Travel Info: Travelling While Muslim

Travelling is highly encouraged in Islam if done with good intentions, such as to learn more about the beauty of God's creations and to perform the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). However, travelling as a Muslim (or maybe as someone who obviously looks Muslim?) can be a bit tricky sometimes because there are certain things we may have to pay a bit more attention to.

Here's a compilation of stuff I normally think about before/when I travel.

(I may update this from time to time)

Prayers

Muslims perform compulsory prayers 5 times daily: before dawn (Fajr), early afternoon (Zuhr), late afternoon (Asr), dusk (Maghrib), and night (Isha'). 

Prayer times vary from place to place because it depends on the position of the sun on the day. In countries near the equator (e.g. Singapore and Mexico) the Muslim prayer times are more or less the same; for temperate countries in the northern/southern hemisphere (e.g. Sweden and New Zealand), the prayers will be performed at different times, depending on the season. 

Planning your travels around prayer times (rather than the other way around) is important, but sometimes circumstances make it a bit hard to perform prayers at the specified times (e.g. stuck in a traffic jam or being on a long-haul flight), so there are certain rukhsah (like a suspension, or flexibility) to perform your prayers as a traveller.

Food and Drinks

Being a Muslim who eats halal food kinda limits the things I can eat, so when I'm not sure of the halal statuses of food items/restaurants, I usually opt for eggs, dairy products, seafood and/or veg(etari)an-friendly food. Being lactose-intolerant and allergic to some nuts also makes it slightly even harder for me to find food, hahah.

Having said that, many Muslims I know are more particular about food and its preparations than I am, especially the ones in the country I am currently based in - Malaysia.

You see, food is a big deal to many Malaysians. 

Like, a big deal.

So much so, that in order for a certain product/restaurant to be claim that it is Muslim-friendly, it must undergo a strict halal certification process by the national religious body. Many Muslim-majority countries I know (e.g. Indonesia, Brunei, Saudi Arabia) as well as countries with a growing Muslim community (e.g. Australia and New Zealand) have a similar certification process, to a certain extent.

After living in a foreign country for a few years though, I've gotten used to checking the ingredients of everything I buy anyway, because there normally isn't a 'halal' stamp on them (which also means that I can avoid buying things with a ridiculously long list of questionable ingredients).

Speaking of ingredients, I am also aware of the controversies around certain items such as vanilla (which has a miniscule quantity of alcohol), cheese (some argue about certain enzymes used in it), and even sushi (which may contain mirin, a type of alcohol). The halal status of these items are debated by Islamic scholars and I'm a bit more flexible if I'm in a foreign country, but this is a personal view - not everyone agrees with me on this and neither would I force it on others.

Visibly Muslim

As someone who covers their hair in public (usually with hijab), has tan/brown skin, and doesn't speak 'mainstream' English, saying that I get a bit nervous before/when travelling outside of the country is quite an understatement, largely because of how 'people like me' are often portrayed as a threat to national security in Western media since 9/11.

In the past few years, I've been asked to take off my headscarf in public, seen a man a lot bigger than myself literally run to a different coach of the subway after seeing my family get on, had my grammar rudely 'corrected' by a hotel receptionist, been barked and swore at by random men who walked past me, and my 'favourite' - being 'randomly checked for radioactive material'.

In short, Islamophobia is real, yo. No matter how innocent I am/look, I could still get into trouble.

Having said that, most of the people I've met and/or travelled with have been kind or neutral towards me, so I avoid making a scene whenever I get harassed. I'm glad to say I've never been stopped from entering any country so far (I assume because of my fem appearance), and I hope it stays that way.

Group Tours

From what I have gathered, quite a number of Malaysians prefer to follow packaged tours organised by Muslim travel agencies because meals and prayer times have been considered in the itinerary. I've been on such a tour once during my student days, and it definitely is convenient in that sense. However, you don't get much diversity if you travel only with people of your own religion/race/community.

My family and I usually go on tours organised by local companies in the destination country, because it gives us more opportunities to mix with people from different parts of the world. It also allows us to listen to guides who are actually from the country and are very familiar with the history and culture of the area. The downside is, following their itineraries also means that we have to be more careful with finding suitable places to eat and that we may have to rush between prayer times as well. Very often, we pray on the mode of transport we are on (buses, trains, planes etc) because of this, which may look a bit odd to unknowing public, but so far it hasn't raised anything except for some some curious eyebrows.

(I may elaborate more on this later)