LOMBOK IS THE BEST
DESTIONATION FOR MUSLIM TRAVELLER
Oke
soo - I take off at every opportunity I can, be it with
family, friends or alone, exploring, photographing and documenting interesting
stuff in exotic destinations and taking the odd selfie to make friends jealous
along the way (actually I rarely go to exotic destinations and am still
struggling to work the ‘selfie’ feature on my phone – although my wife and
daughters are usually on hand should the need arise!).
But as a Muslim Travel Writer living in
challenging times, I’ve come to see travel in a completely different light; as
an education and spiritually transformative experience. I also now understand
why travel is encouraged by Islam – why else would we be
able to collapse our prayers? But what I don’t understand is the lack
of Muslims willing to travel. And before you bombard me with your messages
and selfies from Dubai and Sharm, let’s just make clear that a package holiday
to a touristic location geared to all your expectations and creature comforts
is not ‘travel’. That would be a holiday. I believe all Muslims should really travel,
the proper independent stuff and here are eleven reasons why (beyond just
being able to collapse our daily prayers – so technically that’s 12!)
So this time I will tell and suggest you to
come in second suggest of the muslim travelers one city in my country is
Lombok.
Why must Lombok?!
Just a short hop from the Indonesian holiday hotspot
of Bali, a Saudi tourist and his
family listen to the call to prayer as the sun goes down on Lombok, the
self-styled “island of 1,000 mosques”.
Lombok is at the centre of an Islamic tourism drive
in Indonesia, which has the world’s
biggest Muslim population and is hoping to boost the number of visitors from
wealthy Middle Eastern countries.
While aiming to continue to attract Western tourists who
flock to its pristine beaches, the island is also seeking to promote its
Islamic heritage, from numerous places of worship to shrines dedicated to
ancient Muslim preachers.
Indonesia is the world’s biggest archipelago nation, made
up of more than 17,000 islands, but has long lagged behind smaller, more
developed countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Thailand, in
attracting tourists.
Foreign visitor arrivals to Indonesia rose to 8.8m in
2013, according to official figures, compared with 25.72m in Malaysia and
26.55m in Thailand.
While there are no official figures for “sharia” tourism
in Indonesia, the sector is experiencing strong growth internationally.
The government has produced tourist guides promoting
Indonesia as a “Muslim friendly destination”. It highlights the country’s best
“sharia” tourism destinations and notes there are more than 600,000 mosques in
the archipelago.
Lombok, long overshadowed by its better known neighbour,
Hindu-majority Bali, hopes the drive can help raise its profile.
Authorities are planning to build a huge Islamic centre
that will contain a mosque, a hotel and a study centre, and specially trained
tour guides will point Muslim visitors in the direction of the nearest mosque
at prayer time.
Other parts of Indonesia are hoping to benefit from the
initiative. Aceh province, in western Indonesia and the only part of the
country to enforce Islamic sharia laws, and the capital Jakarta are both
seeking to lure Middle Eastern tourists, who often bring many family members
with them and spend lavishly.
Riyanto Sofyan owns a chain of nine sharia hotels across
Indonesia, including two in Jakarta.
Alcohol-free cocktails are available, the call to prayer
is played five times a day through the buildings, MTV has been removed from the
list of TV channels available in the rooms, as it is deemed too risque, and
hotel staff gently turn away unmarried couples.
In Lombok, hotels are also promoting themselves as
Islamic, with nine so far having gained coveted sharia certification. Echoing
the system of stars for conventional hotels, sharia accommodation is labelled
with the crescent moon, a symbol associated with Islam, with the best receiving three.
A hotel must have signs pointing towards Mecca and copies
of the Koran in its rooms, as well as a kitchen where halal food can be
prepared, to gain its first crescent moon.
Despite the optimism of officials, there are concerns
that the push for Islamic tourism could put off other visitors who want to
sunbathe in skimpy outfits and relax on the beach with a drink.
But the local government insists it can promote sharia
tourism without affecting the existing industry, and that party hotspots in the
area - such as tiny Gili Trawangan island, off the west coast of Lombok - will
remain unaffected.
Authorities are considering clearly demarcating areas
more suited to Muslim guests, where Western tourists should cover up.
Nevertheless for some Muslims, the clash of cultures may still
be off-putting. While Sulaiman, who comes from Mecca, was enjoying his holiday
in Senggigi, the main tourist strip on Lombok, some aspects made him feel
uneasy.
Others had concerns about trying to artificially separate
Muslim and non-Muslim tourists.American tourist Sarah Jorgensen, who was visiting
Lombok, warned such a move could lead to tensions: “When you create borders
then you have more opportunity for discrimination.”
Maybe that i can share to you about muslim traveller in lombok, so enought for today, thanks for read my article, sorry for the words and i hope you will leave a comment and share it..
