched patriarchy. Muslim women placed trust in the learned hakim or male “healersâ€- believing that they were following religious doctrine established by the Prophet himself. Consequently, women who could neither read nor interpret the Qu`ran deferred to the hakim, participating in elaborate ritualistic practices to promote fertility and to win their husbands’ affection. Some would suggest that this collective dependency on and submission to patriarchal control–sealed during the Safavid era–springs from a historical trinity comprised of the Prophet Mohammad, his son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Majlesi, the 16th century Shi`i alim

‘It's a part of me, I feel naked without it': choice, agency and identity for Muslim women who wear the niqab

In the context of heightened suspicion and anti-Muslim stereotypes in a post-9/11 and 7/7 era, Muslim women who wear the niqab (face veil) are stigmatised, criminalised and marked as ‘dangerous’ to British/Western values. Several countries have imposed bans on the wearing of face veils in public places based on the premise that the niqab is a ‘threat’ to notions of gender equality, integration and national security. While the wearing of the niqab has elicited a good deal of media, political and public debates, little attention has been paid to the opinions of Muslim women who wear it. Drawing on individual and focus group interviews with Muslim women who wear the niqab in the United Kingdom (UK), this article places at the centre of the debate the voices of those women who do wear it, and explores their reasons for adopting it. The findings show that the wearing of the niqab emerges as a personal choice, an expression of religious piety, public modesty and belonging to the ‘ummah’. It is also perceived as a form of agency, resistance and non-conformity to Western consumerist culture and lifestyle. It will be concluded that wearing the niqab empowers women in their public presence and offers them a sense of ‘liberation’, which is associated with the notion of anonymity that it provides them

“At ‘Amen Meals’ It’s Me and God” Religion and Gender: A New Jewish Women’s Ritual

New ritual practices performed by Jewish women can serve as test cases for an examination of the phenomenon of the creation of religious rituals by women. These food-related rituals, which have been termed ‘‘amen meals’’ were developed in Israel beginning in the year 2000 and subsequently spread to Jewish women in Europe and the United States. This study employs a qualitative-ethnographic methodology grounded in participant-observation and in-depth interviews to describe these nonobligatory, extra-halakhic rituals. What makes these rituals stand out is the women’s sense that through these rituals they experience a direct con- nection to God and, thus, can change reality, i.e., bring about jobs, marriages, children, health, and salvation for friends and loved ones. The ‘‘amen’’ rituals also create an open, inclusive woman’s space imbued with strong spiritual–emotional energies that counter the women’s religious marginality. Finally, the purposes and functions of these rituals, including identity building and displays of cultural capital, are considered within a theoretical framework that views ‘‘doing gender’’ and ‘‘doing religion’’ as an integrated experience

The development of visual aids for a unit in screen printing and heat transfer printing

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industrie

The Veiling Issue in 20th Century Iran in Fashion and Society, Religion, and Government

This essay focuses on the Iranian woman’s veil from various perspectives including cultural, social, religious, aesthetic, as well as political to better understand this object of clothing with multiple interpretive meanings. The veil and veiling are uniquely imbued with layers of meanings serving multiple agendas. Sometimes the function of veiling is contradictory in that it can serve equally opposing political agendas