Book Review: If I should Speak .....

In His Name
Most Beautiful Names are His
The Rahman and The Rahim

If I Should Speak, by Umm Zakiyyah, an engaging work speaking to three difference archetypes, (1) devout and practicing muslims (2) muslims who need encouragement (3) those among the People of the Book, whose fitrah still intact (read Quran 30:30, 7:172-3), are attracted towards Islam

The main character is the sister from the people of the Book, where she happens to room with two muslim sisters. As she enrolls her-self in a class on religion, she under-takes to do her paper on 'Islam', and this is where the book defines it-self

In the work, one senses the dichotomy, as terms like "kuffar" and "people of the Book" were used in different contexts. Interestingly when the two muslim sisters speak of the other, she is always referred to as the "kafir", how-ever, it is the nature of the Quranic discourse, that addresses the other not as "kuffar", but as the "People of the Book" that startles the christian character

The work attempts to tackle several issues within the realm of inter-faith exchange and dialogue (actually in one instance it was tirade against the Christian faith, followed by an apology)

1- Concept of God in Islam (poorly explained, given that the work consulted was Bilal Philips 'Tauheed', which is cloaked as classical Islams take on Tauhid, but rather a pseudo Classical demogaguery of the Salafiyyah thought)

2- The Nature of Christ

3- Islam and Religious Pluralism (where the work severely lacked a perspective). The work failed to emphasize the nature of good deeds from among the people of the Book, while leaving the final judgement to God, as is repeated in Sura Ale Imran and al-Maidah (being the last revelation)

4- Jihad

5- Hijab/Abayya/Jilbab/Niqab (nascent terms only to those who are muslims, and it only highlights the cultural relevancy on where and how where these terms are used)

6- Polygny

The over-arching theme in the work, at least that what I had gathered was the muslim perspective so innately grained with a fear of God (not in the sense of ihsan), but in the form of a Punisher God, who consigns people to eternal Hell, if they are not muslims.

Once you know of Islam (Imam al-Ghazali actually made a very sharp distinction in a work that has been translated by Sherman Jackson, that speaks to the challenge of our times: when demagogues like Usama b Laden have given Islam quite publicity, this is not the Islam that imam al Ghazali speaks of), not accepting it, comes with dire consequences

This sort of dialogue permeates the entire discourse, even when the two muslim sisters, speak of their religious experience when they were children.

I found that some what disturbing to begin with. Images of hell and punishment are so well ingrained when they are projected to the "Other". Rarely is it projected to them-selves, as if muslims are not subject to the same standards as the other, and that we have afree ticket to heaven

The idea of "Salvation" is so critical in the entire discourse, and it is this notion where the projection of a Punisher God, the Punishment in the Grave, the role of the Angels who take the soul are vividly described through the Quranic verses.Well, one would be guilty to deny them, but there is the "beauty" of Islam that needs to be emphasized.

At one juncture, the Christian other attends a friday lecture, the sermon is delivered in the mirror of the corrupt and decadent West. It as if, the mirror being used here, rather than being the inherent beauty of Islam, is something that is reaction to, and not a discovery from within the fountain springs of Islam: the Quran and other spiritually leaning literature. Actually the sermonizing was a call to return to the first days of Islam, to mimick what the early Companions did: a calling to the golden era, so to speak. there is very little emphasis on providing an alternative discourse relative to the context at hand, and even scholars like Hamza Yusuf have spoken of and criticized this quite extensively. To suggest that the knowledge of Islam in it's utmost purity is restricted to the "Salaf" is a dis-service of the highest order, since it fails to take into account thesuccessive build up of knowledge, human experience that lent it-self to the flourishment of the golden age in Islam. Half-way through the work, the some-what less practicing muslim and the Christian other, become good friends: their interests in singing and music coincide, and this becomes the basis for much of the tirade against singing in Islam.

The allurement of the dunya is considered to be the sole factor that lends it-self to the deviation of the muslim sister. There is a very strong aura of confidence in the personality of the practicing muslim sister. Her views on women in Islam are part and parcel reflective of a very conservative tradition (down to the niqab, with only the eyes being displaced), Alhamdulillah. an encouragementfor polygny, the argument of covering within the context of a womans body being objectified for sexual gratification and also her voice, with the end being the honor and sanctity to be reserved for the husband.

I was rather dissapointed with how the work ends: as the less practicing muslim sister and her friend are auditioning (singing), they get into a car accident, with the fatality of the muslim sister. This is where the persona of a Punisher God, of the guilt associated with, and the relegation of the sisters un-practicising elements of the Islamic faith, lead to self drawn conclusions of punishment, though with the element of "mercy" invoked in very few instances.

I was rather surprised, and this is perhaps a credit to the empathetic nature of the practicising sister, that she wished well for her sister, but she saw it only through the mirror of her own experience, and not through how God would view it, and only God Knows. In closing I would say so, it was refreshing to read this perspective, since the practicising muslim sister in several of her statements to the non muslim other, states, that as muslims we dont get to define how Islam is, God defines it for us, God is not questioned, but we are questioned

But who speaks for God then?

The answer to that, ought to be, ingrained in humility, with the addition of

WalLahu Alam, Wa matawfiqi IllbaiLlah