Muslims keep abreast with social trends the halal way

Mention the word ‘halal’ and what promptly comes to mind is the meat shop in an old part of the city, or the ‘We Use Halal Meat’ signage hung at an eatery. Well, not anymore if you are in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey. Thirty-eight-year-old Turkish businessman Haluk Murat Demirel recently opened a first of its kind online sex shop (www.bayan.helalsexshop.com). What makes this shop stand out is the claim that all the good sold and services provided are certified ‘halal’ —in other words, in keeping with Islamic law. The website in addition to selling condoms and herbal aphrodisiacs also counsels about ‘halal’ sex.
While it might be preposterous to think of Haluk Murat Demirel as a pioneer or visionary, his venture should get us thinking. The ‘helalsexshop’ shows Demirel’s entrepreneurial skills but more pertinently it points towards an increasing trend where so-called social ‘needs’ and services are being tailor-made to address the requirements of any particular community.

In 2010, following the controversy after images of Prophet Mohammed did the rounds on Facebook with the page 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day', IT professionals in Pakistan launched ‘MillatFacebook. Similarly, in 2012, Salamworld was launched in eight different languages as an alternative to facebook. The Washington Post quoted Abdulvahed Niyazov, one of Salamworld’s owners, saying that “the content that is being used on other social networks is not very secure and full of haram”.
On the larger picture both what the ‘helalsexshop’ and Salamworld is trying to achieve is to cater to the ‘worldly’ needs of a growing young population within the community and, at the same time, trying to stay within the precincts prescribed by the religion.
Such developments, though it might sound ‘haram’ or queer to many, reflect a changing society and are important because it goes a long way in deconstructing the Westerner’s image of Islam, which is heavily loaded against it after 9/11. As William Stoddart in What Does Islam Mean in Today’s World? writes: ‘That the Western public conflates terrorism and Islam is the lamentable achievement of the ‘Islamic terrorists’.’
A positive to take from this is that rather than getting cowed down by the threats by radical groups, like the Taliban, the youth are innovating ways to keep themselves abreast with a fast-changing world.
Religious exclusivity is not a new phenomenon. For a very long time we have had educational institutions and areas demarcated in cities and villages that are ‘exclusive’ for members of a particular religion/caste. This exclusivity is no confined to one particular faith and can be seen across religions in various hues and shapes.
Humans adapt to the changes around them and so does a religion. As anthropologist Professor Richley H Crapo in Anthropology of Religion notes ‘religion is part of the system of culture’ and plays a role in the ‘human adaptation to the circumstances of survival’.
While orthodox views are still prevalent in all religions and more often than not supersede the moderate and liberal voices, not all hope is lost. Haluk Murat Demirel’s venture is an example.
(An edited version of this appeared in The Hindustan Times on October 24)

Trivandrum Lodge: A Boring and Dull Experience

Theatrical poster for the movie Trivandrum Lodge

For those who suggested that Trivandrum Lodge is a good movie all I got to ask is: Really? It’s a sad movie. Please don’t call it ‘new cinema’ because if talking and thinking about sex is ‘new cinema’ then that cinema is as old as cinema. The love track in the second half seems to be a shoddy patchwork to compensate for a clueless first half.
There is a callous carelessness that is prevalent throughout the script that borders on a lack of concern for the audience. An attitude like “I make cinema for my satisfaction and not for an audience” seems to echo in Trivandrum Lodge.
Trivandrum Lodge might be proof that Malayalam cinema is undergoing a change and if it means that such movies will keep directors like V K Prakash away from directing movies like Police and Gulumal then let more come through. Anoop Menon’s scripting is brilliant in bits and pieces but when put together loses the sheen it creates in individual scenes. 
The first half of Trivandrum Lodge is packed with off-colour humour, suggestive dialogues and double entendres. This gets watered down in the second half more as if to show a different side of love. Trivandrum Lodge seems to be a movie that had its genesis during a drinking session among friends. The tragedy is that it did not stay there and was taken forward and made into a movie.
High point in the movie: the Anoop-Bhavana track, especially ‘Paul Barber’ (from Akkare Akkare Akkare fame).  The real low point in the movie is bringing Thangal (Babu Namboothiri) from Thoovanathumbikal.