Islam in Modern Turkey

By Livianne Knierim

Vivianne Knierim is a junior at Boston College, majoring in Political Science and French with a minor in International Studies. The photographs for this essay were taken by Vivianne while studying on the Boston College summer program, “The Religious Worlds of Istanbul and Anatolia.”

Istanbul seamlessly blends the traditional and the contemporary movements of Turkish culture. Although the thud of Turkish rap has grown louder and threatens to drown out the call to prayer streaming from Istanbul’s hundreds of minarets, the ezan remains one of the few elements slowing this vibrant city’s pace. Amongst the thousands of boutiques, crammed between new buildings, majestically sprawled over main squares – Istanbul’s mosques are some of the world’s largest and finest. Turkey is a pulsating example of Islam adapting to modern life and Istanbul is the vivid, striking illustration of this integrated form of Islam.

Qat

By William Burke

William Burke is a senior at Boston College majoring in Political Science and Islamic Civilizations and Societies. He has traveled and studied extensively throughout the Middle East and spent two months studying Arabic in Sana’a, Yemen where he took the photos for this essay. He can be contacted at burkewb@bc.edu.

Yemen typically conjures up images of poverty, violence and—in recent years—Al Qaeda. It may come as a surprise that Yemen is a land whose society, economy and politics revolve around a substance that the United States government considers a Schedule I drug. Introduced to Yemen over 700 years ago, Catha edulis—or Qat—is a mildly narcotic leaf that is chewed by roughly 90% of Yemeni men daily. The substance’s effects are relatively mild, producing an effect of euphoria in the user followed by a temporary bout with insomnia. Yemen’s addiction to Qat is leading the country down a dangerous path, as its cultivation and usage will pose many social, economic and ecological problems in the near future. Despite the fact that it is terribly troublesome, Qat is an integral part of Yemeni society, and all signs indicate that this will not change any time soon.