I’ve read a few novels featuring Muslims as the main characters of the story before, like Khaled Hosseini’s work and one of Jean Sasson’s Princess Trilogy, and yes, even the well-intentioned Does My Head Look Big In This? and I’ve skimmed through some similar materials in bookstores to see what they have to offer.
I’ve noticed a certain trend that writers seem not to be able to do away with in serious novels, which is having the characters commit at least one of the grave sins (Al-Kaba’ir) in Islam in order to have a catalyst for their story. The 2 most predominant can’t-do-without would be drinking al-khamru and committing zina.
Now I know that no Muslim is perfect and we all have our faults and flaws, our weaknesses and failings. Stories of ordinary people like you and I who share our faith and love of Allah, but somehow falter along the way and seek redemption give us the comfort of relativity and allow us to look at our own struggles and remember the always-open door to seek forgiveness and repentance.
The way most of these stories are written however just don’t have that sort of tone. I’m not imposing a monotonous directive to have all writers use the same content and style, but I think when writing about Muslims, what we believe in and why we live the way we do, it’s a responsibility to incorporate the values and principles we hold dear.
Muslims having pre-marital sex is nothing new these days, but that doesn’t make it any less of a grave sin and a transgression. Today though, it’s reached the level of normalcy and if you gasp in shock or scrunch your face in disgust when you hear of such indecency, you’re deemed naive, backwards and not familiar with the ways of the world. I hear about it enough in the real world, now I have to read about it too? That plot’s been used far too many times for my liking, but what troubles me more is the attitude these characters take after their little rendezvous. More often than not, there is no feeling of great regret or shame, only mortal fear because of what the society will think or what the family will do in the name of honour. God doesn’t come into the picture at all. It then grows into one of the driving forces of the story, the thrill of the forbidden act, the dire consequences and the tragedy of a consummated love that goes against tradition and culture. You know the way it goes. In the end, the reason why fornication outside the bonds of marriage is so abhorred by God isn’t addressed at all, only the supposed unfairness of His Laws that stands in the way between a man and a woman. Astaghfirullah, one wishes for a little more depth and less self-centredness because when you write this way, then there’s really no difference between stories of Muslims and Non-Muslims, only the names and family background perhaps, but everything else stays the same. What then, would be the point of writing about Muslims in the first place if you can’t come up with something refreshing, that offers a different viewpoint from another perspective?
I think we can come up with better stuff than this. Why do we need to paint people who freely do as they please in dramatic colours, which simultaneously puts faith and religion in a cruel, restrictive light? I’m not buying into the idea, and I get frustrated because I see it everywhere. Is this all we’re good for? Having characters do the kaba’ir and then kicking up a fuss about it while the rest of the world look at us and wonder about ‘them funny Muslims’ again? We need to show why we’ve chosen this moral guideline, why it’s pure and clean and simple and why we live by it at all costs. Instead we’ve got novels running along stale, worn out themes which really limits my choices when picking a book to buy.
Maybe I need new references. Anyone care to point me in the right direction?
Enough said here.
