Water is both a source of life and a cause of distress. More people die in the world because of floods and tsunamis than because of droughts. Water is both the best means of cleaning and also a deadly medium that can carry malicious bacteria and viruses. With such an intrinsic relationship with birth, life, death and the hereafter, water cannot escape the attention of men of religion. Water is a source of life in almost all religious texts; it is a ritual purification material for almost all religions -- Christians use it in baptism, Jews in mikves and Muslims in ablutions; in several languages, rain is equated with mercy and grace. Inescapably, religious traditions have produced invaluable texts, narratives, idioms, advice and duties relating to water. This puts religion and men of religion in a special position to guide the water policies of the world. When it comes to global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, men of religion may have less to say, but about water, an imam or a rabbi has much to tell. That is one of the missing dimensions of the 5th World Water Forum. During previous forums, religion had more to say, and being in İstanbul, one would expect more religion, as this city is the meeting place of Eastern and Western Christianities and Islam and Judeo-Christian modernity. It is not there.
Should we relate this lack of religion in the water summit to the year of Darwin?
The power of religion is increasing year by year. Only recently, Turkish businessmen suggested that preachers should advise Muslim congregations during their Friday sermons to invest more in export-oriented businesses. This is certainly healthier than having religion have a say in politics. If men of religion have a level of credibility in the eyes of the general public and if their moves are followed by the people, why not use their influence on water-related issues?
Islam has a particular treasury of historical and cultural material on water. A recent experience of mine will suffice to show the kind of water civilization the Ottomans established: A friend of mine wanted to visit my house in İstanbul's Eyüp district recently. He had to call for directions on his mobile phone while driving to the house. I had to locate where he was first and asked him to describe his surroundings. The first thing that caught his attention was an old water fountain. I told him that this said nothing in Eyüp, as we had hundreds of them. A few meters later, he found another one and once again described his place in reference to that fountain. I told him not to do that. But, if you are in Eyüp, you have either old mosques or ancient water fountains to lead you. In the end, I had to convince him to look for a supermarket sign to give me a sense of where he was. He only truly understood me when he arrived and saw that my house also sits next to an old Ottoman water fountain.
Now, these fountains were not just stone piles with taps. They meant people coming together, speaking to each other, discussing the problems of the neighborhood, making ablution there and running to the mosque before the call for prayer was recited. They meant life organized around one common necessity: water.
The 5th World Water Forum is taking place in Istanbul's newly renovated Sütlüce Congress and Cultural Center. This is located on the Taksim side of the Golden Horn. That side of the Golden Horn is traditionally known to be the more profane side, the worldly, godless side of the city. But as part of preparations for the forum, the Turkish organizing committee relocated the old Galata Bridge to between Sütlüce and Eyüp. The bridge is not only a reminder of a historical asset, it is also a bridge between the two culturally distinct banks of the Golden Horn. But the content of the forum is unfortunately lacking its Eyüp side.
