From Online Fatwas to Five-Star Islam, the Muslim community in India is witnessing a range of brand new themes.

Trends change at the speed of a light...in vogue this moment, over, 60 seconds later. Quickly then, here is a bunch of randomly selected new themes that have been showing up in Muslim society in India.

Muslim Women Entrepreneurs
Irrespective of the focus on triple talaq or projecting Muslim women as highly vulnerable more and more Muslim women are taking to entrepreneurship thanks to the awareness created by the NGO’s about the slew of schemes and facilities provided by the government to the women entrepreneurs. The shift is more pronounced in rural India. Number of studies have confirmed that rural Muslim women are taking up entrepreneurship to overcome their lack of education and take care of their children’s educational needs.

Increasing Muslim Women Enrolling for Information Technology
Scanning through the admission list for the Muslim- managed colleges running professional courses, indicates a trend of confident Muslim girls wanting to be a part of the IT revolution. A majority of these girls, though opting for the latest course, choose to be in hijab.These girls are highly ambitious, but are also aware of Islam.

Dress Code
Muslim parents are still very conservative when it comes to dress sense of grown up children, both male and females. But some parents are experimenting with the variety of dresses for the growing children. From jeans to skirts to other western trendy outfits all are at display in a social gathering.

Slow Food
It began as a counter-revolution to fat rich food. The new generation is more health conscious and is discarding the traditional non-vegetarian items in favour of non -oily and low calories items which are more suitable for their urban life style.There is a new emerging class of youngsters who are more comfortable with being total vegetarians.
Preacher’s Loss Practitioners Gain
Because of the IT revolution, the preachers are fast losing their prime status and position in the Muslim society. Islamic organisations, Madrasas, local mosque Imams are conceding ground to virtual Islamic organisations, Islamic websites, and online Islamic fatwa sites.

Local Mosque No Longer the Source of Islamic Education
Islam and knowledge went together, closely, and from the very early stages. Other than the urge of the Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) that prompted people to learn, the concrete symbol of Islam, the Mosque, was the centre of learning. And, indeed, until now, in most parts of the Islamic world, the word Jamia means at once both mosque and school, even when they are separate buildings, most often distant from each other. Finally, ‘Jamia’, the word for university in Arabic derives from Jami, mosque. No similar derivation exists in any other language or culture; no better association between Islam and higher learning than this.

But the survey revealed that the Mosque is losing its pre-eminent position as the learning centre. The Managements of few of the newly constructed Mosques are trying to reverse the trend by opening the doors of mosques for Arabic language tutorial and Islamic learning.

Preference for Working Women
Amongst Muslim middle- class, there is a discernible preference for working women when it comes to marriage. Already rural Muslim women are associated with some or the other occupation as the race is for survival rather than progress and growth. In urban areas, the standard of living has been constantly high, to supplement the income, middle-class families are preferring, working women as daughter-in-laws.

5-Star Islam
Of late, quite a few seminars, discussions and meetings, related to Islam are held in elite hotels. Two of the eminent Islamic scholars visiting Mumbai last month, resided and held their meetings in posh 5-Star hotels. Even one of the largest Islamic organisation in India recently held its latest campaign in an elite Islam Gymkhana. Its the middle -class’, gain, but the deprived class’ loss.

Banking Sector
Working in the banks and financial institutes is no more an issue with the Muslim professionals. Growing enrolment of Muslims in the post- graduate Finance course and their placement in Banks, Mutual funds, Insurance sector indicates growing confidence of Muslim professionals.

Traditional Entrepreneur Communities Prefer Service
Because of the pro- corporate policies of the Indian government, the traditional Entrepreneur communities like Memons, Khojas and Bohras are preferring Service to the Business. As the investment for starting new ventures increases many fold and salary for the professionals increasing to five figures, the trend is shifting in favour of service.

One-of-a-Kind People
As society gets more de-personalised, people are craving for a way to be recognised as individuals. This is making customisation an enormous trend of the future Muslim society. Already there are number of groups within the Muslim community who are becoming very possessive about their lifestyle, culture and belief. They are more comfortable within their own group and interact within the group. Even marriage is restricted within their circle.

Life Coaching
Want to live a higher quality life? Get a life coach. If personal trainers can shape up your body, life coaches can help shape up your life. This fast-growing breed of specialists is helping re-evaluate individual priorities and create the future they want. From education to starting new venture to marriage, the New age Muslim guru’s are emerging as a niche power centre.