Day 12 – Religious Turks On May 29th, 1453, Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was conquered by the Ottoman army. Immediately, Sultan Mehmet, the Conqueror, performed namaz (a Persian word describing traditional Islamic prayers) in the Hagia…
Day 11 – The Riau Melayu “We are so glad you are visiting! Come to our friends’ wedding with us!” Weddings and funerals are almost a weekly event in the villages of the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia and the whole village…
Day 10 – The Soninke of West Africa A thousand years ago, the Soninke were the dominant people group in the part of West Africa now known as Mali, Senegal and Mauritania. However, as they spread to other regions they became…
Day 9 – Cairo and the Arab Film Industry Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is home to a booming film and television industry, earning it the nickname, “The Hollywood of the Arab World.” This is an aspect of culture of…
Day 8 – The “Chiwar” of Central Asia “Hurry up, the truck will be here in a few minutes!” The whole village runs to the place where a huge truck stops. Here in the mountains of Central Asia, where the food…
Day 7 – Wolof People of West Africa The homeland of the Wolof people is in West Africa – primarily Senegal and Gambia – just south of the Sahara Desert. Many live in rural, semi-desert bushland where they work as…
Day 6 – The Pattani Malay The Pattani Malay are a tight-knit ethnic community in the southern provinces of Thailand. A devout Muslim people, they are the descendants of Malays who embraced Islam as far back as the 14th century.…
Day 5 – The Dagombas of Northern Ghana As a family head and elder of his village in Northern Ghana, Abdulai is a well-respected member of his community. However, he still lives in fear of those who may want to…
Day 4 – Muslims of the East Arabian Peninsula Long ago, wise men in Eastern Arabia noticed a beautiful star burning brightly in the night sky and set out on an adventure to see where it would lead them. At…
Day 3 – Peoples of the Caucasus The beautiful mountain region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea partly belongs to Europe. Nevertheless, some of the least reached Muslim people groups live here. They speak 45 different languages, some of…
