Photography in the Middle East

I have decided to explore the issue of photography in the Middle East for my second research paper in the class on the History of the Middle East that I'm taking from Foothill College. This online class, taught by Dr. D. Davison, has a requirement for two papers. The first one was on an Islamic relgious figure. I chose to write about Moulay Idriss., the patron saint of Morocco and founding father of the Idrissids, one of the many dynasties in the Islamic/Arabic empires.

For this second paper, we are supposed to choose a topic regarding the impact of Western culture on the Middle East. It may seem strange that I have chosen a topic as seemingly innocuous as "photography", when there are far more suitable subjects available. After all, the primary impact of the West on the East was undoubtedly political, and only secondarily social and cultural. Nevertheless, I hypothesize that I will find that the field of photography has had significant impact on the Middle East. At least, that will be my premise, and I hope to find out just what that impact has been.

The Islamic faith is famous for its proscription against graven images. The fear, of course, was that they would deter the faithful from revering God, or Allah. This prohibition has been so strong, even in recent times, that any religious figures have been destroyed (think of the Taliban in Afghanistan), and all art has focused on non-human forms or subject matter. A secondary concern, no doubt, was the danger of disturbing the allegiance to the caliph or sultan or shah that served Allah, protecting the faith and policing the faithful. This synergy between the religious leader and the political head of state was unique to Islam, and explains in part both its strength and its weakness, as a cultural institution.

At first glance, photography seems as if it could not be further from the real needs and wishes of the Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Egyptian Islamic empires we have read about, nor would it seem to be acceptable to the multitudes of dispersed Muslim communities that now number over 1.2 billion (see LexicOrient or Answers for more information). So - what in fact is the history of photography in the Middle East? When was it introduced to the Middle East; how was it handled; what was its impact? These will be some of the questions I will pursue in the process of writing about "Photography in the Middle East". So, if you're interested, as I am, in these issues, come back in a couple weeks, and read what I've discovered!