Infidel
My book club is reading Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and I just finished tonight. Wow. I did not know much about Islam before reading this book, and this was quite an eye opener. I know she has been controversial, and there are intelligent reasonable people who disagree with her (I'd love to read something by someone like that... anybody have a suggestion?), but it is truly hard to imagine how to view it another way after reading this book.
She paints a stark and unflattering picture of Islam. The religion, she says, is based on oppressive beliefs and a value system that celebrates submission and obedience above all, particularly of women who have no rights whatsoever. They are trained to have no self-will, and are completely ruled by their families, who are completely free to maim or even kill them for the slightest infraction, with the cooperation and encouragement of the government. The horrors she describes make me want to shut my ears and not think about it. Which is of course exactly what she doesn't want me to do... and she succeeded.
A great read, I recommend it highly.
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3 comments:
Sounds powerful. I think talking about "Islam" makes no more sense at this level than talking about "Christianity" -- high church Episcopalians have very little in common with ultra-fundamentalist Christians, the Russian Orthodox Church is yet another story, etc. I'm sure not all Islam treats women that way. But the problem is, some Islamic sects do...
I agree with Cheri. I know I for one hate to be "tarred with the same brush" as a fundamentalist Christian, and yet that often happens because people tend to generalize from the specific they know (or have heard about) to the general, without nuancing at all... And some Christians certainly give other Christians "a bad name"!
Another book you might enjoy is "Reading Lolita in Tehran" - I found it powerful (and hopeful, too, in a way) and informative (although at times also depressing!)... But it speaks to the importance of a support group of women, and how themes in literature can transcend time and place and speak to us in our own circumstances.
I certainly agree with Cheri and Carolyn. It's all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that one person's viewpoint represents the whole -- and as in the case of fundamentalism of any religion-- it doesn't represent the many other points of view. Those books are so powerful -- it's always good to read an opposing viewpoint, or at least a more balanced one. Love, Mom
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